As more Pomona businesses and homes turn to rooftop solar power, Pomona Choice Energy is reminding customers of the annual “true-up” process: an essential procedure that ensures customers receive fair credit for the clean energy they generate.
Throughout the year, Southern California Edison (SCE) submits monthly energy summaries to solar customers, where the total electricity consumed by each solar customer is compared to the amount produced by their panels. The statements are not bills, but serve as informational tracking of community energy.
At the end of a customer’s 12-month billing cycle, Pomona Choice Energy conducts the true-up process, which balances all of the energy flow information collected by SCE. This true-up day is unique to each individual customer, and occurs on the date their solar energy system was activated and connected to the power grid. Customers who produced more power than they utilized are Net Surplus Generators, and earn $0.06 per kilowatt-hour. If the earned compensation credit totals $100 or more, Pomona Choice Energy will issue a check to the customer. Smaller amounts of compensation credit are carried forward to offset customers’ future bills. Customers who consumed more power than they generated will see those costs included in their next bill.
“Pomona residents who have invested in solar panels are assisting in reducing emissions while keeping our community’s energy reliable,” said Mayor Tim Sandoval. “The true-up process ensures they are all fairly compensated for their contributions to our City’s energy production.”
The program also varies depending on the date customers installed their solar panels. Customers enrolled under NEM 1.0 or 2.0 will keep their original rates for 20 years from the date of installation. More recent participants who installed panels on or after April 15, 2023, are automatically placed under NEM 3.0 and Pomona Solar Choice, which have time and demand based export rates that reflect the value of solar energy at different times of the day.
Because Pomona Choice Energy sells the electricity and SCE delivers it, bills will continue to have line items from both entities. This is normal business practice and does not mean customers are being double-billed.
“Solar customers are a crucial contributor to our City’s transition to cleaner energy,” said Sandoval. “Pomona Choice Energy is pleased to partner with our community members who are helping us to move towards a more sustainable and cost-friendly future.”
For details on the annual true-up process, or to learn more about Pomona Choice Energy’s solar programs, visit www.pomonachoiceenergy.org or call the customer service number at (909) 620-2079.