5.5 Charging by "production" is the biggest scam of the NEM 3.0 era

Here's a real contract from a well-known installer: $200 per month, system produces 11,000 kWh per year, "equivalent to $0.218/kWh."

That sounds cheaper than the $0.30 grid rate — except the customer's actual total electricity spend went from $210 to $315 per month.

Why? Because:

• The contract bills you based on production, but only 1/3 of production actually serves your home under NEM 3.0 (the rest is exported at the cheap ACC rate).
• The system was deliberately undersized (looks adequate in summer, severely short in winter).
• You go on vacation for a month and your house consumes nothing — but you still owe $200 while the system donates power to the grid.

A contract must bill on "actual offset bill" or "actual self-consumed kWh," not on production. This is a must-check item before the cooling-off window closes.