{"id":11200,"date":"2023-08-04T16:45:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T16:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/?p=11200"},"modified":"2023-08-04T17:01:45","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T17:01:45","slug":"why-is-my-electric-bill-so-high-with-solar-panels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/why-is-my-electric-bill-so-high-with-solar-panels\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is My Electric Bill So High With Solar Panels?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are two reasons why your electric bill could be high with solar panels.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First, your panels may not be producing enough electricity during the day to power your home <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">offset the grid electricity you are using at night. This is typically the case for systems with 1:1 net metering.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Second, the value of the excess electricity you are pushing onto the grid during the day is lower than the value of the electricity you pull off the grid at night. This is especially common under California\u2019s NEM 3.0 solar billing policy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this article, we\u2019ll explore what causes solar owners to have leftover <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/why-is-my-electricity-bill-so-high\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">electricity bills<\/a> and how to minimize these or prevent them altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why is my electric bill so high with solar panels and 1:1 net metering?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your solar system has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/what-is-net-energy-metering\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1:1 net metering<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and you <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">still <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">have an amount due on your electricity bill (aside from fixed basic charges), it means that your system isn\u2019t producing as much power as you\u2019re consuming.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under 1:1 net metering, the value of excess solar electricity is equal to the retail value of grid electricity. So, a system sized to produce 100% of your average consumption should completely offset your electricity bill (aside from certain fixed charges).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>There are several reasons why you could have a high electricity bill under 1:1 net metering.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increased consumption<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019re using more electricity than your panels can offset. This may be due to a heat wave that caused you to run the AC more than usual or a new electric vehicle that you\u2019re charging at home.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Related reading: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/what-uses-the-most-electricity-in-a-home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>What Uses the Most Electricity in a Home?<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Production loss<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your consumption hasn\u2019t changed significantly, it could be that your panels are underproducing. This could be because of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/what-is-the-best-way-to-clean-solar-panels\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">soiling loss (aka dirty panels)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or an equipment failure. Check each panel\u2019s performance on your monitoring software and call your installer if there is an issue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Solar production loss can also stem from natural events like wildfire smoke, heatwaves, and abnormally old cloudy weather.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your system is too small<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have a new system that\u2019s not offsetting 100% of your annual consumption, it could be that your system is undersized and simply unable to reduce your electricity bill down to zero.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Related reading: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/how-many-solar-panels-do-i-need-to-install\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How Many Solar Panels Do I Need To Power a House?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poor timing<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Net metering cycles, in many places, run from March to February. The idea is to build credits through spring and summer to offset lower production in fall and winter. If your system was installed in the fall, it likely won\u2019t produce enough to offset your electricity bill and you won\u2019t have any net metering credits built up yet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, you\u2019ll have a few months of leftover electricity bills before your system starts building credit in the spring.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Related reading: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/when-is-the-best-time-to-buy-solar-panels\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Is The Best Time to Buy Solar Panels?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why is my electricity bill so high with solar panels under NEM 3.0 solar billing?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">California\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/nem-3-0-proposal-and-impacts-for-california-homeowners\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NEM 3.0 solar billing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is an entirely different animal than 1:1 net metering.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For customers of SCE, PG&amp;E, and SDG&amp;E, the <\/span><b>NEM 3.0 solar billing rates do not give as much value to the surplus solar you send to the grid as what you&#8217;re charged to draw power from the grid in the evening.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In fact, there are 576 different rates that vary every hour of the day and every month of the year, but the overall average for the value of your surplus power is about 25% of the full retail rate that you&#8217;re billed in the evening.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, the solar power used directly in your home to power lights, A\/C, etc. still has full value since it&#8217;s replacing electricity you would have bought from your utility during the day, but the excess power you push onto the grid is only worth around 25% of the power your are buying from the grid when the sun goes down and your solar panels aren\u2019t producing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As such, you\u2019ll likely have remaining charges for your overnight usage since you&#8217;re only offsetting about 25% of those evening costs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under NEM 3.0 billing, we typically see monthly electricity bill reductions averaging around 50%, even when the total system production matches the total energy demand from the home over the course of the year, as shown below.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/solar-only-NEM-3-bill.png\" alt=\"monthly bill amount before solar and with a solar-only system under NEM 3.0 billing\" width=\"1832\" height=\"542\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example average electricity bill before and after solar. The $144 after solar represents the \u201cleftover bill\u201d due to low export rates in NEM 3.0 solar billing.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even 50% bill savings can be quite substantial, especially as utility rates increase over time. However, it\u2019s not the 100% bill offset that Californians have come to expect from rooftop solar.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to reduce leftover bills under NEM 3.0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are a couple of approaches that can address leftover bill amounts due to the lower export rates of NEM 3.0 solar billing. In general, the idea is to store and use as much of your solar production as possible to avoid selling it to the grid at low value.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The best option is pairing the solar system with a battery. You can use a battery to store the surplus energy from the solar system rather than feeding it back into the electric grid, and then use that stored power in the evening rather than drawing in from the grid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, let\u2019s say you produce 10 kWh of excess solar power during the day. Instead of selling it to the grid for 7.5 cents per kWh, you can store it in a battery and use it at night to avoid buying utility electricity at 30 cents per kWh.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The idea is to squeeze the most value out of every kWh of solar production. In the example below, adding a battery reduces the electric bill by $79 per month or nearly $950 per year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/solar-and-battery-nem-3-bill.png\" alt=\"example electricity bill before solar, after solar, and with solar and battery in NEM 3.0\" width=\"1846\" height=\"798\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using battery storage can reduce the leftover monthly bill by 50% or more and, in many cases, bring it down to minimum basic charges.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As utility rates increase over time, reducing that leftover electricity bill adds up to serious savings. The graph below shows the cumulative cost of before solar, after solar, and solar + battery over 20 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/battery-vs-solar-only.png\" alt=\"chart showing the savings potential of solar-only versus solar and battery in NEM 3.0\" width=\"2270\" height=\"1804\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Without solar, a $306 monthly utility bill adds up to nearly $110,000 over 20 years, assuming 4% rate increases each year<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With solar only, reducing the bill by ~50% adds up to nearly $40,000 in electricity cost savings over 20 years<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With solar and battery, reducing the bill by ~80% adds up to nearly $80,000 in energy costs savings over 20 years.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, you\u2019ll likely need to replace the battery at some point \u2013 but <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at most <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that puts a $10,000 dent in your $80,000 savings. And in 10-15 years, home batteries will likely cost a few thousand dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The bottom line<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are many things that could cause a high electricity bill with solar panels. If you have 1:1 net metering and your system is designed to produce 100% of your electricity usage, it\u2019s important to diagnose the issue quickly in order to prevent further lost savings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under NEM 3.0 billing in California, substantial leftover bill amounts are to be expected for solar-only systems. However, adding battery storage to the system can significantly reduce your interaction with the grid and, by extension, your leftover bill amounts.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are two reasons why your electric bill could be high with solar panels.\u00a0 First, your panels may not be producing enough electricity during the day to power your home&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":11214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[46,2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.5 (Yoast SEO v19.10) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Is My Electric Bill So High With Solar Panels? | Solar.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We\u2019ll explore what causes solar owners to have leftover electricity bills and how to minimize these or prevent them altogether\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/why-is-my-electric-bill-so-high-with-solar-panels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Is My Electric Bill So High With Solar Panels?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019ll explore what causes solar owners to have leftover electricity bills and how to minimize these or prevent them altogether\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/why-is-my-electric-bill-so-high-with-solar-panels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Solar.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-04T16:45:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-04T17:01:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/why-is-my-electricity-bill-so-high-with-solar-panels-e1691168454913.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sam Wigness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SamuelWigness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sam Wigness\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/why-is-my-electric-bill-so-high-with-solar-panels\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/why-is-my-electric-bill-so-high-with-solar-panels\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sam Wigness\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/b594f06d4c2b5e6a0e85af02b90fb883\"},\"headline\":\"Why Is My Electric Bill So High With Solar Panels?\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-04T16:45:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-04T17:01:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/why-is-my-electric-bill-so-high-with-solar-panels\/\"},\"wordCount\":1198,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"How Do Solar Panels Lower Your Electric Bill?\",\"The Pros and Cons of Rooftop Solar in 2026\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/why-is-my-electric-bill-so-high-with-solar-panels\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/why-is-my-electric-bill-so-high-with-solar-panels\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/why-is-my-electric-bill-so-high-with-solar-panels\/\",\"name\":\"Why Is My Electric Bill So High With Solar Panels? 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