"Our utility paid us $84 in August. This paid $231. Same panels."
The Okafors put 7.2 kW of panels on their Sacramento roof in 2021 and added a 13 kWh battery two years later, mostly for outages. Under NEM 3.0 their export credits dropped to a few cents per kWh, and the battery was doing very little most evenings.
What changed
They clipped the gateway to the battery in about ten minutes, set a floor at $0.11, and left it alone. The battery now charges from the roof at noon and sells into the 5pm to 9pm peak, when Sacramento prices are highest.
The numbers
| Utility credit | Market | |
|---|---|---|
| August | $84 | $231 |
| September | $79 | $218 |
“We did nothing differently. The panels make the same power. It just goes to someone who wants it more.”