Why is my electric bill so high when I barely used anything?

Because a large part of a utility bill is not charged per kilowatt hour. There is a fixed monthly charge for the connection itself, and several state-ordered program charges that are collected through the bill. A month where the house used almost nothing still carries all of that.

What is the difference between delivery and supply?

Delivery is the wires side, what the utility charges to carry power to the house. A state regulator sets it. Supply is the electricity itself, which tracks the market, and in New York you can buy it from the utility or from an energy supplier you chose. On most residential bills delivery is the larger half.

Will solar make my bill zero?

Almost never, and anyone promising zero is telling you what you want to hear. Solar displaces the charges billed per kilowatt hour, which is the large part. The fixed monthly connection charge stays no matter how much the roof makes. The table above marks which is which.

Why does my bill change when I did not change anything?

Several lines on a utility bill are true-ups. The regulator lets the utility forecast its costs, then the difference between the forecast and what actually happened is reconciled through the bill later. Those lines can be a charge one period and a credit the next, and they follow the utility rather than your house.

Should I switch to an energy supplier to save money?

Sometimes, and it only affects the supply half. The delivery charges are the same either way, because the utility still owns the wires. Read the contract term and what the rate does after any introductory period, because that is where people get caught.

UTILITY BILLS

Your utility bill,line by line.

Every charge on a residential electric bill, what it is, and the part nobody in this industry writes down: which lines solar actually removes, which it only shrinks, and which it never touches at all. No pitch attached to reading it.

Read the charges Find my utility

Rates live on your utility's own site, where they stay current. We link them rather than copy them.

01 //WHAT EACH CHARGE IS

Three groups, and one of them does not care how much power you make.

The names change from utility to utility. The categories do not. Read the group first, then the lines inside it, and the bill stops being a wall of acronyms.

Delivery

The wires side. Your utility is paid to carry electricity to the house, and the state regulator, not the market, sets what it may charge. On most residential bills this is more than half the total.

Basic service charge

Also called: Customer charge, service charge

A flat monthly amount for being connected at all. It pays for the meter, the billing and the line to the house, and it is the same whether you use 2,000 kilowatt hours or none.
Solar does not touch it
This is the single biggest reason a bill does not reach zero after solar. You are still connected, so you still pay it.
Delivery or distribution charge

Also called: Delivery charge, distribution charge

A per kilowatt hour amount for every unit the house pulls off the grid.
Shrinks with solar
Falls with the kilowatt hours you stop importing. It does not disappear, because most homes still pull from the grid at night.
Bill issuance charge

Also called: Bill delivery charge

A small fixed amount some utilities charge for producing the statement itself.
Solar does not touch it
Fixed per bill. Production does not touch it. Not every utility has one.
Public policy surcharges

Also called: System benefits charge, clean energy standard, EV make-ready, energy storage surcharge, arrears management program

State-ordered programs collected through the bill: efficiency programs, low income assistance, renewable procurement, EV and storage buildout.
Shrinks with solar
Mostly billed per kilowatt hour, so they shrink with usage. They are not solar penalties and they do not go away.
Reconciliation and adjustment mechanisms

Also called: Revenue decoupling, rate adjustment mechanism, earnings adjustment, transmission revenue adjustment, deferral surcharges

True-ups between what the regulator let the utility forecast and what actually happened. They can be a charge one period and a credit the next.
Solar does not touch it
These follow the utility, not your roof. Worth knowing because they are the lines that move on a bill you did not change.

Supply

The electricity itself. This is the part that tracks the market, and in New York you may buy it from the utility or from an ESCO you chose. It is also the part solar actually displaces.

Electric supply charge

Also called: Energy charge, generation charge, market supply charge

The commodity cost of the power, per kilowatt hour. It moves with the market and, in some territories, with your load zone.
Shrinks with solar
The main line solar offsets. Every kilowatt hour the roof makes is one you are not buying here.
Merchant function charge

Also called: Procurement charge

What the utility charges for buying the power on your behalf.
Shrinks with solar
Tied to supply volume, so it falls with it. Customers on an ESCO are generally billed differently here.
Supply reconciliation

Also called: Electricity supply reconciliation mechanism

The true-up between forecast supply cost and actual supply cost.
Shrinks with solar
Moves with supply, so it follows the same direction as the charge above.

Taxes and assessments

Set by your county, your municipality and the state, and calculated off the rest of the bill.

Sales tax

Your local rate applied to the taxable portion of the bill.
Shrinks with solar
Calculated off a smaller bill, so it falls on its own. Nothing about solar changes the rate itself.
State assessment surcharge

Also called: Incremental state assessment

A state charge on utility revenue, passed through to customers.
Shrinks with solar
Falls with the bill it is calculated from.

After solar, one new line

Once the system is on and the meter is changed, your statement starts carrying the other direction too. This is the line people are never shown before they sign.

Net metering or export credit

Also called: VDER, value stack, net metering credit, banked kilowatt hours

What the utility records when the system sends power back. Depending on the state and your rate, it is banked as kilowatt hours or as a dollar credit, and it usually rolls forward.
New after solar
The rate you are credited at is often lower than the rate you are charged at. Ask which one applies to you before you sign anything.

02 //YOUR UTILITY

The same bill, in your utility's own words.

Each page below carries that utility's charge names, a link to the annotated sample bill the utility publishes itself, and its live rate document. Where we publish a rate, it was read off the utility's own page and carries the date it was read.

National Grid Upstate New York
Central Hudson The Hudson Valley, New York
Orange and Rockland The lower Hudson Valley, New York
Con Edison New York City and Westchester
PSEG Long Island Long Island and the Rockaways

Not listed? Send the utility name and we will read your bill with you either way. We keep adding to this page as each utility's own documents are confirmed.

03 //WHY WE DO NOT PRINT A RATE TABLE

A number you cannot source is worse than no number.

Utility rates change on a schedule, and most of the surcharges on a bill are marked by the utility itself as varying monthly or annually. A page that freezes all of them into a table is wrong within a year, and the reader has no way to tell when it went wrong.

So this page explains the structure, which does not change, and links the utility's live rate documents for the values, which do. Where we do publish a figure, it carries the date it was read and a link to the page it came from.

5utilities covered
1with rates read off the utility's own page and dated

The rest link out to live rate pages rather than showing a number we cannot stand behind. A check script re-reads every source and flags anything that has moved.

04 //QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK

Why is my electric bill so high when I barely used anything?: Because a large part of a utility bill is not charged per kilowatt hour. There is a fixed monthly charge for the connection itself, and several state-ordered program charges that are collected through the bill. A month where the house used almost nothing still carries all of that.
What is the difference between delivery and supply?: Delivery is the wires side, what the utility charges to carry power to the house. A state regulator sets it. Supply is the electricity itself, which tracks the market, and in New York you can buy it from the utility or from an energy supplier you chose. On most residential bills delivery is the larger half.
Will solar make my bill zero?: Almost never, and anyone promising zero is telling you what you want to hear. Solar displaces the charges billed per kilowatt hour, which is the large part. The fixed monthly connection charge stays no matter how much the roof makes. The table above marks which is which.
Why does my bill change when I did not change anything?: Several lines on a utility bill are true-ups. The regulator lets the utility forecast its costs, then the difference between the forecast and what actually happened is reconciled through the bill later. Those lines can be a charge one period and a credit the next, and they follow the utility rather than your house.
Should I switch to an energy supplier to save money?: Sometimes, and it only affects the supply half. The delivery charges are the same either way, because the utility still owns the wires. Read the contract term and what the rate does after any introductory period, because that is where people get caught.

Want yours read out loud?

Send the bill and the address. You get production for your roof and every payment path your state allows, side by side, with real monthly numbers. If solar does not beat what you are paying now, that is what we tell you.

Get my numbers What the bill looks like after solar