Horry Electric Cooperative residential solar, Rate 915

The screens that decide it

• Within Rate 915’s 20 kW ceiling Limit 20 kW.

  The rated capacity of the member’s generating system may not exceed the lesser of the member’s estimated maximum annual kilowatt demand or 20 kW. The demand limb usually binds first on a low demand household, and it is a demand cap rather than an energy cap.

Ask the utility this, before you sell it

1. Is the 20 kW rated capacity limit measured on the inverter AC rating or the array DC rating? Rate 915 does not say, and the application asks for both.
2. What is this member’s estimated maximum annual kilowatt demand? That figure, not the 20 kW ceiling, is usually the binding limit.
3. What is the current avoided cost rate under Attachment A? Rate 915 sets it annually by 1 January and the value is not in the published rate sheet.
4. What screens, review timeline and interconnection standard apply? No public copy of the standard was located.

Worth knowing before you quote

Rate 915 is a demand rate, and that is the thing most likely to surprise a customer after the sale. Energy is only $0.069 per kWh with a $1.05 per day account charge, but there is a $12.00 per kW peak charge set by the highest single hour of use between 3pm and 6pm in summer and 6am and 9am in winter. The winter peak window falls before meaningful production, so the savings case is not a kilowatt hour case and should not be modeled as one. A $100 interconnection application fee is due to Horry, and proof of a minimum of $100,000 personal liability insurance is required from the homeowner, with no additional insured requirement published. Renewable energy credits associated with net excess generation are granted to the cooperative annually. The contract has a one year minimum term with 60 day written termination notice. Battery size in kWh is collected at application but no storage or non export provision is published.

All South Carolina interconnection rules