How will a solar energy system save me money?

A solar photovoltaic system creates energy that can be used by your home or business and offsets the amount that you would normally buy from the utility. Every kWh that you consume from your solar PV system is a kWh you don’t buy from the utility company.

There are times when your solar array won’t produce enough energy to meet your needs and there are other times when it might produce too much. What happens then?

Your solar energy system will produce energy at variable amounts based on the angle and amount of sunlight. When your home or building is demanding more energy than you can produce with your solar panels, the remaining amount is seamlessly pulled from the grid.

When your system produces more energy than you can consume at a point in time then that energy will flow back through your utility meter and onto the grid. What happens then, depends on your utility.

If you are in a deregulated sector where you can choose your retail electric provider (REP), then the amount of “backfed” energy is reported to the REP and they can choose to buy that energy back at their determined rate.

If you are in regulated territory and an electric cooperative or municipally owned utility provides your energy, then they may have a policy known as net metering. Net metering means that the utility will net out what is sent to the grid and give you a full credit for that energy. Typically, the utility won’t go past zero and give you a credit when there are no more kWh’s to offset.

Your Axium Solar sales representative will help you understand how it works in your area and suggest the best approach to maximize the amount of savings you will see.