Kai Mallari's Notes'

Solar PV Export at 10 Cents Per kWh Is Weaker Than Self-Consumption (Home Systems)

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Solar PV Export at 10 Cents Per kWh Is Weaker Than Self-Consumption

idea

Claim: Under BC Hydro’s self-generation rate (effective July 1, 2026), every unit of solar electricity consumed directly in the home is worth 11.87–14.08 ¢/kWh (the retail rate it displaces), while every unit exported earns only 10 ¢/kWh. Designing and operating a solar system to maximise self-consumption rather than export is therefore the primary economic lever.

Mechanism

The arithmetic:

  • 1 kWh produced and used immediately in your home → displaces 1 kWh of grid import → saves 11.87 ¢ (Tier 1) or 14.08 ¢ (Tier 2).1
  • 1 kWh produced but not consumed → exported to BC Hydro grid → earns 10 ¢.2
  • The self-consumption advantage is 1.87–4.08 ¢/kWh, which may seem small but compounds over 25 years across thousands of kWh.

Practical implications:

  • System sizing: oversizing the array relative to your daytime consumption does not help much under the new rate — all that surplus exports at 10 ¢, not at retail. Size for daytime self-consumption first; the right system for most Metro Vancouver homes is 5–8 kW, not the maximum the roof will hold.
  • Battery storage: storing afternoon surplus for evening/overnight use converts export-at-10-¢ into self-consumption-at-retail, improving the economics. This is why the BC Hydro battery rebate (5,000) exists alongside the solar rebate — the utility wants households to absorb their own surplus rather than export it.3
  • Load shifting: running discretionary loads (EV charging, dishwasher, laundry) during solar generation hours (typically 10 am–3 pm) converts those loads from grid-import to solar self-consumption. No hardware required — just a scheduling habit.
  • EV + heat pump households: these large loads, particularly EV charging, create significant daytime consumption that solar can satisfy directly. This is where solar economics in BC improve most — a household that charges an EV at home during the day and runs a heat pump may see payback in the 10–12 year range rather than 15–18 years. → ev-charger (Home Systems)

What was lost in the transition from net metering:

  • Under the old program, surplus in summer was banked at retail rates and drawn down in winter — effectively the grid served as a free seasonal battery.
  • Under the new rate, summer surplus exports at 10 ¢ while winter imports cost 11.87–14.08 ¢. The seasonal arbitrage is gone. A physical battery (or load shifting) partially replaces this, but not fully.

Scope

  • Applies to BC Hydro service territory (Metro Vancouver, Lower Mainland).
  • FortisBC customers retain retail-rate net metering — the self-consumption premium is smaller for them.
  • Does not apply to systems commissioned before July 1, 2026 that are grandfathered on the old net metering rate — for those customers, net metering banking still applies until their grandfathering period ends.

Sources

Idea Compass

North: Where this comes from

East: Tensions / failure

South: Where this leads

  • Battery storage selection — physical batteries now substitute for the seasonal banking that net metering provided
  • Load shifting habits — no-cost improvement to self-consumption ratio
  • ev-charger (Home Systems) — daytime EV charging is the highest-value self-consumption application

West: What’s similar

  • Time-of-use electricity pricing in Ontario — same economic logic: electricity is worth more at some times than others, so consumers adjust behaviour to consume at the cheapest time; solar self-consumption is the inverse

Footnotes

  1. BC Hydro, the provincial electric utility — Tier 1: 11.87 ¢/kWh; Tier 2: 14.08 ¢/kWh; flat rate option: 12.63 ¢/kWh — https://app.bchydro.com/accounts-billing/rates-energy-use/electricity-rates/residential-rates.html ↩

  2. BC Hydro, the provincial electric utility — self-generation Rate Schedule 2289: export credited at 10 ¢/kWh per billing cycle — https://app.bchydro.com/accounts-billing/electrical-connections/self-generation.html ↩

  3. BC Hydro, the provincial electric utility — battery rebate: up to $5,000 with Peak Saver enrollment; rationale is to reduce grid export by storing generation for self-use — https://www.bchydro.com/powersmart/residential/rebates-programs/solar-battery.html ↩

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