Your Utility Bill After Solar
While you may often have a residual utility bill for energy consumed from the grid and utility surcharges, installing Solar Roof can help reduce your overall monthly energy costs.
Your utility rates, local net metering policies and time of day that you are consuming energy from solar versus the grid influence how you can offset your initial investment into solar. We recommend exploring the federal, state or local incentives that may be available to you.
Electricity Rate Plans
The following plans are the most common rate plan structures available in our service territories. Check with your utility provider to confirm your specific plan.
Fixed-Rate Plan
Your energy rate is fixed and does not change no matter the time of day.
Tiered-Rate Plan
Your energy rate increases in set tiers, as your energy consumption increases.
Time-of-Use Plan
Your energy rate varies based on the time of day and season of usage. There are peak energy pricing hours during which grid energy costs more, making energy consumption costs higher during those hours.
All Solar Roof systems are bundled with Powerwall, allowing customers to limit reliance on the grid by using stored solar energy during peak energy periods.
Changes to Your Residual Bill Over Time
Solar can greatly reduce your utility bill, but you will often still have a residual bill. The size of your utility bill depends on many factors including local electricity rates, the size of your system relative to your energy needs and what time of day you use energy. If you are noticing a higher utility bill, it may not be due to system performance. Check if there have been changes to the electricity rates by your local utility company. If your utility company increases electricity rates, your residual bill and your utility bill will increase as well along with your savings.
Net Energy Metering
Net energy metering (NEM) is a credit program facilitated by many utilities across the U.S. Customers can send excess energy produced from their solar system back to the grid and receive a financial credit for future utility bills, meaning customers only pay the “net” or difference between energy used from the grid and energy sent to the grid. Check with your utility company to see if NEM is available in your region and details of their particular program.
Fixed Utility Charges
In addition to what you pay for electricity, most utilities impose fixed charges for their electricity customers, such as delivery or customer service fees. These charges often remain the same regardless of how much electricity you consume from the grid and typically still apply to your utility bill after installing solar. Check with your utility company for details.