A Guide to Your Orange & Rockland Bill with Solar

October 28, 2022|
Ian Lund|
SunCommon Blog|

Your solar credits will appear in two places on your O&R bill:

Current Month Allocated CDG Credit - This is the current CDG credit (solar credit) applied to your O&R account from the community solar array generation period ($205.68).

Prior Credit – This is the remaining CDG credit from the prior month that has carried over to the current bill period.

Banked CDG Credit Applied from Host – This is any CDG credit taken from your credit bank (Remaining CDG Credit) and applied to this bill.

Total Credit Applied – This is the actual amount of CDG credit applied to this bill. You can see this as the Value Stack Credit under Billing Summary.

Remaining CDG Credit - This is the remaining CDG credit after it has been applied to the eligible charges on this bill. This amount will appear in the Prior Credit section on your next bill and can be used to cover future electric supply and delivery charges as needed.

CDG Credit Summary – look on the left side of your bill

Billing Summary – look on the right side of your bill for “Value Stack Credit” under “Adjustments”

Frequently Asked Questions

What charges are eligible to be covered by CDG (Community Distributed Generation) credit aka solar credit?

All Electric Delivery, Supply and Tax charges. Credits can also offset any lighting charges if applicable.

Where do I look to see my electric usage?

All Electric Delivery, Supply and Tax charges. Credits can also offset any lighting charges if applicable.

Does my billing cycle change as a community solar member?

Your billing cycle will not change. Members of the same community solar array bill at different times throughout the month based on O&R’s meter read routes by location.

Keep in mind when reviewing your O&R statements that the community solar array may be on a different meter reading cycle than your O&R bills. Because of this, your usage period and the solar generation period will not perfectly align.

What if I receive electricity supply from an ESCO?

For each billing period, if there is enough CDG credit to fully offset the delivery and supply charges on the bill, these charges will be completely covered. If there is insufficient CDG credit to fully offset these charges, the earned credit will be applied to the delivery and supply charges first, and you will owe the remaining balance to O&R.

What if I’m on a budget billing plan with O&R?

You are eligible to remain on budget billing as a CSA member, though you may want to consider ending your budget billing plan in order to realize the full financial benefit of your CSA membership. CDG credits are applied to your actual electric charges, not to your budget billing amount. When you start receiving solar credits from the CSA, you will continue to be billed the same budget billing amount, and the credit for solar generation will be reflected in the billing summary. Even if your CDG credits completely offset your electric charges, you may still owe a balance if you remain on budget billing. When O&R reviews your budget plan, your solar credits will impact your future monthly budget amount.

What is a CCA?

CCA stands for Community Choice Aggregation. It’s a way for your local elected officials to choose a third party company to supply your electricity instead of the utility. Your utility will continue to deliver your electricity. Most CCAs strive for some savings with renewable energy.

How is a CCA different from a SunCommon CSA?

By participating in a SunCommon CSA, you are choosing to purchase your electricity from a specific local solar project. The local solar array will produce electricity and feed it directly into the utility grid so you can benefit from monthly credits reducing your electric bill. CCAs are managed by a third party administrator that work with several different Energy Service Companies and Distributed Energy Resource providers to aggregate a mix of renewable energy sources.

Can I have a Community Solar membership and participate in the CCA?

Yes, you can have both. The CCA may lower your overall monthly bill a little, by lowering the “supply” part of your bill. The CSA credits will appear as a separate line item on your bill, and will help offset the sum of the basic service charge, delivery charges, and CCA supply charges on your bill.

If you have more questions about your bill, we recommend calling Orange & Rockland directly at 1-877-434-4100 or visit their How to Read your O&R Bill Guide.