What is Solargraf's utility data source?

Utility data is provided by Genability, a third-party partner that provides up-to-date and comprehensive tariff coverage

What tariff structures does Solargraf support?

The four main categories of rates in tariffs are: fixed and minimum amounts (mandatory charges regardless of usage), usage rates (charged per kilowatt-hour, often with complexities like seasonality, time-of-use, and tiering), demand rates (based on peak usage within a billing period, mainly for commercial customers), and export rates (for energy sent back to the grid). Solargraf also computes seasonal variations, time-of-use windows, and tiered rates when you use our automatic utility rate feature.

What is the source and update frequency of appliance and EV data in Solargraf?

We retrieve data through an API from the Enphase website, which provides electric vehicle (EV) specifications from various major manufacturers. It contains a database of EV models and their technical properties—such as battery capacity, power output, range, and related performance details.

Are utility fees automatically included when using the Fetch Utility/Tariff rates automatically feature?

It depends on the type of fee, but most fees are automatically included. For example, demand charges are included automatically when using the auto-rates feature. If there are any after-solar tariffs you must select them on the Utility settings of the project to ensure you are getting accurate utility calculations.

If you think a rate is missing or is different (such as a fixed charge) from what is being displayed by Solargraf's automatic usage rates feature, please contact [email protected] and attach a redacted copy of the homeowner's utility bill with detailed descriptions about what is missing or different. We will help you verify if you are using the correct tariffs to ensure you can create an accurate proposal.

How does the after-solar tariff impact a project?

If you select an after-solar tariff, this value will be used to calculate the new utility bill under the Monthly Breakdown section.

I've enabled the option to equate the utility buy and sell rates, but under the Monthly Breakdown section, I can see that Solargraf uses different rates for each. Why is this?

Note that you will only see the 'Use automatic utility sell rates as buyback rates' option when you select 'Net Feed-in Tariff' or 'Net Metering', it will not show up if you have selected 'Gross feed-in Tariff'. There are two important details to remember when reading the Monthly Breakdownsection when you check off this option:

a. The displayed utility buy rate is the average of the rates at all hours where net electricity is purchased

b. The displayed utility sell rate is the average of the rates at all hours where net electricity is sold.

As the hourly rates may vary according to the selected tariff (such as for a Time of Use tariff), the rates used in calculating each average may differ. However, at any given hour, the system will apply the same $/kWh charge for electricity sold as it would for electricity purchased, in the same hour.

Why doesn't the 'Old Utility Bill' match the bill amount I typed into the Utilitysettings?

The Old Utility Bill appears by default when using the Cash/Buy payment option. If you’ve selected a Loan option, this value will only be visible under the Net savings column in the Monthly Breakdown chart.

If your project uses a utility labeled with Automatic usage rates, the Old bill shown may not match the utility bill you manually entered in the Utility section of the project settings.

This difference occurs because when you enable the Fetch Utility/Tariff Rates Automatically feature (recommended), Solargraf sends your entered utility bill to Genability, a utility rate data provider. Genability then uses an algorithm to match your input to historical usage data from similar buildings in your region. This process takes just a few seconds. Once complete, Genability returns a calculated estimate, which is then displayed as the Old bill on your web quote.

Why do we do this?

We highly encourage that you use Fetch Utility/Tariff rates automatically (recommended)whenever possible in order to provide the most accurate consumption and offset values for your customers. By using Genability's algorithm, Solargraf is able to predict consumption values accurately even when you enter in a single data point, such as only 1 month of your customer's utility bill.

If you are seeing a large difference between the 'Old Utility Bill' displayed in your Solargraf quote compared to the values you have manually entered in the Utility section, here are some things you can do to improve your proposal:

• • • Enter any utility bills in kWh amounts rather than the $ amounts.

    • Enter in as many months of bills as possible to give the algorithm more data points to work with.

    • Make sure the dates on your customer's utility bills match the time periods you have entered into Solargraf since seasonal variations are taken into account in Genability's algorithm.

    • Ensure the correct Genability Tariff is selected in Solargraf (it should match the utility company and tariff type printed on your customer's bill), as this impacts the utility buy rates.

    • Enter your desired estimated inflation rates under 'Inflation when Buyback from utility' as this is not automatically updated by Genability.
      
      

If the homeowner does not have any previous utility bills available, what should I enter in the Utility settings?

If no utility bills are available, it's a judgment call that you have to make to decide what's best or the most accurate for your company and your customers.

In Solargraf, the default monthly bill that the software enters for you is $150/month. If you are using the Fetch Utility/Tariff rates automatically (recommended, please note that the month for which you enter the electric bill does matter due to seasonal changes in consumption.

If your customer has lived in a similar-sized home in the past (with the same number of occupants), you can still use their past bills (kWh) or if you are able to obtain bill estimates from occupants in the same neighbourhood/with similar occupancy/expected energy demand then you can input those as well.

What does "Use automatic utility sell rates" refer to?

The option 'Use automatic utility sell rates' means setting the utility buy rate to equal the utility sell rate. If this setting is checked off, it means Solargraf will equate the sell rates with the buyback rates information coming from Genability.