Solar Net Metering For Your Business

Cost:Free

Who May Participate: Any City of Tallahassee Commercial Electric customers. Are you a residential customer?

How to Get Started: Call Customer Operations at 850-891-4968 or email SolarNetMetering@Talgov.com. Download and fill out the Commercial Customer Solar Net Metering Interconnection Agreement form.

Additional Information

Over 1.7 megawatts of net metered solar photovoltaic (PV) equipment has been installed in Tallahassee and is generating clean, renewable energy from the sun.

Here's how it works: Install approved PV or solar electric panels that operate in conjunction with the City's electric grid. This will provide your home and the City with clean and renewable energy. When you're generating more power than you can use with rooftop solar photovoltaic panels, your electric meter will essentially "spin backwards" with net metering, thereby lowering your monthly electric bill. Excess solar energy produced during the daytime typically offsets consumption at your premise at night. Excess power (generated by small to moderate-sized PV units-up to 100 kilowatts) may be returned to the City of Tallahassee Utilities at the full retail value, including taxes.

Some interesting questions arise with net-metering:

1. Does the City ever write a check to the customer for excess power production?
   No. It's a system of kWh credits. The credits are banked by the meter. Credits carry over month to month, but not year to year. The year-end in this case is marked according to the net metering anniversary date.
   
   
2. If the City bills me for "net" metered kWh's, how do I know how much energy was used in my home, how much my PV system produced, and how much was sent back to the City's grid?
   The City's metering doesn't answer those questions. The City's net meter only registers the "net" energy amount. Your PV system's inverter probably displays the running total of kWh (alternating current) production since system installation - you can determine monthly PV production by reading the inverter monthly and recording the production totals (subtract the earlier month's total from the later to get a monthly production amount in kWh).
   
   
3. Is there any charge for having a City net meter installed?
   No. The customer signs a PV Interconnect agreement that requires some detailed information about the PV system. There are design and inspection requirements applicable to the PV system. But no charge for net-metering.
   
   
4. For larger commercial customers, will net metering lower the monthly Demand (kW) billing?
   No, with regard to Demand billing, a net meter is no different than a standard meter. With either type of metering, if PV power production peaks at noon but the business power usage peaks at 4 p.m., the presence of PV generation may lower monthly demand billing very little if at all.

City of Tallahassee Electric customers with Solar Photovoltaic (PV) generating systems and Solar Net Metering can register kWh credits when producing more electricity than they can use. Call 850-891-4968 to learn more about this technology. Download the Solar Net Metering interconnection agreement form now.

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