Follow-up: Rhode Island Energy & Net Credits

It's good that you now know what to expect in future years and that things are sorted out. Our system is coming up on 10 years of service this fall and has been flawless.

BTW, net metering credits do not necessarily zero out yearly, it depends on the rate tariff in place for the system. My system in NH does not ever net out, the credit in KWhr gets carried forward with the service. If I was to sell the house, the credit goes with it. It is a "grandfathered tariff, any new solar installs in the state have a less attractive rate tariff, the credit does not zero out yearly but it is converted to dollars instead of KW and various fees are charged on import and export. Therefore excess solar sold to the grid in the summer, gets sold to the grid at the lower summer power rate and converted into dollars (with some deductions for transmission charges) and then in the winter when solar production drops and the homeowner needs to buy power, the power sold is at the higher winter rate to the customer who pays it out of their credit in dollars with some charges added on for transmission. In this case the consumer sells low and buys high rather than a net arrangement. So its important that anyone reading this post, understand how exactly their local tariff handles solar as it varies widely state by state and even utility to utility.

Its good you have your system figured out, realize that year to year performance will vary but in the long run it will average out on slowly declining annual average as panel efficiency declines. The degradation curve usually has a "steep drop" the first few months and then flattens significantly.