Understanding utility rates and net metering policies is one of the most critical, and often most confusing, aspects of modeling solar and energy storage projects. As rate structures become more dynamic, net billing rules evolve, and site-specific variables introduce added complexity, developers quickly find themselves navigating a highly intricate modeling environment. A small oversight, like selecting the wrong tariff or misinterpreting a net metering policy, can lead to inaccurate projections, misaligned expectations, missed savings, and even lost opportunities. As utilities continue to raise energy prices, introduce layered rate structures, and adopt stricter net metering policies, the need for accuracy in modeling and expert support is more essential than ever.
Support for Complex Utility Rate Challenges
Developers are increasingly turning to ETB Consulting for expert guidance in addressing these types of challenges. Our consulting team works directly with you to interpret site-specific billing and utility tariffs, correctly replicate them within your project model, and provide the insights you need to respond confidently to an ever-shifting regulatory environment. Whether you’re tackling a complex commercial rate, analyzing demand charge sensitivity, or entering a new market with unfamiliar net billing rules, ETB Consulting helps ensure your financial models reflect the most up-to-date information available. We serve as your modeling partner, policy interpreter, and technical consultant all in one.
At the heart of this service is our dedicated utility rates team and robust utility rate database, recognized as one of the most accurate and comprehensive in the industry. Our experts actively maintain thousands of utility tariffs across all 50 U.S. states, tracking over 2,000 utility territories and updating new schedules within days. With access to over 100,000 active global rates, users can also add their own custom rates or work with ETB Consulting experts to build them.
ETB Consulting helps developers model complex tariffs like PG&E’s B-19, which includes seasonal TOU periods, non-coincident demand, and peak day pricing events.
Combining this trusted data with expert analysis, ETB Consulting delivers precise, data-driven modeling tailored to each project. The team also supports advanced configurations, including riders, seasonal adjustments, fuel cost factors, and demand ratchets, ensuring even the most complex tariffs are precisely modeled. Because our consultants work in close collaboration with the internal rates team, users receive more than just tariff guidance—they gain access to one of the most trusted utility data sources in the industry, applied with deep modeling expertise.
One of the most common challenges we help solve is analyzing the financial impact of layered utility rate structures. Commercial and industrial customers often face combinations of TOU energy rates, facility demand charges, ratchets, tiered pricing, fuel cost adjustments, storm surcharges, and emergency riders, each of which can significantly affect a project’s economics. Our consultants take a hands-on approach to review historical usage, analyze each customer’s rate structure, and identify opportunities to switch to a more favorable rate when available. We help our users understand how those rates interact with the proposed system, providing realistic and transparent projections to share with their clients. We also model battery dispatch behavior alongside rate-based incentives, such as critical peak pricing or demand response, to align system operation with maximum cost savings.
Understanding the different variables included in a rate’s TOU structure is critical, when modeling energy storage dispatch and forecasting savings. (PG&E’s B-19 rate TOU periods)
Accurately Modeling Net Metering and Export Compensation
As export compensation grows more variable and net metering policies shift, precise modeling becomes essential for reliable financial forecasting and system designs that reflect real-world performance. Programs like California’s Net Billing Tariff (NBT), also known as NEM 3.0, have moved away from traditional crediting mechanisms in favor of hourly-based compensation, significantly reducing the value of exported energy during solar production hours. Utilities across the country are tracking to follow similar paths, introducing TOU and export credit structures that require a more granular and sophisticated approach to modeling.
Under California’s NBT (NEM 3.0), exported energy is compensated hourly, highlighting the importance of modeling production against real hourly export values.
For developers accustomed to traditional net metering rules, these changes can have a substantial impact on a project’s economic viability. ETB Consulting stays at the forefront of these policy developments, helping users model export compensation accurately in ETB Developer and adjust system designs accordingly. Whether it’s increasing self-consumption, optimizing inverter load ratios, or strategically integrating energy storage, we ensure your models align with current policy requirements and are positioned for long-term success.
To streamline modeling under these evolving programs, we introduced the “NEM Programs” feature in ETB Developer, which enables users to apply pre-configured net energy metering and net billing structures directly within an Energy Use Profile. Curated by our utility rates team, these programs include detailed configurations for export credit schedules, eligibility rules, compensation logic (fixed or time-varying), and other tariff-specific parameters, eliminating the need for manual setup while ensuring that outputs are policy-compliant, credible, and proposal-ready.
Trusted Quality Assurance and Flexibility to Meet Your Needs
Beyond tariff and policy modeling, ETB Consulting serves as a trusted quality assurance resource. Many developers engage our consulting team to review projects before finalization, especially when working with complex sites, competitive procurement processes, or high-profile customers. Whether verifying modeling assumptions or troubleshooting nuanced scenarios, our consultants provide a second set of eyes to help catch misconfigured rates, validate model accuracy, and guide users through any recommended adjustments.
In competitive procurement programs, like those shown above, accurate modeling and tariff selection can be the difference between winning and losing a bid.
Let ETB Consulting Elevate Your Project Results
ETB Consulting is built to adapt to your unique project needs. Some clients engage us for full-service financial modeling, covering everything from tariff selection to incentive analysis and proposal generation. Others rely on our team for targeted support on specific modeling questions, rate strategies, or policy interpretations. We also provide benchmarking across project portfolios, evaluate rate switching scenarios, and model future rate switches to support long-term planning. Whether it’s one-time assistance or an ongoing partnership, our goal remains the same: to help you deliver thorough, defensible proposals that instill confidence in your clients and stakeholders.
Set up a call with our ETB Consulting team to get expert guidance on your next project.
