The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) has announced new net metering rules and rates for residential customers. The order implements a structured transition to cost based rates for net metering customers over twelve years.

Customers will be required to pay a fixed basic service charge plus a charge per kWh of power they consume. If they generate power with rooftop solar PV panels, NV Energy will provide a credit per kWh that the customer delivers. 

The rates that the PUCN sets for services provided by NV Energy, as well as the value of the credit for excess energy delivered by net metering customers, will be reset by the PUCN periodically. The  forecast for these rates in Southern Nevada are listed below.

Residential electricity consumption in Nevada averages 935 kWh/month. 

The above scenario projects that the average monthly bill (for customers without rooftop PV) would rise from $118/month in 2015 to $134/month in 2028, which is about 1% per year, likely less than inflation, so that represents a small decrease in the monthly bill. 

If the customer generated, say, half of his/her own power with solar PV, the bill would increase from $26.63/month in 2016 to $73.71/month in 2028, which is an increase of nearly 10% per year for the same amount of grid delivered power.  Of course if the customer took advantage of time-of-use pricing and other programs, this would be different, but the most important factor is the difference between what the customer pays for power and what NV Energy pays for customer generated power.

For comparison, Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD) currently charges $18/month as a  flat infrastructure fee, but has calculated it needs to increase that to $28/month to cover the cost of maintaining the grid.  SMUD either pays for net-surplus electricity generated by the customer at SMUD’s average cost of generation, which may be below the retail rate, or alternatively SMUD will provide credits at the retail rate.