- The Ministry of Environmental Protection "failed" to introduce changes to the Act amending the Act on Renewable Energy Sources and certain other acts on time. This means the obligation to switch to an hourly rate for billing electricity from renewable energy sources for all prosumers settling in the net-billing system from July 1 this year.
- In our opinion, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment deliberately overslept on introducing changes to the net-billing system, which made it possible to continue with the monthly settlement of electricity production from renewable energy sources.
- From July 1, 2024, new prosumers will be subject to significant changes in electricity billing. From now on, they are settled in the net-billing system at prices determined according to the hourly exchange price on the next day market.
- As Eaton's expert points out, in order to maintain the profitability of investments in photovoltaic panels, it will be necessary to increase the level of self-consumption of energy, i.e. invest in energy storage.
The net-metering system, also known as the discount system, which allowed owners of photovoltaic installations to receive 80% of the power fed into the grid, was replaced in April 2022 by the net-billing system.
Each prosumer using it has an individual account where surplus energy supplied and consumed from the network is recorded. The funds obtained from their "sale" at market costs are kept in escrow for 12 months.
Prosumers can use them to cover the costs of energy consumed from the network and withdraw the unused amount. However, net-billing has introduced a limit on the amount of energy for which you can receive payment – it allows you to recover a maximum of 20% of the excess energy fed into the network in a given month.
read more
The owners of home photovoltaics went on strike. But will anyone notice him?
Hourly rates – choice or obligation? However, the obligation…
Until June 30, 2024, electricity prices were set at average monthly rates. From July 1, 2024, the net-billing system is based on dynamic hourly market prices.
Initially, the new rules were to apply to two groups of prosumers – both those who had previously settled their accounts according to this system and new owners of micro-installations.
However, at the beginning of June this year, the Ministry of Environment and Climate submitted a draft bill for consultation, which unfortunately was not approved and passed.
It assumes the abolition of the obligation to switch to hourly rates by prosumers settling in the net-billing system before July 1, 2024.
The project provides that this group will be able to choose between remaining billed based on the average monthly energy price or new hourly rates. However, the legislator wants to encourage the switch to hourly billing by increasing the amount of energy that can be collected from the deposit – from 20% to 30%. The project is currently in the review phase.
Many people express concerns about the changes, especially in the context of negative energy prices that appear during the hours of peak power production from solar power plants and insufficient demand for it. Although this does not mean that prosumers have to pay for the energy delivered at such times, the zero price makes the installation unprofitable. In the monthly settlement system with average prices, such situations are not so severe for prosumers. However, in the case of dynamic rates that change on an hourly basis, negative prices may have a greater impact on the building's energy management. In practice, it will only be beneficial to use the produced power for your own needs, i.e. auto-consumption. This, in turn, may not be achievable without the use of energy storage – says Bartłomiej Jaworski, Senior Product Manager at Eaton.
read more
How will electricity from photovoltaics be billed at an hourly rate?
Is the purchase of an energy storage a chance to increase the profitability of photovoltaics from July 1?
One of the main challenges of the new system will be to increase auto-consumption, i.e. the consumption of energy produced from the sun for one's own needs.
Prosumers will have to monitor what hours the demand for energy is highest and then sell the power produced by the installation to the grid. The key is to match the power of the photovoltaic installation to the energy demand. Too much will result in a longer payback period, while too little will result in the need to purchase additional electricity from the grid.
To check the building's energy demand, it is necessary to calculate the average annual electricity consumption. You can use existing bills and estimate future energy demand, taking into account the number of household members, heating method and the type and number of electrical appliances you have.
Adjusting the installation's power to the real energy demand should be the priority of every prosumer who cares about the profitability of his investment in photovoltaics. In short, oversizing a photovoltaic installation, i.e. installing more power than the building's demand in the net-billing system, is economically unprofitable. Ignoring this leads to a decline in investment profitability and contributes to the creation of negative energy prices on the market. Energy production exceeding the capacity of self-consumption will result in energy being released at a lower price and the loss of 70-80% of the prosumer deposit – emphasizes Bartłomiej Jaworski.
The amendment to the regulations on net-billing in Poland will certainly affect the way prosumers will manage their energy. However, it was not implemented on time.
Therefore, it is worth closely monitoring changes in energy prices to adjust your consumption and maximize the benefits of investing in photovoltaics.
