Support for Solar NEM Annual True-Up Window! - Game Changing Feature for Solar NEM Users

[bgagnon33]

@bgagnon33

NEM true up or new year end date tab would be very helpful for solar users that have credits that expire on a

any update from @sense122 @sense85 @sense15 @sense10 @kevin1 in regard to sense improving the software to allow users to have their own start date to the year. as previously mentioned my utility company takes our credits have March 31 of every year, our new year starts april 1. would be nice to have a tap for my solar year as well. Seems very simple. @EvanAtSense @JamesDrewAtSense

[JuliaAtSense]

Hi @bgagnon33 - As of now, there is no update on this.

[bgagnon33]

Just checking in, a year later, has there been any traction?

[kevin1]

Nope - not really. Sense has actually stepped a little bit away from trying to match billing from utilities because is such a complicated topic and the details vary so much from utility to utility. The best you are likely to be able do is to export Sense hourly Total Usage and Solar Production data and have at it with a spreadsheet. But that will also teach you why it is so hard to match your utility , between ToU pricing, non-bypassable fees, application of credits, etc.

If you are interested I can walk you through some of the steps of how to do it. I did a project on this a few years ago.

Tariff Trade-off Analyzer using Sense Data

I’m gonna try to build an R-based calculator that reads in a few key things, including Sense export files and produces a bill-by-bill comparison for all active, residential tariffs from any given power company. Inputs The OpenEI US Utilities Rates Database U.S. Utility Rate Database Sense hourly export for one or more years A billing cycle table for one’s specific billing cycle A holiday table that lists holiday dates that correspond to weekend rate scheduled for one’s utility Other data th…

[MikeekiM]

Hi kevin1,

Just to be clear, this feature request is NOT about aligning sense data with the billing cycle of the utility company at all. And has no implications on trying to calculate or align dollars and cents (or billing rates) or having to track TOU time windows. I can absolutely see why Sense would want to avoid all that complication. HOWEVER, that is not what this wishlist request is asking or suggesting.

What we are asking for is super simple. The request is merely to allow sense to add a True Up view of the year (in addition to the Calendar view of the year).

Almost every NEM program resets the NEM “counter” on their True-Up date. So being able to have enter a single date (e.g., May 25th) and basically have that be the start of the 365 day window for tracking and reporting is all that we are asking here.

And if a true-up DATE is too complicated, then at the very least it would be useful to be able to support the True Up MONTH. So in addition to having the choice of the calendar year (January to December), we could have a True-Up Year (from May to April).

We don’t care what our excess kWh production is for the calendar year. We DO care what our excess kWh production is for our true-up period.

Solar customers track their annual data based on their true-up date (or again, at the very least, their true-up month). This would be super helpful.

[kevin1]

Ahh, that’s right - so kind of like the monthly Billing date, but for years. Simple if done the way “Bill” view is implemented.

Thanks for the reminder…

[MikeekiM]

Yes @kevin1 - It’s like implementing a “fiscal year” in accounting. But while a fiscal year starts on the first of the fiscal month. True-up dates can happen in the middle of a month. But again, if we can even get a true-up month based year, that would be better than being stuck with just the calendar year, which doesn’t mean anything to most NEM customers.

And we aren’t looking for this “fiscal year” to involve hard math. All we want is a kWh view of our NEM kWh balance. That would be super meaningful to us.

[bgagnon33]

@MikeekiM

Almost every NEM program resets the NEM “counter” on their True-Up date. So being able to have enter a single date (e.g., May 25th) and basically have that be the start of the 365 day window for tracking and reporting is all that we are asking here.

And if a true-up DATE is too complicated, then at the very least it would be useful to be able to support the True Up MONTH. So in addition to having the choice of the calendar year (January to December), we could have a True-Up Year (from May to April).

We don’t care what our excess kWh production is for the calendar year. We DO care what our excess kWh production is for our true-up period.

Solar customers track their annual data based on their true-

Exactly, i just want the true up date to track april 1, to march 31. March 31 all my solar credits i gain expire, this true up date will help remind me that i have a bunch of credits to use up which will be turn on the Dyson heaters to burn power and save gas.
to me it seems like it would be siumple, but i do not know the backend.