Behind-the-Meter (BTM)

What it means

Behind-the-meter describes assets sited on the customer's side of the utility revenue meter — rooftop solar, home and commercial batteries, on-site generation. The distinction from front-of-meter (grid-connected, wholesale-market) assets is economic rather than technical: BTM output offsets retail tariff, which is typically far higher than the wholesale price a front-of-meter asset earns, so BTM economics are driven by avoided purchase rather than energy sales. This is why behind-the-meter storage pencils in markets where standalone grid storage does not. BTM assets are also the raw material for virtual power plants and demand response, since they sit at the customer premise where flexibility can be aggregated. Regulatory treatment varies sharply by market — net metering, gross metering and self-consumption rules all determine how surplus BTM export is compensated.