THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF PV AND NET METERING TO RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS IN CALIFORNIA

摘要

In this paper, we analyze the bill savings from PV for residential customers of the California's two largest electric utilities, under existing net metering tariffs as well as under several alternative compensation mechanisms. We find that economic value of PV to the customer is dependent on the structure of the underlying retail electricity rate and can vary quite significantly from one customer to another. In addition, we find that the value of the bill savings from PV generally declines with PV penetration level, as increased PV generation tends to offset lower-priced usage. Customers in our sample from both utilities are significantly better off with net metering than with a feed-in tariff where all PV generation is compensated at long-run avoided generation supply costs. Other compensation schemes which allow customers to displace their consumption with PV generation within each hour or each month, and are also based on the avoided costs, yield similar value to the customer as net metering.