Behind-the-meter
Equipment located on the customer's side of the utility meter, such as rooftop solar, home batteries or EV chargers, which primarily serves on-site load.
Behind-the-meter (BTM) assets sit downstream of the revenue meter at a home, commercial or industrial site. Their output first offsets on-site consumption, and only the net flow is seen by the utility. Front-of-the-meter (FTM) assets, by contrast, connect directly to the distribution or transmission network and sell into wholesale markets.
Typical BTM assets include rooftop PV, home and commercial batteries, heat pumps, EV chargers, backup generators and CHP units. Their value comes from avoided retail tariffs, which are usually much higher than wholesale prices because they include network charges, levies and taxes.
Value of exported kWh = export tariff or net-metering credit
- Peak demand-charge reduction for commercial customers
- Increasing self-consumption of solar
- Backup during outages
- Aggregation into a virtual power plant for grid services
Because BTM solar reduces measured demand, system operators must estimate it to forecast true load; in Australia and California, BTM PV is a major driver of the duck curve. BTM storage economics depend heavily on tariff design, including net metering rules.
Related terms
All terms →- Self-consumption
The share of on-site generation, typically rooftop solar, that is used directly by the producer rather than exported to the grid.
- Net metering
A billing arrangement in which electricity exported by a small generator, usually rooftop solar, offsets imports at the retail rate over a billing period.
- Virtual power plant (VPP)
A software platform that aggregates many distributed resources, such as batteries, EVs, heat pumps and rooftop solar, and operates them as a single dispatchable unit.
- BESS (Battery Energy Storage System)
A complete grid- or site-connected battery installation, including cells, battery management, power conversion, thermal management and controls.
- Duck curve
The shape of net load over a day in solar-rich grids: a deep midday dip as PV output peaks, followed by a steep evening ramp.
- Smart meter
An electronic meter that records consumption in short intervals and communicates the data remotely to suppliers and network operators.