What happens to the energy you don't use
How surplus energy sent to the grid gets settled
In short
The energy you don't use isn't wasted.
During the day your panels produce more than you can use. That leftover goes up to the grid and is paid on your bill.
Step 1
Energy left over
Around midday the panels produce more than you use.
Step 2
It goes up to the grid
A meter counts what goes in and what comes out.
Step 3
It's paid on your bill
What it's worth depends on the regime that applies to you.
A day in the life of your solar system
The yellow area is the surplus. Switch between a home and a business and watch it grow or shrink depending on when you use energy.
- What the panels produce
- What you use
- Left over: goes up to the grid
- Short: comes from the grid
You produce 5.0 kW and use 0.5 kW. 4.5 kW is left over: that's the surplus, and it goes up to the grid.
A home
~81%
of what the panels produce during the day is left over and goes up to the grid.
Most of the usage is early in the morning and at night, exactly when there's no sun.
That's why how surplus energy gets paid matters so much to a home: it's a good part of what the panels produce.
The words, plainly
Five terms you'll come across in any conversation about surplus energy, and in the tool below.
Surplus energy
The energy your panels produce that you aren't using at that moment («excedente»). It isn't wasted or stored in a battery: it goes up to the grid.
Offset (permutar)
Netting what you sent up during the day against what you take from the grid at night, instead of selling it. It's what makes the simple regime so cheap.
PDE
Porcentaje de Distribución de Excedentes (surplus distribution percentage). In a community, each member's share of the leftover energy.
AGPE
Autogenerador a pequeña escala (small-scale self-generator): up to about 1 MW. Above that ceiling, surplus energy follows other rules.
Network operator
The company that owns the wires in your area. It approves the connection and meters what goes in and what comes out.
What your surplus is worth depends on the regime
The regulations set three ways to settle it. Two figures decide which one applies to you: the size of your share and, in a community, your PDE.
Which case is yours?
Two variables decide how your surplus energy is settled. Set them to match your case.
How big your part of the system is. For reference, a home's is usually a few kW and a business's, a few dozen.
Only applies in a community. The surplus distribution percentage (Porcentaje de Distribución de Excedentes) is the share of the leftover energy assigned to each member; if just one reaches 10%, the case changes for everyone.
The three possible regimes
- 1
Simple regimeYour case
Capacity up to 100 kW and no member with a PDE of 10% or more
The electricity retailer only charges the retail (commercialization) component on the offset surplus. It's the simplest treatment of the three.
CREG Resolutions 174 de 2021 (capacity) and 101 072 de 2025 (PDE)
- 2
Regime with additional charges
Capacity over 100 kW, or any member with a PDE of 10% or more
- 3
Distributed generation regime
The collective self-generator as a whole goes over the AGPE limit (~1 MW) without reaching 5 MW
General guidance, not a calculation of your bill. The regime that finally applies is confirmed by your network operator and your electricity retailer against the regulations in force.
An honest warning
This is the part of the rules that has changed most since 2021, and the part most oversimplified in sales pitches. If someone projects twenty years of surplus income for you with a single figure, ask them under which regime and which version of the rules they ran that calculation.
CREG Resolutions 101072 de 2025 and 101099 de 2026 kept adjusting the process for collective self-generators, and there's no reason to assume it stops there.
We'll tell you which regime would apply. No strings attached.
The solar projects we are structuring
The two projects we operate today in La Pintada, Antioquia, one under each setup.
Project in Structuring
Project in StructuringLearn more about the business model and how you can take part
We'll answer your questions on a call.
This conversation is informational, about how the project is structured. It is not financial, legal or tax advice, nor a public offering of securities. Every participation carries risk.