Net metering in Rancho Cordova, CA is a way for you, the homeowner, to generate electricity from your solar panels and sell it back. These require metering laws, which many states have, and it’s an extremely effective way to offset your energy costs.
Here in California, we have net metering laws in place. If you’re curious about them, that’s what we’re here to talk about. Let’s go over it.
So What is Net Metering, Really?
Solar energy system owners make money by adding power to the grid instead of taking away from it, simply put. If you have solar panels on your roof, and you generate more electricity than you actually use, a net-metered home will send that additional power back through the lines.
They create an “energy credit” of sorts. Your net meter will know when you use that energy, say at night, but what’s left is used to actually offload to your neighbors. That way it stays local, doesn’t have to travel all the way back to the power plant, and helps extend the power of your solar panels, in a sense.
It Puts You in the Driver’s Seat of Your Energy Consumption
You generate your own electricity from the solar panel system that you own. If you don’t use all of that energy throughout the day, as many homeowners don’t, you profit off of your solar panels. You’re in control of your energy, how much you consume, and relatively, how much you make on the back end as well.
Net Metering Protects the Electrical Grid
We have net metering laws in place in California, but unfortunately, some utility companies look at it as a slight against them and think of it as lost revenues. In truth, you’re getting a benefit, but so are they.
Net metering helps your neighbors, which helps with the delivery and flow of electricity. Because it supports energy systems that are local to you, less power has to surge at once to help these homes, and you’re left with a fantastic way to share power.
There are cost benefits for you and for power plants, not to mention the ecological impact that it has. Even if your neighbors aren’t using solar energy, you might be sending solar power to their homes, anyway. That puts more of the environmental impact in your hands, too.
The Benefits of Net Metering
Net metering has many benefits but it also comes with some requirements depending on who your energy provider is. Some energy providers require an application fee and minimum amounts of power output to be met for you to stay in their net metering program.
There can be a few hoops to jump through, but for the most part, you don’t have to worry about much as you get started with net metering. Those solar panels you installed are about to pay for themselves in a whole new way.
Contact Sierra Pacific Home & Comfort, Inc. today to learn more about net metering and why it’s important, and install your solar system as soon as possible.