Is this retro active? I’m consulting with sunrun for a new install, and the guy says if I sign before this takes effect I’m good and it doesn’t effect me. Anyone know?
We chickened out.
We were planning to go solar, but following the NEM 2 vs NEM 3 discussions, it looked like they might retroactively add a charge for connection and possibly reduce the grandfathering in timeframe from 20 to 15 years.
Ended up canceling even after getting the permit. Supposedly if you are actually up and running before it takes effect you *might* be OK, but all it would take is a month’s delay in permitting to blow that.
IF I recall correctly Sunrun basically leases your roof, so if it turns to crap, you might be protected in the contract and they take the loss; depends on the exact wording.
Since with my small house, even in the most optimal circumstances it was 7.5 years until break-even I bailed.
Good luck! Let me know!
Yes
I’m doing the same thing. as I understand it, has to be operational by 5/1/2022 to qualify under the current rules.
I have sunrun too.......however I think something like this is separate from anything you sign. So the state can change the rules on how much they give you. I heard Nevada did something like that and pissed off people who bought solar.
A little info on how the program works. I pay both sunrun and the local utility for electricity. The particular deal I have probably puts out about 90% of my yearly usage on my roof. Sunrun originally planned on more, but Commed said no. I live in IL so your mileage on that may vary.
Sunrun doesn’t actually give you electricity. You are paying a per month fee for the solar panels despite the language I was told to the contrary, this is how I see it working in practice. As far as com ed is concerned, I own the solar panels.
My yearly billing cycle starts Jan 1. Which is a terrible time to produce electricity. I will actually over pay for the next few months than if I didn’t have sunrun at all. I will pay for electricity from both sunrun and com ed. On my bill I will get a net meter credit that is almost the same as the buy price (per KWH). However, your local bill has delivery charges along with a dozen other things. So my bill will be slightly reduced for the next few months. As the days get longer and the earth tilts us more towards the equator the solar panels will generate more and more KWH every month. If the pattern holds like last year I will have several months where the panels produce more than I consume. Even to the point where my bill gets zeroed out with commed (it pays for all the ancillary charges and taxes too). If I have excess credits they are banked and applied to future bills. I think my first year of install I had 4 months of zero bills with com ed. Last year, my second year, only 3 months of zero bills.
Honestly I’m not sure I’m saving anything right now as I’m totally confused how net metering works. When the sun is shining and I have excess juice to sell......do I use it first and only the extra is sold back? Or is it all sold back and I’m always buying juice from com ed, even when the sun shines brightly. I’d have to grab 12 months of bills and compare them before I got the solar panels installed.
Regardless I think the deal is good for me as the price to sunrun is fixed for 20 years. I’m almost certain the local utility company will raise rates very soon. I live in a blue state and most certainly they will want to add more and more charges for this and that.