Modeling PV Rate Schedules

Hello,

I work in a market where we have had some recent changes to our metering/distribution laws and it does not seem SAM can support the new "distributed generation" inflow/outflow model within its billing and metering section.

1. If I choose "Net Billing w carryover to next month", why does the excess generation value only apply to the next month and so on? I need it to apply the excess generation values from each time step first and foremost to the month in which they were generated and then have them roll over to the next month. Is is possible to model this?

2. If I choose "net billing w carryover to next month" the excess generation credit is applied to the total bill the next month, however our new regulation in Michigan says that excess generation credits (defined by the "sell rate" in SAM) can only be used to offset the generation value of further purchased electricity, not the distribution fees (In SAM there is only an aggregate purchase rate). Is there a way to model this? I am imagining a situation where credits rolled over from the previous month are applied to the aggregate bill and not only the distribution charges for electricity purchased which will result in a skewed analysis; when in reality they should only be applied to the generation value of further purchased electricity then rolled to the next month.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Hello,

Can you point me to a description of the metering laws you are trying to model? I'm not sure I understand how credits for excess generation are supposed to be handled from your description in Item 1.

As for Item 2, it is not possible in SAM to use credits toward only a portion of the electricity bill. Are the distribution fees in your case a fixed monthly charge, or are the a portion of the energy charge?

We are maintaining a list of requested enhancements for SAM's electricity bill calculations on the SAM GitHub page . Once I understand the Michigan model better, I will add these enhancements to the list.

Best regards,
Paul.

Hi Paul,

To give you a little better of an idea of what I am working with see attached Rider 18 (Pages 3-10). Hopefully this helps clarify my questions about rate schedule modeling. 

Thanks!

Great! Thank you for attaching the file.

Best regards,
Paul.