How does Net Metering work?
A. Net Metering is a special metering and billing agreement between you and your utility or electric service provider (ESP). Normally your electric meter spins forward as it measures how many kilowatt-hours of electricity you buy, and is read by your utility once a month. Net Metering agreement allows you to use the electricity you generate first, reducing what you would normally buy from your utility or ESP. If you generate more electricity than you use, the excess goes through your electric meter and into the grid, spinning your meter backward. Your meter shows the net amount, measured as the difference between the electricity you generate and the electricity you purchase from your utility or ESP.
Net Metering is a special metering and billing agreement between you and your utility or electric service provider (ESP). Normally your electric meter spins forward as it measures how many kilowatt-hours of electricity you buy, and is read by your utility once a month. Net Metering agreement allows you to use the electricity you generate first, reducing what you would normally buy from your utility or ESP. If you generate more electricity than you use, the excess goes through your electric meter and into the grid, spinning your meter backward. Your meter shows the net amount, measured as the difference between the electricity you generate and the electricity you purchase from your utility or ESP.
Thanks to New York State’s “net metering” law, enacted in 1997, New York residents can now use solar power to literally turn back their electric meter, and sell excess energy production back to the utility. Your electric meter spins forward when electricity is flowing from LIPA into your home. The meter spins backward when power is flowing from your home back to the utility. That is, on days when you make more than you are using, the excess energy flows back to the utility’s electric grid system, which turns your electric meter backwards. At the end of the month, you are billed only for net consumption – the amount of electricity consumed less the amount of electricity distributed back to LIPA’s grid.
In selling electricity back to the grid, one method involves simply rolling the existing power meter backwards as excess energy is pushed back onto the grid. Another method involves installing a separate meter to measure just outgoing energy. As the grid smartens up, the market for smarter meters, like those from SmartSynch will grow as consumers and utilities demand more and information control of their meters.
