How PV Solar Panels Outsmart Smart Meters Smart Meters are digital electrical usage meters that measure not only how much power you use, but also when you use it. If you live in Northern California and get your power from PG&E, chances are good that you either already have a Smart Meter or are due to receive one shortly. But Smart Meters have come with a slurry of customer complaints that electric bills have shot up since the new meters were installed. Fortunately, there’s a good solution to Smart Solar Panel and rising energy prices: PV solar panels.
Tears for Tiers
What’s going on behind the increases? The price per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity is set in tiers, with each incremental tier costing more. The more quickly you move above your baseline, or tier-1, the more you pay. Previously, your utility would read your meter, subtract the reading from the previous month and bill you for this month’s consumption. With the new Smart Meters, the utility measures your usage by the hour. Apparently, this is to give utilities a more accurate measurement of demand and to help people track and reduce their usage. Unfortunately, the net effect of measuring and billing your electricity use by the hour is to move you into the higher tiers more quickly. So even if you use the same amount of electricity at the end of the month, your baseline is smaller and you end up paying more.