Reading your bill
Reading Your Bill
When you switch to solar, your monthly utility bill will drop significantly. And that’s great news! However, due to net energy metering you’ll also gain an annual energy bill. Based on your usage and generation during the year, you may have a balance or owe nothing.
Let’s take a look at your new bill so you know what to expect on a monthly and yearly basis.
- 1 Account number: At the top of your bill, you’ll find your customer account, service account, and rotating outage group information. This is important for billing and customer support from your utility provider.
- 2 Amount due: This shows you the amount due now and the due date. This is the sum of your monthly non-energy charges.
- 3 Account summary:: Here, you’ll find an overview of your account including your previous balance, payment received, balance forward, and new charges due. Any extra payments made on your yearly energy charges will not be reflected here.
- 4 Information about your annual energy bill: This shows your current billing month and year-to-date charges for energy consumption or credits for energy generation. Credits toward your bill will show up as negative numbers.
- 5 Compare your monthly electricity usage: This section shows how much electricity you used this month and how much you generated in kWh. It will also show your usage in the past for comparison purposes.
- 6 Payment slip: This is the part you will return to your utility company along with your payment if you pay by mail.
- 7 Your non-energy related charges: Here you’ll find a breakdown of the fees and taxes associated with energy distribution. These charges must be paid monthly.
- 8 Your energy related charges: This will show the details of your new energy related charges or credits. Positive numbers indicate the amount of energy you used from the utility grid, while negative numbers indicate energy you generated and sent to the grid. If you “net consumed,” you will owe money for the month, but if you “net generated,” you’ll receive a credit to your account. This is for informational purposes only, since you are billed for energy related charges at the end of your annual billing cycle. If you want to pay some of this as you go, your payment amount will show up as credits in this section.
- 9 Message center: This section has messages from your utility provider about credits you may have received, ways to contact them, how to pay your bill, and more.
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