If Aurora doesn't have your customer's utility rate, you can create it as a custom rate and select it on projects. Only account admins can create custom utilities and rates.
In this article:
- Before you begin
- Add a utility
- Create a custom rate
- Add tiers and time-of-use periods
- Select the rate on a project
- Check the rate against a utility bill
- FAQ
- Related articles
Before you begin
- In the US and Canada, you can send Support a full copy of the customer's utility bill instead. Support usually adds the rate within two to three days.
- Support can't add rates for UK or EU accounts, so create a custom rate. For projects in England, Scotland, or Wales, first check whether the customer's supplier tariff is available — see Selecting electricity tariffs in Great Britain.
- If the project uses a financing integration, check with the financing partner first. Some partners don't accept custom rates, and others accept them only after approving the rate.
Add a utility
Every custom rate belongs to a utility, so add the utility first if it isn't listed.
- Click the Database icon in the left navigation.
- Click Utility rates under Quoting.
- Search for the customer's utility. If it's listed, go to Create a custom rate.
- Click Add utility.
- Enter the utility's Name, Area of operation, and Website.
- Click Create.
Create a custom rate
- Click the utility's name on the Utilities page.
- Click Add custom utility rate.
- Fill in the Rates details, Rates, and Export settings sections, using the tables below.
Then add tiers and time-of-use periods before you save.
Rates details
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Name | A name reps will recognize, such as the utility and rate code. |
| Start date and End date | The rate's effective period. Leave End date blank if the rate has no end date. |
| Sector | Residential or Commercial. You can select the rate only on projects of the same type. |
| Description and Reference | Notes about the rate and a link to the utility's tariff. |
| Energy usage unit | kWh per month or kWh per day, matching how the tariff sets tier limits. |
| Show in pre-solar rates and Show in post-solar rates | Turn either one off to hide the rate from that list on projects. |
Rates
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Fixed charge | The flat fee the customer pays regardless of how much energy they use, per month or per day. |
| Apply solar credits to fixed charges | Turn on if the utility lets solar credits pay the fixed charge. Credits can reduce it to zero, but the minimum bill still applies. |
| Minimum bill | A charge the utility applies when the customer uses less than a set amount of power each month. See Fixed Charge vs Minimum Bill. |
| Billing frequency | Monthly or Annual. See Difference between monthly and annual billing. |
Export settings
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Export rate | How exports are credited: Retail rate, Retail rate with fixed reduction (retail minus an amount per kWh), Retail rate with percent reduction (retail minus a percentage), or Fixed export rate (a set price per kWh). Custom rates don't support time-of-use export, even with Retail rate, so don't choose Schedule. |
| True-up period | How often net excess generation is credited: Annual or Monthly. |
| True-up month | If the true-up is annual, the month it happens. |
| Net surplus compensation | The credit per kWh for net excess generation over the true-up period. |
| Compensation payment | Cash pays the homeowner by check. Credit applies the amount to future grid use. |
Add tiers and time-of-use periods
A new rate starts with one period covering all hours and one tier covering all usage, so a flat rate needs only a price.
- Enter the Rate per kWh under Tiers for period.
- Enter any amount to add to the rate in Adjustment. Total shows the combined price.
- Click Add tier to add a tier.
- Enter the highest usage the tier covers in Max kWh per month usage (or Max kWh per day usage). For example, 100 and 200 create tiers of 0–100 kWh, 100–200 kWh, and 200 kWh to Infinity.
- Click Add period to add a time-of-use period.
- Enter the new period's rates and tiers.
- Click the Weekday schedule tab.
- Drag across the months and hours where a period applies.
- Enter the period number in Set period.
- Click Create.
- Repeat on the Weekend schedule tab.
Important: Use every period on both the Weekday schedule and the Weekend schedule. Aurora saves a period that's missing from either schedule but doesn't apply it to the rate.
If the rate has demand charges:
- Click Add demand charge under Demand charges.
- Enter the Charge per kW.
- Turn on Weekdays, Weekends, or both under Effective.
- Drag across Months to choose when the charge applies.
- Drag across Hours to choose the times it applies.
- Enter the Minimum and Maximum in kW if the charge applies only within a range of demand.
When you're done, click Save at the top of the page. The rate appears in the utility's list, tagged Custom.
Select the rate on a project
Custom rates appear at the top of a project's rate lists, grouped by utility and tagged Custom. Type to search by rate or utility name.
- On the project's Energy usage page, under Grid electricity, select the rate in Current rate (before solar) or Future rate (after solar).
- In Sales Mode, open Project details from the top bar, click Edit energy profile, select the rate, and click Save profile.
- In Design Mode, click Bill savings in the top bar, then select the rate under Pre-solar rate or Post-solar rate. The pre-solar rate applies to all designs on the project.
To adjust a custom rate for one project, click View rate next to it in Edit energy profile, then click Edit. You can change the billing frequency, tier adjustments, and export settings for that project only. Pre-solar rate changes apply to all of its designs. See Edit Existing Utility Rates.
Check the rate against a utility bill
Note: Once you've set up your custom rate, it's helpful to test it out with a real-world example and validate its accuracy.
- Select the custom rate as the Current rate on the project's Energy usage page.
- Set Input method to Monthly estimate (1-12 months).
- Enter the kWh from the bill in the field for the bill's month.
- Hover over that month's bar under Today's energy bill.
- Compare the amount with the bill.
Custom rates have no field for taxes, so the amount won't include any taxes on the bill.
FAQ
I created a custom rate. Why doesn't it show up on my project?
Check that the rate's Sector matches the project and that Show in pre-solar rates and Show in post-solar rates are on. If the Utilities page says a third-party utility rate integration is enabled, rates you turn on in the Database appear on projects only if they're custom rates.
If I edit a custom rate in the Database, do designs that already use it update?
No. Changes in the Database don't update existing designs that use the rate.