Meters

Understanding how a building utilizes energy is essential to appropriately sizing a photovoltaic solar system. You'll want to generate enough power to be worth their while, but if the system generates more than they use in a year, they'll be feeding the grid for free. The ideal offset depends on the customer's objectives, whether they have battery storage, and the utility's solar buyback policy. The Meter provides the "demand" side of the offset calculation.

How Meters are used

In Jigawatt Fusion, the Meter is the thing that tracks the customer's energy usage history. Since energy demand tends to cycle annually with the seasons, the Meter calls for twelve months of usage (kWh) and bills ($). When you create your Layout, the system's production will be measured against the Meter's demand, allowing you to size the system effectively. Meter data also plays a large role in the Proposal, which generates numerous visualizations and projections for the solar value proposition.

Using the Meter calculator

A Meter is complete when all twelve months of both the Bills column and the Cost column are plugged in. The calculator is highly flexible to account for the myriad ways utilities format their energy bills. For instance:

It will automatically calculate the effective Rate (which can be drastically different from the advertised rate) from the Bill Total ($) and Usage (kWh) values.

If any two of Usage (kWh), Bill Total ($) and Rate ($/kWh) are known, it will calculate the missing value for you.

In cases where an unavoidable interconnection fee skews your projection, it can be accounted for, so the true savings of energy offset can be understood.

If the history is incomplete or unavailable, you can apply a Meter Curve to get a good faith projection.

The Meter is a critical component to quoting

Good quoting usually starts by plugging the bill history into the Meter. Understanding energy demand is critical to designing an appropriately-sized solar Layout.

Projects allow multiple Meters, but this will only apply occasionally (commercial projects; houses with workshops, casitas, outbuildings, etc.). A Meter can be applied to multiple Layouts for comparison, but a Layout can only connect to a single Meter. To wrap your head around the powerful, symbiotic relationship between Meters, Layouts, and Quotes, give this article a read.

Energy Cost Escalator

Though solar panels degrade with time, the loss in productivity is–historically–considerably slower than the increase in the cost of energy. Both energy cost inflation and panel degradation are factored into Jigawatt Fusion's projections.

The precise rate of inflation is subjective to multiple factors, including–but not limited to–market forces. Inflation–like usage history–is managed on the Meter. Simply key in a percentage at the bottom of the Meter to set your cost escalator. Note that the value you use for your Energy Cost Escalator may affect the available Loans when you get to the Quote, particularly if you attempt to enter an aggressive inflation factor.

Import and Export Rates

The import rate, sometimes referred to as the tariff, or simply "rate," is the price per kilowatt hour that the customer pays for their incoming electricity. By entering the import rate, available monthly usage, a meter curve, and extrapolating, the meter calculator will do its best to calculate the monthly and overall energy cost for the home. The levels of precision, from least precise to most precise, are as follows:

Entering the import rate, an annual rate, and extrapolating

Entering an import rate, an annual rate with some months filled in, and extrapolating

Entering an import rate, some months filled in, applying a meter curve, and extrapolating

Entering an import rate and filling in usage and billing for all months

The export rate is the rate or price at which the utility company buys energy being sent back to the grid and is used specifically for buyback programs that do not use net metering. This may apply to energy co-ops, deregulated utilities, and any other instance in which the buyback is not a net metering program.