let's talk about community solar... if you've just signed up, check your bill

Submitted by zezar911 t3_yxs1fz in Maine

i signed up for nautilus community solar earlier this year understanding i was interested in getting more green energy (why not) at a discount (15%, great!)

the basic premise is you pay for an allocation (% of the solar farm allocated to production for your usage) that understands there is more production in summer vs. winter (so your bill will be higher when it's PRODUCED, not used). any leftover credits from a month are rolled over to the following to month, to help account for volatility in production over the course of the year.

sounds great and all. i signed up back in march, got my first bill yesterday. but the solar farm didn't come online until july. they then proceeded to allocate assuming it was a full year (they assumed i had underproduced in Jan - Jun, which is obviously not the case as i was still getting power from CMP then).

here's the kick: maine state law does not allow for solar credits to be rolled over at the end of the year, there are other states that do not have this law. so since i've massively overproduced up until today (when i got my first bill and noticed the issue) and i will end the year with a large credit (probably $500) that i will lose.

i've asked nautilus to explain why they did not account for the fact that the solar farm did not come online until july. i imagine other customers in my situation (who get their allocations from this farm) will be in for quite a shock when they make the discovery i have.

they said it takes 4-6 weeks for an allocation to be changed, so even if the day the farm came online i was aware of this, i still would have probably been out $150 for the overproduction in july.

now, if maine didn't have a law that forbade credits rolling over, this would be a non-issue. i'll probably start growing weed or having disco concerts at my house so i can use up all that extra energy i've paid for but otherwise wouldn't use. ugh.

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znugeman t1_iwqdlno wrote

Hey, solar industry guy here. Maine state law for solar credits is based on a rolling 12 months, not calendar year. So those credits will be good for 12 months from the month they were produced (July 2022-July 2023)

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znugeman t1_iwqdvp9 wrote

At least that how it works with all ownership based solar (rooftop and solar farm). My company doesn’t deal with subscription solar so please correct me if I’m wrong about subscription credits.

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zezar911 OP t1_iwr2ge2 wrote

really? that was definitely not explained to me, i will investigate. thank you, this gives me hope!!!!

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Capable-Broccoli2179 t1_ix3uydr wrote

Thanks solar guy! We own a 1.5% stake in Curravale solar farm. We produced ton of excess this summer and look forward to no power bills ever again! All we pay is delivery charge. We got extra as well allowing us to install heat pumps so not only no more power bill we have no oil bill either. Ever. We figure payback period will be about 10 years and it cost us a ton up front to do it but now no more oil burning and we are green and in our retirement we have no electric or oil bills which amounted to over 10k a year.

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Deltron_Zed t1_iwq9q52 wrote

Too bad YOU can't sell it to neighbors. Or at least redistribute it amongst them to remove other paying costumers. You know, just to be petty.

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zezar911 OP t1_iwqakrd wrote

if there was a safe way i could "give it" away i would... can't really think of a way other than running extension cords, which would not be particularly safe :D

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Deltron_Zed t1_iwqlgsn wrote

Had a friend who's father in law built a family compound on a Maine mountain with a full, hydro produced electrical system including poles, lines and such. So there is a way to do it. But he was an engineer and, you know, is it worth that effort?

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biglymonies t1_iwqb6k4 wrote

Charge up some batteries and haul them over 😂

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zezar911 OP t1_iwqbamv wrote

figure buying the batteries would just make the loss even worse, lol

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New_Sun6390 t1_iwrpdsu wrote

Are you sure that you lose any credits at the end of the calendar year, December, and not at the end of a 12-month period? I'm pretty sure with net metering the credits stayed on your account for 12 months and would drop off in the 13th month. But I'm not sure if the community solar rules are the same.

I've seen a lot of direct mail solicitations to join one of these community solar farms, but I have not decided to pull the trigger because I'm not sure if all of the hassle is worth possibly saving 15%.

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zezar911 OP t1_iwsn0tp wrote

nautilus reps on phone says calendar year, CMP says rolling.

ill get to the bottom of this soon…

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NotYou007 t1_iwss95e wrote

I use power market and there has been zero hassle. I signed up last year, have been using their service all year. The only downside is they do bill directly from a checking or savings account. With CMP I can pay them with a credit card. I can't do that with power market but thankfully for me it's not an issue.

As far as savings. I've saved close to $300 this year alone so it's been worth it. My bill for CMP each month is $13.73 and power market invoices me by email so I know how much will be debited for my checking account. It's about as hassle free as it can get.

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Eastern-Ad-8403 t1_iwu9tln wrote

I second this. Other than auto pay annoyance we have had great results with Powermarket. It’s pretty enjoyable to see that CMP only gets $13.73 a month from me.

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SadExtension524 t1_iwtavid wrote

I have Nautilus too, and my bill was $20.05 last month

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6byfour t1_ixcibiv wrote

I may be reading something wrong, but if your overproduction is likely to continue I’d suggest heat pumps and a heat pump water heater. You’ll displace at least some of your oil cost with your electric credit.

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