Going Solar?
Deciding to purchase solar panels for your home can seem complicated when you are dealing with both a solar company and SEMO Electric Cooperative. We strive to make the transition as easy as possible. Although investing in solar energy isn't for everyone, we want to help you make the best choice for you and your home.
Below you will find some information to think about as you begin to assess your solar needs. Research initial steps before selecting a system, consider ownership options available to potential households looking into solar generation to offset energy charges and take steps to purchase a properly sized system for your individual needs. Please check out these fact sheets to help answer questions you might have about your solar. For example, What is the right size for you? What questions should you ask your solar contractor? What should I do before installing solar?
By installing solar panels at your service location, you become an independent generator of electricity. Under a net metering agreement, you also benefit from grid access when you produce more power than you use. As a net metered member, you can be a net-user, a net-generator, or you can be completely reliant on SEMO Electric's system for your power — all depending on the production of your system.
Understanding Net Metering
Net metering allows SEMO Electric's members to generate their own electricity cleanly and efficiently. During the day, some solar members produce more electricity than they consume; net metering allows them to export that power to the grid and reduce their future electric bills. Net metering is a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the grid based on the avoided cost to generate electricity. Members are only billed for their "net" energy use. 
Net User: Your home will use all the energy produced by your solar system before going to SEMO Electric's system for additional power. Whenever your home pulls power from the system, that energy is recorded on the delivered channel of your net meter. The delivered channel represents what power your home needed after using all available solar energy and is not a measurement of your home’s total energy consumption.
Net Generator: When you are producing more energy than your home needs, your excess energy goes back to the system. That “leftover” amount is reflected on the received channel of your meter. The received channel of your electric meter does not record the total production of your solar system, rather it tells you how much excess power you had after your home used all the available solar generated power.
System Power: If your solar system is not generating any power, your home will pull 100 percent of your power needs from the system. Any power pulled from the system is recorded on the delivered channel of your meter and reflected as an energy charge on your bill.
Below you will see the net metering application.
NREL's PVWatts Calculator
The PVWatts calculator may be used to estimate the energy production and cost of energy for grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) energy systems. It allows homeowners, small building owners, installers and manufacturers to easily develop estimates of the performance of potential PV installations. This calculator can be used to identify how many kilowatt hours your solar installation will generate during the year.
Save with Energy Efficiency
Before installing rooftop solar panels, you can reduce your energy usage and save with energy efficiency. Energy efficiency means using less energy to produce the same amount of power. Be sure to review SEMO Electric's rebates program.
As a solar member, SEMO Electric will always be there to back you up when your system is not producing enough energy to power your home. If you would like more information, please email dannett@gosemo.com.