🎥 Tariffs in OpenSolar: How to Create and Search (OpenSolar 1.0)

OpenSolar has an extensive tariff database, but there may be utility departments or specific rates that are not in the database yet. If there is a tariff you would like to model with that is not in the database, feel free to create a Help Center ticket with the tariff details attached, and the support team will add it for you. You are also able to create the tariff yourself by watching this video or following the steps below.

In order to create a new tariff, go to the Control section of the app, and then go to Other > Utility Tariffs on the left-side bar.

From here you can search through all of the existing tariffs in our database by going to the top right hand corner and clicking  , then choosing Search from the drop down menu. You will see a search bar and can type the name of the Utility or tariff that you are searching for. 

If you would like to create a new tariff, go to the top right hand corner and click on . 

Once you've created a name for the utility tariff and saved, you can add edit all of the tariff information. Description of each Utility Tariff field is shown in the table below:

Note: When creating a new project, OpenSolar will automatically select the tariff based on the country, service area of the distributor, the sector of that project (e.g. Commercial vs Residential), and the popularity. If the popularity of a custom tariff is set to 100, OpenSolar will always default to that tariff for all new projects.

Solar Compensation Mechanism

There are 3 Different Solar Compensation Mechanisms:

Bill Charges

This is where you include all charges based on consumption: Usage Rate $/kWh, Demand Rate ($/kW), Export Rate $/kWh, or Controlled Load $/kWh.

Note: All prices entered should be inclusive of tax. 

In order to create a new item, click on the button  next to Bill Charges. Then click on the new item to expand the menu. 

Under the heading Type, you can click on the type of charge you would like to define. You can chose one of four items:

These items can be configured to be Flat, Block or Time Of Use (TOU) rates, and this applies to all rate types as listed above.

Note: Below we will illustrate how to create a Flat, Block, or Time Of Use (TOU) rates using a Usage Charge. However the same rate structures can be created for all other rate types.

Creating a Flat Rate

A flat rate (also known as a single rate) is a charge that applies to all time-periods of the tariff. 

To create a Flat Rate:

1. Create a bill charge by clicking next to Bill Charges and set the Type it to be a Usage Rate ($/kWh). Since the usage item is not tiered, you DO NOT need to set the Block Period and just leave it as default.
2. Create a rate by clicking
3. Set a Rate Name and Price 

The example below, shows a flat usage rate with a charge of $0.27/kWh:

Note: For flat rates, no schedule needs to be set, as the rate is automatically assigned to all time periods.

Creating a Block Rate

A Block Rate is based on incremental usage prices. For a given Block Period (the cycle before the tiering of the charge resets), the Price per kWh will vary based on which Limit (kWh) has been exceeded. 

To create a block rate:

1. Create a bill charge by clicking next to Bill Charges and set the Type it to be a Usage Rate ($/kWh). 
2. Next set the appropriate Block Period. There are two options (Daily = resets the tiers every new day, or Default = resets tiers at every new bill, or same as the bill cycle/frequency).
3. Click on  to add another block (also known as tier).
4. Set the Price and Limit for each block (Ensuring that the Limit for the last block is empty). 
5. If there are different rates based on season or weekend/weekday, you can enable the Schedule, which allows you to assign the different Rates to different times of the year. Otherwise, you don't need to enable Schedule. You can check out how to assign a schedule in the Time Of Use (TOU) Segment of this article below.

Note: Do NOT put a limit on the last block as any usage that is past that limit will have no rate assigned to it, and hence be charged at $0/kWh. 

Creating Time Of Use (TOU) Rate

A Time-of-Use (TOU) rate is a rate that has different charges based on the time of day.

In order to add TOU Rates:

1. Create a bill charge by clicking next to Bill Charges and set the Type it to be a Usage Rate ($/kWh). 
2. Then click on to add the number of different rates for each Time of Use period. (e.g. Create 3 separate rates for a TOU with Peak, Off-peak and Shoulder Rates).
   
3. After setting the name and price of each rate, you will need to set the time period in which these rates are applied.
4. First, click  and then select the time frame in which the corresponding rate gets applied on the schedule matrix.
5. Once the time frame is selected (indicated by the greened out cells), click  next to the rate being assigned.
6. Repeat steps for all other TOU rates.
7. Ensure that both weekday and weekend schedules are assigned.

Discounts & Surcharges

These are set prices that you can add on or take away from the bill in a set time period. 

1. Click on next to Discounts & Surcharges to add a new Discount/Surcharge.
2. Click on the drop down underneath Type to choose the time scale (i.e. $/day, month, quarter, year)
3. Enter in a Discount as a negative number and Surcharge as a positive number.

So the example shown below will result in the bill having a surcharge of $1 per day. 

Extra Fields

To add an Extra Field:

1. Click on the next to Extra Fields.
2. Click on Extra Field Name drop down and choose an option.
3. Enter in the relevant value next to this.

There are four Extra Fields that you can add to a Tariff:

1. Discount Usage Charges - % discount on the usage charges.
2. Discount Supply Charges - % discount on the surcharges.
3. Discount Demand Charges - % discount on demand charges.
4. Tax (% inclusive) - The tax amount on the tariff.