Solar Rates

Your solar account with Hingham Municipal Lighting Plant (HMLP) has two meters, one is a bi- directional which measures what you receive from us and what you send to us and the other is the solar meter, which produce 3 different reads. Near the top of your bill you will see METER READINGS. In that section you will find the readings, in kWh, captured by those meters. We use those numbers to calculate your bill. The information on the first line line in that section represents the data captured by the solar meter. This line reads SOL which is short for SOLar. The number on that line denotes how many kWh your solar array produced. The information on the second line comes from the bi-directional meter, which is a regular utility grade electric meter, that measures the electricity that you purchase and use from HMLP. On your bill the information captured by that meter appears on the line that reads DEL which is short for DELivered by HMLP. That figure is the total kWh you received from HMLP. Finally, the third line in that section reads REC which represents the total kWh RECeived by HMLP. This line shows how much excess kWh was produced by your solar array (you did not use) which you sold back to HMLP.

On your bill the number on the line that reads Energy Credit reflects how much “excess” electricity in kWh you sold back to HMLP and what we are going to pay you for said electricity in the form of a credit on your bill. The amount of your per kWh credit is tied to your solar system’s size. The per kWh excess electricity price HMLP will credit customers whose solar arrays have a design capacity greater than 20 kW (AC) will be the average per kWh cost of all of HMLP’s renewable power supply resources. The per

kWh excess electricity price HMLP will credit customers whose solar arrays have a design capacity equal to or less than 20kw (AC) will be the average per kWh cost of all of HMLP’s total power supply resources. Each year HMLP will calculate those costs, the average unit cost of HMLP’s renewable power supply resources and HMLP’s total power supply resources, and the per kWh credit price for the excess electricity solar customers sell to HMLP will be adjusted accordingly. Currently for solar systems whose design capacity is greater than 20kw (AC) the per kWh rate is $0.0527. For solar systems whose design capacity is equal to or less than 20kw (AC) the per kWh rate is $0.1014.

Customer Charge

This is the minimum fixed charge for every rate payer to help with the distribution costs of providing electricity.

Capacity, Distribution & Transmission

The second line is what we must charge to cover our capacity, transmission and distribution costs (Cap., Dist. And Trans.).

Demand Charge
Some users of electricity, generally larger ones but some smaller ones with electric heat, are also charged for something called demand and those customers may see a Demand Charge. The demand charge will be a large part of the bill if the customer uses a significant amount of power over a short period of time and a smaller part of the bill if the customer uses power at a more or less constant rate throughout the month.
Energy Charge
The next line, Energy Charge, is designed to cover the costs associated with paying for the electricity we purchase.
Energy Credit
The next line is the Energy Credit. This is where we calculate what HMLP owes you for the excess electricity you generated and did not use. You sell us that excess energy.
PASNY
The next line reads PASNY. Depending on the rate class of the customer, residential or commercial, there may be a PASNY (Power Authority of the State of New York) credit on your bill. We are able to pass this credit on to residential customers because we receive power from federally-licensed hydroelectric power projects in New York and our Purchase Power Agreements with them call for said credit to be given to residential customers.
Power Cost Adjustment (PCA)

The PCA is a variable component of the rate that is used to account for unforseen costs.

Mass State Tax
Finally, if you are a commercial customer you may see a charge to cover the Massachusetts state tax. HMLP simply collects this money and passes it on to the state.
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