We recently covered the 2024 Update to the Avoided Cost Calculator for California’s Net Billing Tariff (NBT) and how we handle this in ETB Developer with the NEM Programs feature, and we thought it would be helpful to further explain each of the available NEM Programs we’ve created for the California utilities. We have multiple NEM programs available for NBT customers because there are several scenarios for NBT customers that come with their own set of export credits. Let’s look at the different scenarios for NBT customers, explain the naming convention of our NEM Programs, and find out how to know which NEM Program to select for your specific case.
The Different Tracks of Export Rates for NBT Customers
There are two different tracks that NBT customers can be on that determine which export credits they receive: those with locked-in values or those with floating values. Customers who submit their complete interconnection agreement and receive their permission to operate (PTO) in a certain year will lock in the estimated export rates for the next nine years based on that current year’s version of the ACC. (The ability to lock in nine years of export rates only applies to customers that receive their PTO within the first five years of the NBT program, with the cutoff date falling on January 1st, 2028.) The year that a customer receives their PTO and locks in their export rates is referred to as their “vintage year”. All other customers that either opt out of the locked-in values or receive their PTO after the five-year cutoff will receive the floating export rates that change every year when the ACC is updated.
Customers that PTO from 2024 to 2028 will have distinct sets of nine-year lock-in export credits for their vintage year. In ETB Developer, we will eventually have NEM Programs for each of these vintage years plus a NEM Program for those NBT customers that do not have a vintage year (i.e., floating values). It was our goal to settle on a naming convention that clearly conveyed these different scenarios and so let’s look at how to read the different NEM Programs that are available in ETB Developer.
ETB Developer’s NEM Program Naming Convention
When it comes to the naming convention for our NEM Programs, we tried to keep it as clear and simple as possible. To do this, we settled on a structure that indicates the year the customer received their PTO (vintage year) followed by which year the customer is in of their nine-year lock-in period:
- NBT (Non-Legacy, YR 2025)
This NEM Program is for NBT customers that do not have a vintage year, meaning they receive the floating export credits. These export credits update annually, and this NEM Program includes the values applicable to year 2025.
- NBT (PTO 2024, YR 2025)
This NEM Program is for NBT customers with a 2024 vintage year and are in the second year of their nine-year lock-in period.
- NBT (PTO 2025, YR 2025)
This NEM Program is for NBT customers with a 2025 vintage year and are in the first year of their nine-year lock-in period.
If you would like to model a future vintage year, then you can contact our utility rates team at utilityraterequest@energytoolbase.com and they can create a NEM Program with the desired vintage year so long as that information is available from the utilities. Currently, San Diego Gas & Electric and Pacific Gas & Electric have released export credit data for vintage year 2026 customers; however, Southern California Edison has not.
We will be updating our selection of available NEM Programs to keep up with the relevant vintage years and their cycles, and we will also “close” older NEM Programs once they are no longer relevant. The last thing to know is how to identify which NEM Program is right for you.
How to Determine Which NEM Program is Right for You
When modeling the NBT in ETB Developer for your projects, you’ll want to choose a vintage year based on when you expect your system to go online. For example, if you believe you can sell a system before the end of 2025, then you can choose the 2025 vintage year NEM Program for your modeling. However, if you’re working on a system closer to the end of the year and it is unlikely that it will be finished in that current year, then selecting a NEM Program with next year’s vintage year may be the better option.
We’ve tried to make it as easy as possible to model the NBT in ETB Developer, and our NEM Programs feature allows our users to easily model every possible NBT scenario. You can try it today by signing up for a 14-day free trial.
