Net Energy Metering and Tracking

• Print Page
• Email Page

PG&E's Schedule NEM -- Net Energy Metering Service, provides solar customers with the option to offset the cost of their electricity usage with energy that their solar generating system exports to the grid. A "net meter" is installed to measure the difference between electricity supplied to the customer by PG&E, and electricity the customer exports to the grid, over a billing month. The corresponding charges and credits are reconciled after 12-monthly billing periods of the system’s interconnection. Typically, solar systems export more energy during the summer months, generating credits for the customer to use during the winter months, when the system does not meet their energy needs.

California Public Utilities Commission code limits the total capacity of solar and wind net-metered systems to 2.5% of the peak load from the total solar interconnections in PG&E's service territory. That percentage currently corresponds to roughly 522 MW of solar and wind generating capacity. The table below provides a snapshot of the number of PG&E NEM customers and the combined capacity of their generating systems. This is an estimate and does not replace our reporting requirements with the California Public Utilities Commission.

Date	NEM Installations – Number	NEM Installations CEC AC	Estimated Percent of Allowable NEM Peak
October 31st 2009	34,692	285 MW	1.4%

** note these figures are updated monthly.