Self-Generation Rates - TID Water & Power

Customers that have installed or are considering installing solar should be aware that the District regularly makes changes to rate schedules and these changes could negatively impact your expected return on investment.

Is there a limit on the size of system I can install under the new rate schedules?

System sizes are not limited to a customer’s electric load under these rate schedules at this time. Keep in mind, TID reserves the right to perform an interconnection study or may otherwise limit the size of the solar system now or in the future. Contact TID for more information.

Can I generate electricity on one piece of property I own or rent and apply the credit toward another property?

That is known as aggregation and is only available under the RNT/NNT rate schedules (at this time these rate schedules are no longer available).

Does TID pay me for the excess electricity my system generates?

Customers will still be able to net their generation with their use each month for the on-peak and off peak periods. If at the end of the billing period the customer has generated more than they used, the customer will be credited TID’s Short Run Marginal Cost for the excess generation. The Short Run Marginal Cost will be published to the District website monthly.

What is a Demand Charge?

A Demand Charge is a charge for the maximum amount of energy used in any fifteen minute interval within the billing period. TID stands ready to supply as much energy as our customers demand at any given moment. This charge is for TID’s costs associated with the infrastructure necessary to provide reliable demand service to our customers.

Other than my energy charges and applicable taxes, are there other charges that I’m required to pay under these new rate schedules?

These new rate schedules all have the same components: Customer, Time-of-Use Energy and Demand charges. For many customers these charges are nothing new – they already have Customer, Time-or-Use Energy and Demand Charges on their existing rate schedules. However, for some customers the Demand Charge and Time-of-Use billing will be unfamiliar.

What are the new “Solar” Rate Schedules?

There are seven new rate schedules for our customers who wish to install distributed generation in the Turlock Irrigation District service area.

They are:

DG – Domestic Service
FG – Farm Service
CG – Commercial Service Under 35kW
IG – Industrial Service 35kW to 499 kW
HG – Large Industrial Service 500 kW to 6,999 kW
BG – Bulk Power Industrial Service 7,000 kW and Over
MG – Municipal Service

These rate schedules were adopted to allow our customers the option to continue net metering after TID reached the California net metering cap.

How does the Time-of-Use Energy Charge work?

“Time-of-Use” or “TOU” simply means that instead of a single rate for energy all day and night, there will be a different rate during two different time blocks each day. The cost and value of power is different in the on-peak block than in the off-peak block each weekday, and customers can choose to use energy in the off-peak block at a substantially lower rate. This could also affect the credit or compensation of customers who generate more electricity than needed depending on which Time-of-Use block the generation occurs within. In summary, TOU recognizes the different value of electricity depending on the time of day.

If I go solar, will I have to pay for a new meter?

When a customer installs solar they will need to pay the additional metering costs required by TID to properly calculate a net bill and track generation.