In the pretty picture above, a coal-fired electricity generation plant belches out black smoke. This makes a nice picture, but the impact on the environment is a different matter. The dirt, pollution and the greenhouse gases emitted should concern all of us. You can participate, to both benefit the planet and your own wallet at the same time.

This page focuses on the financial side of net metering. For an overall view see our main page for net metering.

Net Metering

This has as its financial objective to generate as much electricty as you consume over the period of a year. A system is sized to generate a little more than you consume and there is no benefit to your wallet to generating in excess of this amount. However for a different point of view you still benefit the planet by generating a surplus beyond your own needs as it reduces the amount of fossil fuels consumed byghe electricty generators on the grid to supply power to your neighbours.

If your system is smaller than your average annual consumption then you will not reduce your electricty consumption charge to zero, but it will be lowered.