Some things on your electric bill will stay the same, such as your monthly service charge and items like transmission and distribution charges, to name a few.

Solar will only affect the kWh portion of your bill. Once your solar electric system is operational, you’ll see kWh credits on your bill. Any excess kWhs will be applied to your bill based on your solar rate, either EPR-2 or Resource Comparison Proxy (RCP).

The kWh portion of your bill will be based on the readings from our bi-directional meter, also known as billable meter. The production meter (non-billable) installed on your home measures the overall generation of your solar electric system. The billable meter registers energy flowing from your solar electric system into your home and excess energy going to our grid. This is known as net billing.

It depends on the solar rate you choose – RCP or EPR-2.

The RCP rate allows customers to receive a credit for excess energy sent to the grid. Any bill credit in excess of the customer’s otherwise applicable monthly bill will be credited on the next monthly bill, or subsequent bills if necessary. After the December bill, a customer may request a check for any outstanding credits from the prior year; however, if the outstanding credits exceed $25, we will automatically issue a check to the customer. Otherwise, the bill credits will carry forward to the following year.

And with the EPR-2 rate, known as net billing, you will receive a billing credit for excess kWh in the month the excess is generated. The credit will be deducted from your monthly bill.

You’ll want to consider things like the size of the system, how much energy it will produce, how much money you’re likely to save, the age and condition of your roof, and whether to buy or lease. You may also want to contact tax professionals, your HOA, your insurance agent, and a real estate professional. And remember to get quotes from three installers so that you can compare.

On average, every 1,000 watts will produce 4 to 5 kWh of electricity per day. If you have a 6 kW system, it would produce about 30 kWhs per day (6 kW x 5 kWh/day). In an average month, your system would generate approximately 900 kWhs (30 days x 30 kWhs/day). Your solar system’s production information is available on aps.com. Go to “daily energy usage”, “locate for service at” and change the drop-down to the address that has an asterisk. Then, you can download a spreadsheet for your records.

The amount of electricity your system produces is based on many factors. Some of these factors are: size of the system, orientation and tilt of the panels, and amount of sunlight hitting the panels. Some factors that limit the amount of sunlight reaching the panels are cloudy or overcast days, amount of dirt/dust on the panels, and shading from nearby trees, buildings, roof-mounted HVAC systems and chimneys.

Yes, you will need to submit an application if you are changing the size of the inverter or adding an additional inverter.

For grandfathered systems, a customer may not increase the capacity of the grandfathered solar generation unit by more than a total of 10% or 1 kW, whichever is greater.