As you look to getting a solar power system installed at your home, you likely have heard the term net metering. This is actually a big part of what solar power system.
Solar generates power when the sun is brightest. When the sun is at its peak you are likely not at home, working in the office and the lights and appliances are off. This presents a potential problem for solar customers. Not having enough power at night, and more power than you need during the day makes your solar installation less efficient.
HOW NET METERING HELPS
There might be a time when something you don’t need might be useful for someone else. This is exactly what net metering does. The excess solar energy generated that you don’t use can be fed to the electricity company. This feeding to the DISCOMs gives you credit.
At the end of the month when your electricity bill shows up, you do not pay for the entire electricity, rather you only pay for the difference between what they gave you and you gave them,
In other words, you are paying for your ‘net’ electricity usage rather than gross usage, hence the name.
Each state can have different regulations for the type of net meter used to record the power. Some states require only one meter to measure the net amount of power consumed by the owner. Whereas, other states require two meters to record the total amount of units consumed by the owner from the grid along with the total amount of power generated by the owner’s system.
Eliminating battery storage and backup generator
Unlike off-grid PV systems, owners don’t require battery storage systems while using net-metering since the extra power is stored by the utility grid itself. It also eliminates the need for exorbitant generators since the electricity grid also acts as a backup generator.
Inexpensive and low maintenance
Despite being low maintenance, some parts like the battery requires maintenance. With net metering in the picture, we can eliminate these components and further decrease the maintenance requirement and cost.