Customer Service

Frequently Asked Questions

You may turn on your Distributed Energy Resource system once you have received an executed agreement from the utilities and, if applicable, your meter has been changed.

Customer Self Supply is the only program limited to solar photovoltaic generation; other programs accept solar, wind, biomass, or hydroelectric technologies, and Standard Interconnection Agreement also accepts renewable and non-renewable technologies.

All programs have a maximum total generation capacity of 100 kW except SIA, which has no size limits.

Because your CGS bi-directional meter only tracks the excess electricity you generate but don't consume, figuring out how much electricity you actually use each month takes a little bit of math.

Calculate Your System's Total Monthly Production
If you receive production reports from your inverters, tally up how many kilowatt-hours your system produced during the service period for the month you are researching. You'll find these dates under Service Period in the Account Summary section of your bill.

Add Your Total Production to the NET Amount on Your Bill
The NET amount on your bill is the difference between your excess electricity production and the extra supplied to you, when needed, by the utility.

Now You Have Your Actual Electricity Use
Comparing the total system production of your PV system to the NET amount on your bill reveals your actual electricity use. As PV system production varies with season and weather, its total generation will also vary from month to month. Doing this calculation will most likely show moderate variations in your month-to-month electricity use, just as there was before you had a PV system.

Doing this regularly will alert you if there are dramatic changes in electricity use, which would be difficult to detect if you only relied on your bills.

Your ability to add more capacity will be dependent upon the availability of program space and may require you to wait in an application queue.

Hawaiian Electric reads customer meters once a month in order to generate your bill.

For a CGS customer, your meter is a bi-directional meter and tracks the amount of electricity passing back and forth between the utility and you. For CGS customers, if you produced more electricity than you consumed, you will receive a credit on your monthly bill for the overage, per the approved PUC tariff rate. You will be billed for all electricity delivered from the utility to you at your current schedule rate.

For other Distributed Energy Resource programs, feeding excess electricity into the grid is either not allowed or not recommended, so the meter will simply show a reduction in the electricity received from the utility.

A bi-directional meter records electricity moving both to and from your property and keeps track measured in kilowatt hours, or kWh.

The kWh amounts displayed on your meter are cumulative and do not reset each month. For customers with demand meters, the demand or kWh amount is reset at the end of each month's billing cycle.

Here is a list of approved inverters that meets TOV specifications.

Please contact your utility for more information.

An advanced inverter allows for more complex functionality and compliance with the latest inverter standards. It provides the ability to receive operation instructions and make autonomous decisions to help with grid stability, support power quality and provide ancillary services, which also help maintain the stability and power quality of the electric grid.