[taneq]

Do many places actually do net metering? Where I live, feed-in tariffs are 1/4 or less of the electricity supply cost. Net metering isn’t sustainable if you amortise the infrastructure cost over the energy supplied. Even so we’ve seen the static connection fee portion of our bill rise much faster than supply costs.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

Here in New Mexico, the power company has offered two choices for grid-tied solar. (1) "credits" for surplus power production. The return per kWh is much less than the cost to buy a kWh, but for some people, that's better. (2) no payment for surplus power production, but they "bank" it and you get an energy credit to be deployed when you need extra power.

The main distinction between which of these two systems is better is whether you have a seasonal variation that toggles between over- and under-production. If you do not need (much) heat, or if you heat your home with something other than electricity, and your PV installation is appropriately sized, you will likely not have an under-production season, and then cash credits, even if they are below market rate, are the most desirable. If you heat your home with electricity, even with contemporary air-source heat pumps, you will likely have some under-production during heating season, and then the energy credits are a better deal (1 kWh out for every 1 kWh in).

My home is in the second category. We produce 3x more than we need in summer, and only 1/3rd of what we need in winter.