Tag Archives: electric utilities

how electric meters work

How do electric meters work?

Leave a reply
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Unless you live in an off-grid home, you have an electric meter. Your electric meter tells your utility how much electricity you’ve used over a given time period so that they know how much to charge you on your monthly bill. There are a few different types of electric meters, all of which function in slightly different ways, including net meters that work for solar homes. In this article, we’ll break down the different types of meters, how they work, and why you should care what kind of electric meter you have. 

Continue reading →

How to read your SRP electricity bill

Leave a reply
Reading Time: 6 minutes

If you live in Phoenix and don’t pay Arizona Public Service (APS) for electricity, chances are you’re an electricity customer of Salt River Project (SRP): this public utility company, which also supplies water, delivers electricity to more than 1 million customers in the region. 

Continue reading →
time of use rates

Understanding time-of-use rates

1 Reply
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Across the country, utilities are beginning to introduce innovative rate structures for residential energy consumers. These rate structures–from time-of-use rates to demand charges to real-time-pricing–all have a common goal: to incentivize customers to consume energy during times when the cost of generating electricity is cheap, and to disincentive energy consumption when the cost of generating electricity is high. As a result, understanding the ins and outs of a time-of-use rate can help you reduce your monthly cost of energy.

Continue reading →
how to read your sdg&e bill

How to read your SDG&E bill

Leave a reply
Reading Time: 6 minutes

San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) is the third largest utility company in the Golden State. Based in San Diego, they provide natural gas and electricity to about 3.3 million people in San Diego and southern Orange County.

Many electricity customers throughout the country receive their electric bill every month and pay it without really diving into the details of what they’re actually paying for…and we’re here to help break it down. In this article, we’ll review the most important parts of your SDG&E electricity bill, and how that changes once you install solar panels.

Continue reading →
pg&e electric bill

How to read your PG&E bill

Leave a reply
Reading Time: 6 minutes

If you live in California, there’s a good chance that you’re a customer of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). This company, based in San Francisco, provides natural gas and electricity to about 16 million people throughout northern California, making it one of the largest utilities in the United States.

Continue reading →
smart grid infrastructure

Smart Grids: everything you need to know in 2020

Leave a reply
Reading Time: 4 minutes

The electrical grid–the interconnected web of power plants and transmission lines that keeps the lights on throughout the country–is a feat of modern engineering. However, it was built for a different era. In order to accommodate the increase in distributed energy resources (like solar), as well as to improve the overall resilience of the electrical system, the grid of the future will be a smart grid. 

Continue reading →