It is a law.
The Section 10 of R.A. 9513 and Section 7 of its IRR provides that the ERC, in consultation with NREB, shall establish the net-metering interconnection standards and pricing methodology. This means that all distribution utilities are required to implement the rules.
In simple terms.
If you have solar or other renewable energy (RE) <100kW embedded in the distribution utility (DU) in your residential or commercial establishment, you can sell excess power to the distribution utility. The net-metering rules however compute the rebate base on the blended generation cost which is usually less than half the price when we are buying. For example, we bought the electricity at 11 pesos per kWh, we can sell it at 4 pesos per kWh. The rebate will appear as exported energy discount that will appear on the monthly electrical bill.
The application processes.
You need to secure from LGU an Electrical Permit. The requirements vary on every LGU or municipality. But usually, they require Brgy. Construction Permit, Valid ID of the applicant, Cedula, Land Title Certificate, Resibo ng Amilyar, Electrical Single Line Diagram with signed and sealed of REE/PEE, etc. Upon submission of requirements and payment, the LGU office or building official or engineering will inspect the premises for compliance purposes.
With the electrical permit completed, you may now proceed to secure a Net-Metering application from the nearest branch office of the DU. There are technical documents that are required to proceed with the application, your renewable energy installer should have the full idea. There are also technical requirements on site that the distribution utility will require. One of these is the Enclosed Circuit Breaker for isolation which is installed after the electricity meter. Another is the REC (generated energy) meter which is now required to be near the electricity meter according to the new rules.
Your renewable energy facilities should also comply with the distribution utility interconnection requirements. One of these is the 10mins reconnection time. Other DU still requires distribution impact studies that study the power quality at the point of connection. I will discuss these on another topic.
The total fees and other charges vary per LGU and per DU. The difficult portion is the manual processing of documents from point to point.
Buying and Selling of electricity.
Your existing electricity meter only reads one direction of energy which we call imported energy. This is the energy we are getting from the distribution utility. When your net-metering was approved, the DU will change your meter or reprogram the existing to read a bi-directional power. The energy we sell to the grid is what we call exported energy. Both energies are recorded by the meter reader during the normal billing cycle.
It is highly recommended to have your renewable energy join the net-metering program.
Unless your RE is Off the Grid, the benefits of net-metering will surely attain the perfect energy savings promise. For example, if you have a Grid-Tie Rooftop Solar and your daily electricity consumption is 40% in the daytime and 60% at night, you can cut only 40% of your total energy in a perfect scenario. However, if no one is using in the daytime (say the whole family is out of town) the solar energy will be wasted. But if you have net metering, you can sell those excess solar energies.
A powerful force for good.
Will ease the loading of the grid removing the likelihood of unintentional power interruptions and intentional rotating brownouts. Will help reduce the universal cost of electricity. It will make you happy thinking you have an electrical power generation plant that sells energy.
Engr. Jayson Francisco
07 Feb 2021
Grey Electrical Engineering Services
is Your Partner.
Protect the Clients. Support the Installers. Level the Cost of Supply. Challenge the Manufacturers.
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