Solar Freaks

Hi all this is most likely a silly question but i have been reading a lot about solar power & have not seen anywhere or cannot find anywhere how you are paid for the power your system generates back into the grid, any help would be great

cheers Bollo

I'm in the US, so please read this with a grain of salt:

Each state has different laws governing what the (State-owned) electric utility will do. Net metering is the term they use to describe what you're talking about: what happens when the meter is running "backward" and you're generating electricity?

So, for example, California requires that the power company, PG&E, will pay you for any power you produce at a slightly lower rate.

Other states only let you build up "credit" -- so you generate credits in the sunny months which you can apply to power you use in the winter, and at the end of the year your credits are zeroed. It basically means you can only reduce your bill, but not get paid.

I suspect most net metering agreements are one of those two types.

In NSW they will add a gross meter to your meter box. All Solar power generated runs through the meter and back to the service lines coming off the street, then it come back to you through your normal usage meter. This way they can calculate exactly how much power your generating.

At the end of the quarter, if your generation is more than your usage, you may request a cheque from the retailer.

so am i right in thinking that if you say generate around i don't know say 100 kilowatts per quarter but you use 85 kilowatts then you would only be paying the difference ?
I know that you sell it back to the power companies for more then we pay so it would more then likely be nothing to pay but this is just an example