genability.com | Tariff News

Notice on SMUD Tariff R-TOD-SSR, March - July 2022

Sacramento Municipal Utility District (“SMUD”) introduced a new Solar and Storage tariff for solar customers (Rate Schedule “R-TOD-SSR”), which took effect on March 1, 2022. SMUD published documentation regarding the revised tariff structure on their website: https://www.smud.org/-/media/Documents/Rate-Information/Rates/01_SSR.ashx
genability.com | Tariff News

California Net Energy Metering 3.0 (NEM3)

California is updating its Net Energy Metering policies in 2022, commonly referred to as NEM3.0. Genability customers can rely on Genability providing full support for them. Ahead of the publication of the final NEM 3 tariffs and rates, Genability has publishing a set of Tariffs with the latest proposed rate structures for customers to use. Once details are available, the finalized tariffs and rates will be published for all to use. In this blog post we track updates as the policies and rate changes firm up. We recommend checking back hear from time to time to get the lastest.
genability.com | Company

Whats new with Genability

Like many companies, the start of a new year is a time when Genability’s goals and objectives are updated and plans are set in motion. Here’s a summary of what we are up to in 2021.
genability.com | Tariff News

California Residential Electricity Rate Changes - January 2020

Southern California Edison (SCE), Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) all released new tariff rates on January 1, 2020 improving the economics of residential solar for all three utilities.
genability.com | Products

Solar Incentives Data

Genability Switch customers no longer need to maintain their own database of residential solar incentives. As of October 15, 2019 Genability’s Solar Incentives API has graduated from Beta to V1 and is now available under general release for Switch customers that wish to license it. We’ve also built a new user interface within Switch’s Dash web application to view this data along with your savings analyses.
genability.com | Tariff News

Review of Southern California Edison's New Post Solar Electricity Rates and its Impact on Savings

On March 1, 2019 Southern California Edison (SCE) will close its current default post-solar tariff (TOU-D-A-NEM2) and replace it with a new default post-solar tariff (TOU-D-4-9PM-NEM2). This tariff change will dramatically impact solar savings in SCE as the Time of Use (TOU) On-Peak hours move from 2-8 PM under TOU-D-A-NEM2 to 4-9 PM under TOU-D-4-9PM-NEM2. More importantly TOU-D-4-9PM-NEM2 introduces a Super Off-Peak period in the Winter from 8 AM to 4 PM, when the majority of solar production occurs.
genability.com | Products

Savings Analysis API Support for Non-bypassable Charges

Genability has just upgraded both our Savings Analysis API and our Calculate API to better support Non-Bypassable Charges (NBCs). What are NBCs you ask? Well that’s how the California utilities refer to the customer’s annual NBCs that cannot be offset by Net Energy Metering (NEM) Credits under NEM 2.0. These NBCs behave as a second minimum charge calculation that’s performed during the customer’s annual true-up.
genability.com | Tariff News

Review of California's Proposed Commercial Time of Use Electricity Tariffs

In 2019, both Pacific Gas & Electric (PGE) and Southern California Edison (SCE) will introduce new Time-of-Use (TOU) periods for commercial tariffs. Both utilities are moving highly-priced peak hours later in the day, from mid-afternoon to 4-9 PM. If you are selling solar, storage and/or energy efficiency in California, you want to be sure to calculate savings using these new tariffs. Thanks to Genability’s new Proposed Tariffs product for enterprise customers, now you can!
genability.com | Products

Proposed Tariffs included in Genability database

Our Proposed Tariffs feature allows you to use our complete set of tools to calculate the costs and savings of tariffs that are not yet published and live.
genability.com | Products

Genability Adds Support for PVWatts Version 6

We’ve added support for Version 6 of NREL’s PVWatts API, used to estimate the hourly production of a customer’s solar PV system.
genability.com | Products

Explorer Web App for Energy Professionals

Today we are pleased to announce the launch of our latest product, Genability Explorer, a web-application for Energy Professionals.
genability.com | Tariff News

Solar Incentives in Illinois, Net Metering Ends for Duke Energy South Carolina

The roller coaster for solar in the U.S. (call it a Solar Coaster?) keeps rolling this summer.  The state of Illinois has finalized the credit values for its Adjustable Block Program, which provides solar owners with an upfront payment for 15 years of estimated solar production.  Meanwhile, in South Carolina the state legislature failed to increase the net metering cap and Duke Energy has met its 2% limit. Starting on August 1, 2018 full net metering closes for Duke Energy SC customers and will be replaced by the Purchased Power Rider. First the good news for solar developers:
genability.com | Tariff News

Solar Incentives in Massachusetts

Later this year, Massachusetts will close out it’s SREC program replacing it with the new Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) incentives. While there are still a few details left to be finalized, Genability is able to model the proposed SMART incentives for our customers and has made the new incentives available via the Incentives API.
genability.com | Tariff News

Duke Energy North Carolina Solar Incentives

At 9 AM this morning (July 9, 2018), Duke Energy North Carolina started accepting incentive applications for their Solar Rebate program and Genability has made the new incentive available via our Incentives API.
genability.com | Company

Genability Open for Business for Commercial Energy Customers

We have an exciting announcement. Genability is now open for business to any and all new energy companies servicing commercial and industrial customers. Today we have lifted all restrictions that might have prevented you from working with us in the past.
genability.com | Tariff News

Hawaiian Smart Export and Customer Grid Supply Solar Programs

Starting on 2/20/2018, the three Hawaiian investor-owned utilities will offer two new programs for customers with solar: Customer Grid Supply Plus and Smart Export. Both programs offer export credits for power provided to the grid, an option that has not been available in Hawaii since the Customer Grid Supply programs closed in 2017. Genability has just made these two programs available for Hawaiian Electric Co (HECO), Hawaiian Electric Light Co (HELCO) and Maui Electric Co (MECO) for use in your solar proposals.
genability.com | Products

Estimating Energy Usage from Customer’s Bill Amount

Do you have a potential solar customer’s 12 months of bills or their annual bill amount for electricity? If so, we can now estimate energy usage from that information!
genability.com | Tariff News

New York Public Service Commission Guidelines on Presenting Solar Savings

Effective December 1, 2017, solar developers in New York are required by the New York Public Service Commission (NYPSC) to meet precise guidelines (PDF Download) when presenting savings estimates.  Genability has reviewed these requirements and we have made some data upgrades for New York so that our solar customers can comply with these new requirements without any change to their API integration.  First, let’s review the new savings requirement:
genability.com | Products

Run Down of Genability Developer Website Updates

A quick rundown of the latest and greatest updates on GDN, our developer website.
genability.com | Tariff News

The Methodology Behind our Monthly Residential Rates Newsletter

Every month Genability updates thousands of tariffs. These changes can be as small as a simple rate increase or as large as a whole new rate structure. For just over a year now, around the 10th of each month, we have sent out a summary of those changes in our Monthly Residential Rate newsletter to help our customers better understand and anticipate these changes.
Tariff News

Review of California's Proposed Commercial Time of Use Electricity Tariffs

By

| Reading time 4 minutes

In 2019, both Pacific Gas & Electric (PGE) and Southern California Edison (SCE) will introduce new Time-of-Use (TOU) periods for commercial tariffs. Both utilities are moving highly-priced peak hours later in the day, from mid-afternoon to 4-9 PM. If you are selling solar, storage and/or energy efficiency in California, you want to be sure to calculate savings using these new tariffs. Thanks to Genability’s new Proposed Tariffs product for enterprise customers, now you can!

New Time of Use Periods and Volumetric Charges - SCE

SCE is expected to introduce their new TOU periods in March of 2019.  Headlining the changes are a shift of the On-Peak (Summer) and Mid-Peak (Winter) periods from Noon - 6 PM later in the day to 4 PM - 9 PM.  This moves the highest priced periods outside of the peak hours of solar production.

Further impacting solar customers, SCE has also introduced a matinee Super Off-Peak period in the winter from 8 AM to 4 PM, covering nearly all of the solar production during those months. Also of note, current TOU-8 Options A and R will become Option E, and current Option B will become Option D.

Upcoming per kWh price changes for TOU-8 (below 2 kV) - Weekdays, Solar Hours in** Bold**

Screen Shot 2018-11-30 at 4.03.20 PM

Screen Shot 2018-12-18 at 11.57.09 AM

New Time-of-Use Periods and Volumetric Charges - PG&E

PG&E will introduce new TOU Periods in the fall of 2019, making changes similar to SCE.  The changes start with a shift of the season definitions, moving from 2 seasons to 3.

  Summer Winter Spring
Current May - Oct Nov - Apr  
Proposed Jun - Sep Oct - Feb Mar - May

The new Spring season for PG&E has a matinee Super Off-Peak period (9 AM - 2 PM).

In addition, the On-Peak (Summer) period will shift from mid-day (12 - 6 PM) to evening (4 - 9 PM), with a similar change for Part-Peak in Winter, shifting from the extensive 8 AM to 9 PM currently, to the shorter 4 PM to 9 PM period in late 2019.

Upcoming per kWh price changes for E-19 (Secondary) - Weekdays, Solar Hours in** Bold**

Screen Shot 2018-12-19 at 11.57.42 AM

Screen Shot 2018-12-18 at 11.59.03 AM

The biggest price change for E-19 comes in  the hours from Noon - 2 PM in the month of May.  Under current rates, these hours are priced as Summer On-Peak (14.4¢/kWh).  Under the proposed rates, these hours would shift to Spring Super Off-Peak (5.6¢/kWh), dropping the per kWh rate by over 60% for those two hours.

Changes in Demand Charges

Similar to consumption (kWh) charges, demand charges (kW) for both utilities will also conform to the new seasons and TOU periods. Whereas SCE & PG&E made similar changes to volumetric charges, their updates to demand rates are significantly different, as described below.

Southern California Edison Demand Changes (TOU-8)

SCE has dropped their Maximum demand charge in every month by over 20%, but has compensated by adding a Winter Mid-Peak demand charge that replaces almost all of those costs in the winter months. 

The picture in the Summer is a bit more complex, with the On-Peak demand charge increasing nearly 8%, while the current Mid-Peak demand charge of $3.63 is getting eliminated.  On balance, demand charges decrease under the proposed tariff.

TOU Period Current 2019 Change
Summer On-Peak $18.92 $20.36 +$1.44
Summer Mid-Peak $3.63 $0.00 -$3.63
Winter Mid-Peak $0.00 $4.03 +$4.03
Max Demand (any) $18.55 $14.40 -$4.15

Pacific Gas & Electric Demand Changes (E-19)

PG&E will raise its Max Demand rate by 11%, while keeping its Summer On-Peak nearly identical.  It will drop the Summer Part-Peak demand charge by 40%, while dramatically increasing the Winter/Spring Part-Peak demand charges.

The overall impact is a slight increase in demand charges for PG&E, despite the new season structure dramatically lowering demand charges in May and October.

TOU Period Current 2019
Summer On-Peak $18.64 $18.35
Summer Part-Peak $5.18 $2.85
Winter, Spring Part-Peak $0.12 $1.48
Maximum (all-hours) $17.56 $19.55

Impact on Solar Savings

It’s obvious that the upcoming changes in TOU periods for both SCE and PG&E will reduce solar savings for commercial and industrial customers, but by how much? Genability set out to answer that question by modeling a 1 MW solar system in both PG&E and SCE territories, under the current and proposed tariff structures. Here’s some of what we found.

SCE TOU-8 (below 2 kV) with a Large Office load profile and 1 MW system (60% offset)

  CURRENT PROPOSED
  Without Solar
TOU-8-B
With Solar
TOU-8-R
Savings Without Solar
TOU-8-D
With Solar
TOU-8-E
Savings
Fixed $7,892 $7,892 0 $4,650 $4,650 0
Consumption $202,413 $111,188 $91,225 $201,321 $171,207 $30,114
Demand $226,572 $110,397 $116,175 $195,558 $85,053 $110,505
TOTAL $436,878 $229,477 $207,401 $401,530 $260,910 $140,619
Solar Production 1,584,273kWh Avoided Cost $0.131/kWh 1,584,273 kWh Avoided Cost $0.089/kWh

PG&E E-19 (Secondary) with a Large Office load profile and 1 MW system (60% offset)

  CURRENT PROPOSED
Without Solar
E-19
With Solar
E-19-R
Savings Without Solar
E-19
With Solar
E-19-R
Savings
Fixed $7,195 $1,679 $5,516 $8,634 $1,679 $6,955
Consumption $293,592 $131,016 $162,577 $277,072 $153,539 $123,534
Demand $209,589 $123,478 $86,111 $210,372 $128,569 $81,804
TOTAL $510,377 $256,173 $253,204 $496,079 $283,787 $212,293
Solar Production 1,579,116 kWh AvoidedCost $0.160/kWh 1,579,116kWh AvoidedCost $0.134/kWh

As you can see, the Avoided Cost of Power (ACP) will drop significantly for both utilities under the new rate structure, when evaluating just solar.  The demand savings from the tariff switch remain quite similar (~ 5% decrease in savings), for both utilities. But the savings on consumption charges have been reduced dramatically by the new time of use structures, with the impact most notable for SCE, where a 60% offset of the customer’s load reduces consumption charges by only 15%.

Want more?

Contact your account administrator to check if you have access to our new Proposed Tariffs.  Happy analyzing!

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