If my solar panels generate more electricity than I consume, will DWP reimburse me money?

Question

I recently noticed that my solar panels generate more electricity in my home than I consume, causing my meter to spin backwards. Should I be getting some type of reimbursement?

Answer 1

Contact your power company. You are actually selling energy to them and yes, they should be paying you for it. Lucky you. Pax-C

Answer 2

That is impressive.

As has been said before you should be able to get reimbursement, but I bet they do not make it simple.

Answer 3

I work for a power company and I can tell you that if your power company is like us, you generally are better off not contacting them.

At my company, if you want to sell power back for a reimbursement, we require that your system meets our engineering requirements from both a safety and technical standpoint. We measure the harmonics and cycles to make sure that your system is generating power identical to ours before you introduce it back to the grid. We also inspect your system to make sure that all of the safety guidelines have been met (automatic throw switches to eliminate back feeding when power goes out at your house.) Then we install a separate meter and pay you at our avoided incremental cost which is about $.0035/kWh while charging you retail for your entire consumption.

Depending on where you live, your summer rate might be between $.09 and $.13/kWh. As you can see, you make out much better off by "spinning the meter" backwards than you do by getting them to reimburse you.

I would advise you to look at thier rates and program structure in depth before deciding to contact them.

Answer 4

If your meter is actually running backwards, then you already have a credit. You must have a huge system, or not use much power at all. Most systems  I have seen will at best just cut some percentage of the power used, primarily because the system only produces peak a few hours a day and power is being used 24/7.