Discover SmartMeter™ benefits for solar and renewable energy

View your net energy usage online

With SmartMeter™ online tools, you can view your hour-by-hour net energy usage data. The charts within Your Account show the total amount of energy you used from PG&E (positive values) or exported to PG&E (negative values) by bill, day or hour. To access these charts, sign in to Your Account page. Visit Your Account.

Generate your own power

When generating your own power from a solar energy system or other renewable technology, the electrical load is served first. Any electricity that you don’t use exports to the grid. Customers typically use the power from the solar or renewable system, but they still draw power from the grid. At other times, such as during the day, the system can generate more energy than a home or business requires, and the surplus power exports to the grid.

Check the energy flow

PG&E uses a single meter that is connected to a home. The only information recorded is net usage; that is, either the amount of energy that flows to the property (a positive number) or the amount of energy that flows to the grid (a negative number) during every hour of the day. Some customers can measure the production from their solar or other renewable systems using separate meters attached directly to the systems.

Learn more about net energy metering and billing. Visit Understand Net Energy Metering (NEM) and Your Bill.

Reading the SmartMeter™ (NEM)

SmartMeter™ electric meters record the total net amount of electricity used or exported. The display shows an arrow that indicates whether you are using or exporting energy.

Learn how to read the SmartMeter™. Visit Reading the Meters (NEM).