INFOGRAPHIC: How SunShare Community Solar Billing Works

As a SunShare subscriber, you’re harnessing the power of the sun to power your life and help sustain a greener world. Not to mention cutting costs on your yearly energy usage.

But when it comes to billing logistics, how exactly does SunShare do it?

We’re here to shed light on the subject.

First of all, roughly 45 days after the solar garden is turned on and producing energy, you and your fellow solar garden subscribers will receive your first bill from SunShare, as well as your first credits on your Xcel Energy® bill. Your SunShare bill will reflect the amount of solar energy your subscription produced and contributed to Xcel Energy’s grid. Xcel Energy reimburses you for the energy your subscription contributed to their grid in the form of solar credits. These solar credits will appear on your Xcel Energy bill, reducing the total you owe by the amount of credits you earned.* The timing in which your solar credits are applied to your Xcel Energy bill is typically one or two months following a month of production.

If your solar garden subscription produces and contributes more energy than your usage, you will gain excess solar credits, which will roll forward and apply to future bills. For our Minnesota subscribers, if you have excess solar credits remaining at the end of the calendar year, you will receive a check from Xcel Energy the following March for the amount of those credits. In Colorado, any excess credits will be reimbursed at the end of your participation in the Solar*Rewards Community® Program.

In months when your solar garden subscription does not produce and contribute enough energy to cover your Xcel Energy bill with solar credits, you’ll either use previously earned solar credits or pay the difference to Xcel Energy out of pocket.

At the end of 12 months, the total value of the credits will likely exceed the cost of your community solar subscription, resulting in overall savings.

You will also be playing a role in preserving our planet for future generations. So not only are you boosting the traditional energy grid with renewable power, you’re ultimately playing a crucial role in sustaining a greener planet, and brighter future.

*If you currently participate in Xcel Energy’s Averaged Monthly Payment (AMP) program, the timing of when your solar credits are applied to your Xcel Energy bill will be different than outlined above. With the AMP program, you’re billed monthly on a basis which is separate from your current actual usage. Your actual energy usage and Solar*Rewards Community credits are still tracked and shown on your monthly bill, but your amount due is based on the average of your prior 12-month historical energy usage and costs. Every 12 months you will be billed or a credit will be applied to future bills based on the difference between what you have paid and the energy you have used. So, solar credits will still be posted to your account, but they fall into the same category as the actual usage amounts. This means that though they are continually tracked, you will not see the effect of your solar credits on the amount you owe until the end of a 12-month cycle.