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CAC briefed on revisions and new net-billing tariffs; item received and filed
Summary
San Diego Community Power staff described technical updates to existing net energy metering (NEM) and net billing tariffs and introduced separate schedules for net billing virtual and aggregation; the Community Advisory Committee received and filed the informational item with no action requested.
San Diego Community Power staff presented proposed revisions to existing net energy metering (NEM) and net billing tariff (NBT) schedules and introduced two new tariff schedules — a net billing tariff for virtual programs (MBTV) and a net billing tariff for aggregation (MBTA) — at the CAC meeting on Sept. 11. The CAC received the briefing as a receive-and-file item; staff said they will bring the tariffs to the board for approval later in September.
Lucas Uto, senior director of data analytics and customer operations, explained the items are largely intended to align the agency’s tariffs with recent California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and utility practice, standardize language across schedules, clarify billing mechanics, and separate MBT virtual and aggregation provisions into standalone schedules. Staff noted some mechanics mirror filings by the region’s investor-owned utility, SDG&E, and said the agency is not applying a generation adder to MBTV and MBTA at this time while it gathers data on the effect of a previously adopted generation adder for MBT customers.
Uto described a fundamental difference between NEM and NBT constructs: under NEM, exported generation is valued at the retail rate, while under NBT the value of excess generation is determined hour-by-hour using a value calculation (often referred to in industry terms as a “voided cost calculator” or hourly avoided-cost measure) and there is no retail netting in the same way as NEM. The virtual option is for property owners who want to allocate generation credits to tenants; aggregation generally allows a single customer to aggregate eligible meters (on contiguous/adjacent premises as defined in the tariffs) to receive on-site generation benefits across those meters.
Committee members asked clarifying questions about how the tariffs affect multifamily properties and homeowners’ associations and whether the changes would limit group solar projects; Uto said the virtual construct is intended to support property-owner-led allocation to tenants and that aggregation serves different use cases for single customers consolidating multiple meters. Staff characterized these changes as mechanical and alignment updates and said they will return to the board with formal tariff language for approval.
Because the item was informational and designated receive-and-file, the CAC took no formal action.
