Selling Solar to Your Utility - Interconnection Agreements

In many states, homeowners and businesses is now able to sell solar power energy to utilities. Doing this requires an interconnection agreement together with your local utility.

Lowering Your Utility Bill

In most states, homeowners using solar may take advantage of a thought referred to as net metering. Net metering essentially identifies the act of selling excess power made by your solar power panels to the neighborhood utility. When you are at work throughout the day, the energy made by panels is fed directly back again to the utility [your meter runs backwards] and you utilize utility energy as you will need it at night. The utility company "pays" you at exactly the same rate per watt as what it charges you, thus developing a "net metering" situation. Practically speaking, this is a tremendous solution to slash or eliminate your electrical bill.

If you would like to sell electricity to the utility company, you can't just take action. Instead, you need to get and sign an interconnection agreement with it. As the name can transform from utility to utility, this agreement basically lays out the bottom rules on what the process will continue to work. Let's have a closer look.

Federal and state laws require utility companies to provide you with standard interconnection agreements. The agreement specifies the conditions and terms under which one's body will be linked to the utility grid. These range from your obligation to obtain any required permits, maintain homeowner's insurance and meet certain connection specifications.

Sometimes set apart as another document, the agreement may also are the specifics linked to the sale and buy of power by each one of you. Rather than installing multiple meters to asses the transfer of power, most utilities only will allow existing utility meter run forward if you are drawing energy from the grid and backward if you are supplying energy to it.

If you supply more energy than you utilize in per month, must the utility company send you a check? Unfortunately, net metering laws usually do not require the utilities to take action. Instead, the business will credit the monetary exact carbon copy of the surplus generation to another month's electrical bill and soon you eventually utilize it throughout a cloudy or rainy month.

Interconnect agreements are fairly standardized agreements that shouldn't cause you much concern. Just ensure you get one before starting up to the neighborhood utility.