Q. I have credits in the bank, and I didn’t use any power from LADWP, why is my bill $22.00?A. You are on the residential standard rate R1A. Under this rate, there is a minimum charge of $10 per month, plus ECA, RCA, ESA, City Tax, and State Surcharges. If your energy charge is less than $10 monthly, you will receive a bill for the minimum charge of $10 per month. Residents are usually billed bi-monthly, so the minimum bill would be $20 plus $2 city tax for a total of $22. It may be more beneficial for you to be on the residential Time-of-Use (TOU) rate, R1B.
Q. I am billed on the Residential Rate R-1A. I have credits in the bank, why do I still have a bill to pay?A. Your banked credits ONLY apply towards your Energy Charge, as long as your energy charge is greater than the minimum charge ($10 monthly/$20 bi-monthly).
Q. I am billed on the Residential TOU Rate R-1B, what part of my bill do my banked credits apply towards?A. Your banked credits apply towards all the LADWP charges (Service Charge, Energy Charge, ECA, ESA, VEA, CRPSEA, VRPSEA, IRCA and RCA charges). Banked credits DO NOT apply towards taxes (City, State Surcharge).
Q. I am billed on Residential TOU Rate R-1B, how much money do I get for my credits?A. Credits are earned at the dollar value during the time period that you generate your power. If you generate more energy during the high-peak period, your credit will be at the high peak price. It is then applied to your total bill, except to the taxes (City, State Surcharge).
Q. How long do my credits last – is there an expiration date on the credits?A. Your credits will go into a credit “bank”. There is no time limit for your credits. If you move out of your house or close your electric account, any previously banked credits are not refunded. You cannot transfer credits to another residence when you move.
Q. How do I request to be billed on TOU?A. If you are a new solar customer waiting for your LADWP final inspection, please contact LADWP’s Solar Department at (213) 367-4122. If you’re an existing solar customer, please call the Rates Section at (213) 367-4718 and request to be placed on the optional R-1B Rate. The Rates Section can email, fax, or mail you a request form.
Q. Why is my electric bill delayed?A. The process of billing our solar customers on R-1A or R-1B is a manual operation, as opposed to the non-solar customers which are billed through our automated system. This manual operation naturally causes a delay. We anticipate having a new billing system capable of billing all of our customers automatically within two years.
Q. My bill still seems high after the solar installation, why?A. There are several reasons that this could happen, some include: 1) The first bill includes usage from your previous meter. 2) Electric usage in your household increased. 3) Weather conditions caused low solar production. Please contact LADWP’s Solar Customer Call Center at (866) 484-0433 for any questions regarding your solar billing.
Q. If I want information regarding my solar application, solar inspection/approval, or net TOU meter install before the solar panels are installed, who do I contact?A. Contact LADWP at (866) 484-0433
Q. What is NEM?A. NEM is Net Energy Metering
Q. Solar IncentiveA. www.ladwp.com
Q. What is Load Factor?A. Load Factor is equal to 100
times the sum of kilowatt-hours used by the
Customer at the Facility during a billing period
divided by the product of the highest demand
recorded during the billing period and the sum of
the total number of hours in the billing period.
Load Factor is mathematically calculated as a
percentage.
Q. What is Power Factor?A. For customers with facility demand greater than 250 kW, Power Factor is used to determine reactive energy charges.
Power Factor is the ratio of real power (kilowatts) to apparent
power (kilovolt-amperes) for any given load and
time (the maximum value = 1.0).