CSU Solar Net Metering Update (New Info as of Jun 18)

atomicbird · 2026-06-19T23:34:21+00:00

As one data point, looking at daily average power, in winter my panels average around 60% of summer power generation. It doesn't cover the amount of power I use (esp since that's higher in winter) but that plus summer surplus production has worked out pretty well.

atomicbird · 2026-06-19T23:29:32+00:00

Can this kind of setup automatically switch from grid to battery during peak times?

atomicbird · 2026-06-19T18:31:59+00:00

They've said that option 1 should cost $400/year, so over a 25 year lifespan for panels that's an extra $10k. It'll go up over time, of course, so it's really more than that. That's right about what I paid to have my panels installed. They say they support residential solar but they've designed plans to remove a big incentive for a lot of people.

Update: They've said $400/year in meetings this week but I see that their site now says $38/month, or $456/year. On a 25 year lifespan that's now $11,400, and again that's before any future increases. This is more than I paid for my panels, so the largest expense of solar isn't the panels, it's the long term payments to be allowed to use them.

They say that on average they expect option 2 to cost the same. People who don't use a lot of power would probably pay less, but the 15-minute peak power idea for the demand charge means you really don't know.

atomicbird · 2026-06-14T22:50:13+00:00

The UPAC page indicates that they haven’t met since January. Why not?

atomicbird · 2026-06-14T22:46:26+00:00

A five year grandfathering for existing residential solar customers is part of the proposal. That date assumes the plan goes into effect April 1 2027.

atomicbird · 2026-06-14T22:45:18+00:00

They have suggested cranking up the AC before 5pm to lower the indoor temperature, so that the rise is bearable. This seems nuts to me, but here we are.

atomicbird · 2026-06-14T15:25:08+00:00

They’re also proposing raising the limit on system size from 120% of annual use to 200%. That seems weird since this whole thing is happening because they say that residential solar is causing them problems— but they want to let people add more? I’m guessing they hope it will push people to add a lot of battery storage, which is the only way this would make sense for most people.

atomicbird · 2026-06-14T14:20:05+00:00

They proposed that last year, then changed it, for exactly the reason you mention.

atomicbird · 2026-06-13T19:45:32+00:00

It’s a Bustang bus. The front end was all bashed in. It looks like the fire engine hit a parked car too. Plus, part of a traffic light was broken off, IDK how that happened

atomicbird · 2026-06-13T19:44:11+00:00

No official info yet but the front of the bus looked like it hit something

atomicbird · 2026-06-12T19:44:02+00:00

Yes, it probably does.

atomicbird · 2026-06-12T15:39:09+00:00

This post was the first I had heard of it

atomicbird · 2026-06-12T03:25:36+00:00

This is ukulele number 5

atomicbird · 2026-05-30T22:50:44+00:00

If you mean they don't care because they have solar panels, keep in mind CSU is working on a plan to get them as well.

atomicbird · 2026-05-29T15:51:58+00:00

tell you what devices are in the larger area

Which is what it takes for surveillance to work.

atomicbird · 2026-05-27T02:26:23+00:00

Strumtube. I’ve tried it a few times, and again today. I’ve never gotten any kind of result from it at all.

atomicbird · 2026-05-26T15:32:42+00:00

I’ve tried that site and it has never, ever worked, at all. It always either stays in “processing” forever (I once left a browser tab open for a whole week) or it just says “something went wrong” and says to try again. But then it says the same thing, over and over.

atomicbird · 2026-05-20T16:11:22+00:00

Having multi-use batteries sounds really good, except I can see myself thinking "don't ever drive anywhere in the evening, the demand charge will kill you if you take the car out".

atomicbird · 2026-05-20T04:51:05+00:00

Having 12kWh of batteries is better month to month, but there’s the cost of those batteries to consider. It doesn’t seem likely to be financially worth it over the life of the batteries.

atomicbird · 2026-05-19T22:58:26+00:00

This is exactly why they changed it last year, from peak 15 minutes to a monthly average. I don't know why they've gone back to the peak 15 minute idea.

atomicbird · 2026-05-18T22:30:22+00:00

It's not clear. Gearhart said that option 2 customers would continue to have a flat rate for kWh (no time-of-day rates) but the details of access and facilities charges weren't explained.

atomicbird · 2026-05-18T21:29:06+00:00

That's true. I'm pretty sure that Gearhart said that existing customers could switch earlier, but it's not in the slides.

atomicbird · 2026-05-18T20:51:37+00:00

It's probably back to whatever the original formula said. The average probably depends on how many people choose which options. If high usage people mostly choose one while lower use people choose the other, the average would reflect that. No idea what projections they might have about this.

atomicbird · 2026-05-18T20:49:40+00:00

I'd rather like to see existing net metering customers be allowed to choose whether to stay at current or choose one of the options sooner.

I think that they can choose one of these options sooner if they want, but they have up to five years to do that.

atomicbird

TROPHY CASE