Lookback Credit
The OCPA Lookback Credit (LBC) will reimburse our enrolled customers for electricity charges that would have stayed the same as if you had stayed with SCE’s annual billing. You may qualify to have some or all of what you paid placed on the bill as a credit at annual true-up. The credit will not exceed your excess banked NEM credits. The credit is directed to NEM customers who usually would not pay a monthly bill due to their system’s excess generation.
Annual True-Up
OCPA will true-up all customers on an annual basis each April, rather than on a unique date for each customer. A true-up in April may allow our solar customers to benefit from their NEM program in the summer, when excess credits are often generated, and benefit in the winter when those banked credits can be used.
OCPA bills monthly, so you do not potentially end up with a year’s worth of charges at the annual true-up. Each month, including your OCPA annual true-up month, if you have used more energy than your system generated, you will receive an OCPA generation charge in your SCE monthly bill reflecting those charges.
Net Surplus Compensation
In April, at the OCPA annual true-up, if you have a renewable system on your home or business and your system generates more energy than you use, OCPA will pay you for the annual excess energy through our Net Energy Metering (NEM) program. This payment is called the Net Surplus Compensation (NSC). OCPA’s NSC is paid at 10% more than the current SCE NSC rate.
If your Net Surplus Compensation amount is $200 or more, you can contact the OCPA call center and ask us to mail you a check.
If NSC is less than $200, OCPA will place your NSC on your next bill which will be used to offset any consumption charges in the future.
The Lookback Credit is separate from Net Surplus Compensation, and you can earn one or both, if applicable.
We will enroll NEM customers closest to their original annual true-up with SCE. Some customers due to a phased enrollment, will be with OCPA for less than 12 months (the usual true-up period) when the first OCPA true-up occurs for their account. OCPA will compensate you with NSC during this shortened period should your system generate excess generation.
Transitioning to OCPA has no effect on your current rate schedule, including legacy rates, or participation in NEM programs like 1.0 or NEM 2.0.
Learn more about the Solar/Net Energy Metering Program and view a helpful document, How to Read your NEM Bill.