Net metering is a special metering and billing arrangement between you and your utility company. It is a simplified method that measures the difference between the electricity you buy from your local utility company that you have consumed and the excess you produce using you own renewable energy generator, such as a wind generating mill or turbine. With net metering, you use the electricity you generate first, reducing what you would normally buy. If you generate more than you use, the excess goes through your electric meter and into the grid. You will be required to sign a net metering agreement. Check with your power company for their requirements.
How does Net Energy Metering work?
If through the use of your wind or solar energy generating system you at any time of the day produce more electricity than your home or business needs, this is excess and it will automatically go through the electric meter into the utility grid to be supplied to other customers. Net metering then allows this electricity to run “backward” through your electric meter and out into the electric grid. When this happens, the meter runs backwards. Generating excess electricity puts it back into the electric grid.
This then is the reason it is classified as a renewable energy solution: generating electricity using free natural energy sources. In the United States of America, under an existing federal law (PURPA, Section 210), power customers can use the electricity they generate with their wind turbines, offsetting electricity use they would otherwise have to purchase from the utility company at the retail price. When you produce any excess electricity, beyond what is needed to meet your own needs, the utility purchases that excess at the wholesale price, which will be lower than the retail price. Net metering simplifies this arrangement and you then are billed only for the net energy if consumed during the billing period. Your first step: contact your local utility company and get the details about the technical requirements, the approval process, and how to obtain your net-metering agreement. Do your part to go green and save money in the process.
Source by D Letro
