Solar Panel System Net Metering With Actual Data

This video shows how a grid tie solar panel system with net metering works using actual data from my system. I show how the solar panel system payoff period changes dramatically based on having net metering and which type of net metering your utility offers.

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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:36​ No Net Metering Explained
08:45 Net Metering by the Month Explained
10:56 Net Metering by the year Explained
11:35 Final Cost Summary
12:00 Useful Web Sites

Music Attribution:
Song: Electro-Light & Shiah Maisel - Letter [NCS Release]
Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds

Song: Cytrax - Feelings (feat. Émilie Rachel) [NCS Release]
Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Disclaimers:
This video is for information purposes only, and does not constitute professional advice. Solar systems can and do involve dangerous electrical connections. If you do not have experience with electrical wiring, please seek professional support.

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[steveo]

Helpful and easily understood explanation. Thank you Dave.

[FatherOfTheParty]

Great info as always, Dave. Thanks for doing the legwork for those of us trying to get started. Much appreciated.

[URBANENGINEER]

Learned a ton today, this will definitely change how I build my System.

[AlpineDividends]

Great video, your videos are so clear and helpful for anyone to follow!

[DR-lwdo]

Thank you so much Dave. I really love your videos and enjoy learning from someone whom is passionate about their interests. I share many of your videos with my parents (15kW, grid tied, Annual Net Metering, SE Michigan). I really appreciate your data driven approach and explanation. I find myself needing to watch more than once because I don't entirely speak (solar). Thanks for running these experiments and sharing. If knew about your videos years ago we could have saved them a lot of money.

[shrujanamsyama]

Another good video! Very practical and down-to-earth approach. People from other regions also can understand gain a lot of understanding from your videos as the ideas are universal.

[lorenzodelacruz]

Good show. Good comments below also. Thanks again.

[richarddietzen]

The DSIRE link is very helpful to understand your state’s solar grid tie policies.

[workaholic]

Without batteries you only have an illusion of an infinite battery. All the state has to do is change the laws that regulate either you or your utility and you can be profoundly impacted. It would seem that it would be far better to divorce totally from the grid and eliminate your bill altogether rather than going into debt to halfway participate in alternative energy production.

[jasonbroom]

This is an exceptionally well-made video. Your data mining and logical presentation made this topic crystal clear to understand. I recognize that net-metering is a very real consideration for anyone trying to decide if solar will work for them...and that is a huge problem. The availability of net-metering, or lack thereof, is often THE deciding factor in whether or not someone installs a solar array. They aren't doing it to reduce carbon emissions or, perhaps, "save the world" by getting their power from some place other than fossil fuels. When someone goes with a grid-tied system and intentionally avoids getting any kind of battery backup, because they can rely on net-metering to still provide a reasonable ROI, what they are effectively saying is this is a financial decision above all else. It is this notion of "ROI" that undermines the adoption of solar, with net-metering specifics contributing to that problem. There is never a wrong time to do the right thing. If there is a cost to doing the right thing, then so be it. What net metering does is put more of that cost on the companies that generate and distribute electricity, which they pass on to customers who cannot install, or afford to install, solar. This limits how effectively each installation actually improves grid stability and also limits just how much of a reduction in greenhouse gases we actually see. More than anything, net-metering contributes to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer...and this is coming from someone with solar AND batteries installed.

[AchillesWrath]

How big would you need to overbuild your solar system to break even and not have any power bill? Earn enough net metering credits during the day to run your house and run it at night on credits from the grid. I'm trying to figure this out for a house that is about 1500 sqf in Florida. I've heard battery backup isn't capable of running AC at night along with everything else unless you had a ton of them which is expensive. I'm thinking it might be better to overbuild the amount of solar panels and use the net metering credits instead and just have a battery for emergency situations like when the grid goes down.

[rad]

Fascinating data. The utility where we live only buys power from us at ‘wholesale’ rate which is roughly 50% of our purchase rate. In our case it’s far more economical to go with battery and thermal storage.

[judethedude]

Thank you for the great info Dave! I'm currently evaluating if solar would make sense for my home. The city that I live in does net metering. What questions would you suggest asking my utilities company to figure out the numbers? My rate is 0.11 kwh. Thanks again!

[nodirtpoor]

I live in Maine and this state still has 1:1 net metering so I just applied for my permit for a 9.2 kw system with my local power co. I can’t afford the project this year but now I’m grandfathered in case the state changes its metering plan …….look what California did!

[bloodcarver]

In my area the grid companies pay so low rates that it is not worth it to install the extra stuff to sell a little back to the grid. F.ex. they stop paying you when the 0, - level for the bill this month is reached. So, I went for Growatts in a 3-phase parallel setup and no sellback. Perfect for my use, I am mainly looking to reduce the grid cost as much as possible, aka supply my own solar/battery.

[premsun]

Fantastic video!! Thanks for sharing all the details

[arc_Paulo]

Great Video !
We've recently moved into an house with 25 solar panels and we use the Enlighten App to monitor the panels. I'm currently struggling to understand why the App says I produce roughly 1.3 mwh per billing period but my electric company say I only produced around 500 kwh. Any ideas as to what is going on would greatly help.

[doinkeroni]

Dave, great video! I am also in Ohio and am planning a home solar project. May I ask if you are still able to use net metering on a monthly basis in 2024? I heard changes are coming to ohio that would limit it (similar to california). Also, do you get credit only for the "generation" fees and still get charged "transmission" fees for the nighttime energy you get back? Thanks!

[SEANRMZ]

Thanks for your great content. Very well explained, so well you have me interested in a grid tie system. I did the web easy calculator with my sun aray and I am just consuming to much Klw per month. On average 5500klw per month and it would not make sense for the amount of panels even at 50% coverage. I would need 56x 500wat panels to cover half my monthly cost so that would not make any sense for the cost of only the panels would be 25k give or take and thats not including the rest of the build. It would take me endless years to even break even.

[yoyomawh]

Senior, greetings 🖖, my question is simply this, after installing a PV system on my casa, do I have to change my retail electric provider if they have no solar buy back program and will my smart meter slow down or stop if the PV system is creating more than I use. The “net metering” retail electric providers in TEXAS charge crazy money 💰 for kWh . Please advise