I have just updated to the new version of SAM and the Monthly Accounting of Excess Generation seems to have new options than before (can't remember what they were), but when I toggle between
Option 1 - Cumulative hourly excess credited to current month bill in $ at sell rates ($0/kWh), and
Option 2 - All generation sold at sell rates and all load purchased at buy rates
The results change significantly - from an attractive return and 7yr payback to a negative return and NA payback.
Option 1 is for most types of net metering, where the system meets the load to reduce the monthly electricity bill, and any excess kWh at the end of the month is credited to the next month's bill. There is no sell rate because the kWh generated by the system are used to reduce the kWh billed to the customer.
Option 2 is for a special kind of net metering, where the excess generation at the end of the month is credited to the next month's bill in dollars instead of kWh. That dollar value is determined by the sell rate, so if you set the sell rate to zero for all time-of-use periods, then the dollar credit is zero.
Option 1 and Option 2 will give similar results if you set the sell rate in Option 2 equal to the buy rate. If the rates for the energy charge are flat, i.e., with no time-of-use rates, then the two options should be identical (as long as the Option 1 "Sell rate for kWh rolled over at end of year" is the same as the flat rate.
Please see the attached .sam file for an example (
SAM 2017.1.17 468 KB
).
You can use the values reported under "Monthly Data" on the Data tables tab of the Results page to explore the electricity bill calculations.
Please see the Help topic in SAM for the Electricity Rates page for more detailed descriptions of those options.
Best regards,
Paul.