NBT appears to be quite complicated. But it's quite easy to understand if you start with the three problems it is intended to help solve:

1. Reduce oversupply of midday solar electricity
   
2. Decrease peak hour grid load
   
3. Increase peak hour availability of renewable electricity

NBT solves problem 1 by reducing the price PG&E pays you for surplus solar electricity during the time the sun is shining to less than $0.05/kWh – while they continue to charge you $0.29/kWh or more for electricity you use.  You can no longer justify investing in a purely solar installation from the PG&E credits you earn.  

NBT solves problem 2 by encouraging you to install a battery to capture your excess solar electricity during the day then to power your home during peak hours – from 4pm to 9pm.  Electricity already stored at your home doesn't have to flow through the grid, thereby reducing the load on the grid.  By using your own stored electricity you avoid paying PG&E their peak rates which average of $0.38/kWh year-round ($0.58/kWh from June through September). 

NBT solves problem 3 by encouraging you to sell any stored electricity you are not using during the peak hours to PG&E at an annual average of about $0.21/kWh.  The peak price PG&E is willing to pay can increase to more than $1.00/kWh during 6-7pm in August and September.

The cost of a solar + battery system is 60% to 100% more than just a solar installation.  The payback analysis is complex because the rate structure is complex.  Check out our NBT Financial Analysis page for details.

The decision to retire the NEM2 tariff and replace it with NBT was controversial.  Check out our NBT Rationale page for an explanation.

CPUC and NBT 

• California Public Utilites Commission: Announcement of NBT
  Not only does this announce the NBT Decision, it has many useful links to details of the decision process.
• California Public Utilities Commission: Decision 22-12-056
  The 253 page text of the NBT Decision
• California awash in renewable energy: Washington Post 21-Sep-2022
  This article gives a really good explanation of why NBT has become necessary: the oversupply of solar electricity at midday coupled with the overloaded grid in early evening.

Legislative History

Documents that trace the legislative history of Net Energy Metering in California

• SB-656 1995 (Alquist)
  Introduced the concept of Net Energy Metering (NEM) to California public utilities.  It limited the amount of solar that could apply for NEM to only 53MW, about 13,000 roofs
• SB-1 2006 (Murray)
  Created the Million Roof Initiative, increasing the limit on NEM to 3000MW. This 2005 analysis of the bill has some interesting insights into the discussions going on at the time.
• AB-327 2013 (Perea)
  Updated many provisions of the then-existing law regarding electricity rates. In particular it
  • enabled the creation of mandatory Time-of-Use (TOU) tariffs for residential customers (sec 7)
  • elaborated various aspects of providing NEM, established aggregate NEM, and capped the requirement to provide NEM at 5% of each utility's aggregate customer peak demand (sec 9)
• AB634 2017 (Eggman)
  Prohibited condo associations from blocking the installation of solar on condo roofs

Miscellaneous

• California Energy Commission (CEC): Electricity Data
  Many different reports about electricity generation and consumption in California.  Unfortunately they are often a year or two behind.
• California Reaches Million Solar Roof Goal 
  The 2019 announcement celebrating reaching the 3000MW goal in 2015 and now the million solar roofs -- and 9000MW of solar.  
  
• Microgrid Knowledge
  An excellent source for up-to-date information on microgrids
• Solar State by State: Solar Energy Industries Association
  Up-to-date statistics about solar installed, usage, investment
• The Cost Of Solar Has Fallen More Quickly Than Experts Predicted 
  This article describes the history of solar costs from 2010 through 2021
• CleanTechnica is a useful source for current info about solar, batteries, etc. 
  
  

MCE

• Solar Storage Credit
  If you have a battery with at least 7kWh of storage capacity that is fed from your solar system and you agree to set it to automatically discharge every day between 4 and 9pm, MCE will pay you $10/month.  This amount is in addition to any payments you get from NEM2 or NBT.

NBT Specific Equipment and Services

• Yotta Energy SolarLEAF Batteries
  These batteries mount directly underneath the solar panels. They would be ideal in Rossmoor because you wouldn't have to argue with your Mutual about whether you could use an external wall to mount your batteries. They seem great for NBT because they're modular, so you can get just enough to store the electricity needed for 4pm to 9pm.
  

PG&E

• Get started with clean energy
  PG&E's page telling you about solar; useful information about financing
• E-ELEC Tariff 
  PG&E's 2023 rate schedule for electricity delivered to NBT customers. Rates vary widely by time-of-day, and Winter vs Summer, ranging from a minimum of $0.272/kWh between midnight at 3pm Oct-May to a maximum of $0.539/kWh between 4-9pm Jun-Sep.  
• Energy Export Credit Schedule
  PG&E's schedule of the amounts they will pay for excess electricity under NBT.  This spreadsheet lists the Generation credit and the Distribution credit for every hour of every day of every month of every year from 2023 to 2052 -- Yes, a total of 34,560 different numbers!  And you wonder why it is hard to calculate the payback from your solar panels under NBT?
• Solar Calculator 
  Let's you estimate possible savings with solar or solar + battery.
  Note: The answers given by this calculator have not been confirmed as accurate by Sustainable Rossmoor