Top Tier — North Carolina Battery Sales Reference

Dominion Energy North Carolina · Northeastern North Carolina

Sales reference for reps working Dominion Energy's North Carolina territory. This is the deep reference — how to sell it up top, full utility detail below. Northeastern North Carolina is the exception inside its own state: while Duke's two utilities closed legacy net metering and moved new customers onto the Bridge Rate, Dominion NC still runs full retail 1:1 net metering for residential customers — Schedule 1, rolling twelve-month credit, intact, with no successor transition filed. That means the honest battery math here is the honest inverse of most of our book: a battery does not meaningfully reduce today's bill, because the customer's netting already time-shifts their solar at full value — and our proposals show the with-battery bill nearly unchanged, on purpose. What we sell instead is everything the netting can't do: backup power on a coastal corridor that Florence, Isaias, and Helene have all reminded what hurricane season means; position against a rate trajectory that runs through PJM's Dom Zone — the same grid as Dominion Virginia, where capacity prices spiked eight-fold and data-center growth drives the curve; and the takeover of an orphaned system. Two conflation guards run the whole appointment: this is not Duke — no PowerPair rebate, no EnergyWise VPP, no Bridge Rate, no Duke rate-case numbers — and the county check comes first, because three NC utilities run three different rulebooks. The netting pays the honesty; the coast and the curve make the case.

What kind of market this is

Dominion NC is a preserved full-retail 1:1 market where the battery's today-bill impact is ~$0 and we say so on the proposal itself — the pitch is forward-positioning (PJM Dom Zone trajectory, told as position not savings), coastal-hurricane resilience, and the takeover — guarded on every side by the Duke anti-conflation rules and the county check. Five defining facts:

1. Full retail 1:1 net metering — intact, and we say what that means for the battery. Dominion NC residential customers net-meter at full retail under Schedule 1 (Rate 163), with a rolling twelve-month credit — and unlike Duke's utilities, no successor transition applies here: the Duke Bridge Rate / RSC transition does not touch Dominion NC. The consequence, told straight: a battery adds roughly nothing to today's bill — the netting already time-shifts solar at full value — and our proposals render the with-battery bill nearly unchanged, with the reason printed.
2. The value is position, and it's told as position. Dominion NC sits in PJM's Dom Zone — the same RTO as Dominion Virginia, and distinct from Duke NC, which is outside PJM entirely. PJM capacity prices spiked 833% in the 2025/26 auction, and the pressure flows through Dominion's pass-through riders, with Northern Virginia's data-center growth and VCEA compliance driving the same curve that reaches this footprint. The 25-year scenarios (3%/5%/7% → roughly $11K/$17K/$24K of position value) are the battery's forward story — quoted as trajectory positioning, never as today's savings.
3. This is not Duke — the wrong-program guard runs the state. Duke's PowerPair rebate (~$9K) and EnergyWise Home Battery VPP are Duke-only programs — Dominion NC customers cannot enroll in either, and a rep who lets a customer believe otherwise is quoting someone else's utility. Same guard the other direction: Duke's rate case, Duke's Bridge Rate dates, and Duke's SERC framing never appear in a Dominion pitch.
4. The county check comes first. North Carolina runs three IOUs under three different cohort treatments — Duke Carolinas, Duke Progress, and Dominion NC — and the northeastern counties (Currituck, Camden, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Chowan, Gates, Hertford — the Norfolk-metro extension) are Dominion country. Confirm the customer's utility before quoting a single bill dynamic. And Dominion serves Virginia under Virginia's rules — the state line is a second gate.
5. The coast is the close. Northeastern NC fronts the sounds and the hurricane corridor: Florence (2018) hammered eastern North Carolina, Isaias (2020) raked the coast, and Helene (2024) became the state's defining outage — with the honest note that the big statewide counts (1.34 million, 1.5 million) are Duke-system numbers, cited as the state's pattern, never claimed as Dominion's. Grid-tied solar produced nothing through any of it. One honest bright spot rides the tax line: North Carolina's 100% residential property-tax exemption for solar is automatic, and solar equipment is generally sales-tax exempt at the state level.

Your lead is the preserved-netting truth, told before the screen shows it. "Your net metering already does the bill work — a battery won't move this month's bill much, and our proposal will show you that, on purpose" is the sentence that buys the room for what's real: the position story on the Dom Zone curve, the hurricane corridor, and the takeover. The contrast is honest and powerful: Duke customers across the state just lost this arrangement — yours is intact, which is both an asset today and the proof that terms in this state are the changeable kind.

Default configuration: backup-capable — hurricane country.

• Backup-capable: $18,500 cash / $23,942 financed / ~$228/mo
• Self-consumption-only: $17,000 cash / $22,068 financed / ~$210/mo

Confirm pricing, configuration, county/utility, and current figures in the tool before quoting — Dominion NC's rate card is a tool-carried figure, and the bill estimate is flagged as an estimate.

PART A — The Pitch (Problem → Solution → Urgency → Close)

The spine is multiple beats per section: customer headline + statement + rep layer (+ objection where noted). Beats marked (BACKUP ONLY) render only for backup config. The county check opens the appointment; the preserved-netting honesty governs every number.

The Problem

Your net metering is genuinely good — and it's the exception left standing in North Carolina. Dominion NC still nets your solar at full retail, one for one, with credits that roll across the year. Duke's customers across the rest of the state lost that arrangement — new Duke solar lands on the Bridge Rate now. Yours is intact. Here's the honest consequence for a battery: your netting already time-shifts your solar at full value, so a battery won't meaningfully reduce today's bill — and we'll show you that on the proposal rather than pretend otherwise.

Rep layer: The preserved-netting opener — the register's defining move: the customer's arrangement is CREDITED (it's genuinely good), the battery's ~$0 today-bill impact is stated by the rep BEFORE the screen renders it, and the Duke contrast is used as honest context (their loss proves NC terms change; it is NEVER converted into a Dominion deadline — nothing is filed against Dominion NC, and we say exactly that). Objection — "So why would I want a battery?" Because of everything your netting can't do — the outages, the curve, and the takeover — and that's the rest of this conversation.

What your netting can't touch: the curve your rates ride. Dominion NC sits on PJM's Dom Zone — the same grid as Dominion Virginia — where capacity prices spiked eight-fold in the last auction and Northern Virginia's data-center boom drives demand. That pressure reaches this footprint through pass-through riders. Your netting protects your solar's value; it does nothing about the price of every kilowatt-hour you still buy.

Rep layer: The trajectory beat — Dom Zone framing (833% 2025/26 auction spike; NoVA data-center cost allocation; VCEA compliance; mirrors Dominion VA dynamics). HARD GUARDS: this framing applies to Dominion NC and NOT to Duke NC (SERC — outside PJM); Duke's rate case ($140.33→$148.62) is Duke-scoped and never appears here; no Dominion-NC-specific rate filing is cited (the trajectory is structural, from the Dom Zone dynamics — say it that way). Backdrop, never converted into today's battery savings.

Your system is orphaned. Whoever installed your solar is likely gone, merged, or unreachable — especially after so many installers folded when the federal tax credit expired at the end of 2025. If something goes wrong, there's no one accountable. You own the system and the risk.

Rep layer: Standard orphaned-system beat. Ask who installed it and whether they'd answer a service call.

Your inverter is on the clock. Your inverter is several years old. When it fails out of warranty, that's about $3,500 to $5,000 out of pocket — and your system produces nothing until it's replaced, typically 4 to 8 weeks.

Rep layer: Standard inverter beat. SolarEdge ~12-yr warranty, real failure 8–15 yrs; Enphase 25-yr, real issues 10–20.

(BACKUP ONLY) You live on the hurricane corridor — and your panels shut off with the first outage. Florence in 2018 hammered eastern North Carolina. Isaias in 2020 raked the coast. Helene in 2024 became the storm this state now measures by. Northeastern North Carolina fronts the sounds and the storm track, and grid-tied panels produce nothing in an outage — deliberate or otherwise. A battery keeps your critical systems running, and recharges from the sun through restoration.

Rep layer: Renders ONLY for backup config — THE beat in this footprint. Honest-attribution discipline: the marquee statewide counts (Helene 1.34M across the Carolinas / 703K in NC; Florence 1.5M; Isaias ~132K Wilmington-area) are DUKE-system numbers — cite the events and the state's pattern, never attribute the counts to Dominion (Dominion-NC-specific counts aren't broken out, and we don't invent them). The coastal-exposure truth carries it: this footprint's geography IS the corridor.

The Solution

A battery does the three jobs your netting can't — and we'll show you today's bill nearly unchanged, on purpose. Your 1:1 netting already handles the bill; our proposal says so instead of inventing savings. What the battery adds: backup power on a coast that Florence, Isaias, and Helene have all visited; position against the Dom Zone curve on every kilowatt-hour you'll buy for the next twenty-five years; and one accountable company behind your whole system.

• Self-consumption: "Your netting covers today; the battery covers the curve — and any future program this utility launches, you're already equipped for."
• Backup: "All of that — and a house that runs through the next named storm."

Monthly Cost Chart and Net Bill Breakdown render here — with the with-battery bill nearly unchanged and the preserved-1:1 explainer displayed.

Rep layer: THE core cure beat — narrative-register edition. The proposal RENDERS ~unchanged today-bill under preserved 1:1; the rep owns it in words first. The stack: resilience (the corridor) + position (the 25-yr scenarios ~$11K/$17K/$24K at 3/5/7% — trajectory positioning, told as position) + future-readiness (if Dominion NC ever launches a VPP or the rules ever change, the battery-equipped home is already positioned — stated as readiness, never as a predicted program) + takeover. No invented today-savings, ever.

(BACKUP ONLY) It keeps your home running when the grid goes down. Powers your essentials — refrigerator, medical devices, connectivity, heat or cooling circuits by season — through an outage, and recharges from solar daily for as long as restoration takes.

Rep layer: The resilience cure beat. Coastal-NE honesty: hurricane season is the marquee, sound-side flooding and nor'easters the supporting cast; multi-day sizing conversation; restoration on a rural coastal footprint can run long — say it as pattern.

We take it over. Top Tier becomes the single point of contact for your entire system — a new 10-year workmanship warranty, the 5-year Align Solar Protection contract ($0 deductible, non-transferable), and manufacturer warranty coordination.

Rep layer: Answers the orphaned-system problem. Transfers: workmanship with written consent; Align non-transferable; manufacturer per OEM terms.

Thousands you don't pay. The $11K+ Hidden Costs Avoided bundle — built into the takeover, not sold as extras.

Rep layer: Reframes total cost. "Your payment buys the battery plus warranty plus service plus inverter-replacement coverage — over $11K of value."

And whatever the rules do next, your stored power is yours. Duke's customers just watched their netting close to new entrants — proof that North Carolina's terms are the changeable kind. Nothing is filed against Dominion NC's arrangement, and we won't pretend otherwise. But the power you store and use yourself reads the same under every version of the rules — and the home that's already battery-equipped is the one that's ready for whichever version comes.

Rate Justification + Own vs Rent render here.

Rep layer: The independence beat — contrast edition: Duke's closure = structural evidence (NC terms change), stated with the explicit disclaimer that nothing is pending against Dominion NC (anti-manufacture holds absolutely — Duke's Bridge Rate dates are DUKE's, and importing them as Dominion urgency is the cardinal sin of this territory). 25-yr scenarios: 3/5/7% — the position story's home.

Urgency

The honest clocks — a season with names, and no manufactured ones.

The storm clock. Florence, Isaias, Helene — the corridor keeps its own calendar, and it runs June to November every year. A battery in place before the season is refrigeration and connectivity through the next named storm; one ordered after landfall is a backorder behind the coast.

Rep layer: THE urgency in this register — seasonal, factual, lived. No invented forecasts.

What is NOT a clock: your netting. Nothing is filed against Dominion NC's 1:1 arrangement — no sunset, no successor docket, no deadline — and anyone selling you one is importing Duke's calendar into your utility. The honest structural note: Duke's closure proves terms here can change; that's an argument about readiness, not a date.

Rep layer: The anti-manufacture rule at its most tempting and most absolute: the Duke Bridge Rate enrollment dates and legacy sunsets render on shared NC proposal context — a rep MUST frame those as "what happened to the other NC utilities" (the contrast that makes preserved 1:1 valuable), NEVER as a Dominion countdown. The customer's netting is their asset; a battery neither protects nor extends it, and we never imply it does.

The Close

1. Confirm the county and the utility, then verify credit + configuration. "Which utility is on your bill — and which county are we in?" — three NC IOUs, three rulebooks; the northeastern counties are Dominion's, and the Virginia line is a second gate. Then the credit check and backup vs self-consumption config.
2. Own the ~$0 in words before the screen shows it. "Your netting already does the bill work — this proposal shows today's bill nearly unchanged, on purpose, and everything on it is the part your netting can't do."
3. Customer reads and signs the service agreement. Walk the disclosures honestly — the preserved 1:1 and what it means for the battery, the position-not-savings framing of the trajectory, the Duke-program exclusions, and the tax facts.
4. Complete the Welcome Call. Finalizes the sale and sets expectations for installation.

Standing Rules (Do NOT Violate)

• ❌ NEVER coach reps to disqualify based on home tenure. Resale story is real — not "walk away."
• ❌ NEVER claim "all warranties transfer." Workmanship: with written consent. Align: non-transferable. Manufacturer: per OEM terms.
• ❌ NEVER fabricate inspection findings.
• ❌ NEVER quote a bill-reduction factor as a guarantee.
• ❌ NEVER quote a REP buyback rate as fixed/guaranteed — plan-dependent, confirm the customer's actual plan.
• ❌ 85+ confirmation call required. Customer confirms own finances, no POA, sound mind.
• ❌ Financing ends before age 91. 75 → 15-year max. 80 → 10-year max.
• ❌ Honest cancellation window. Overselling = free customer exit + $1K–$1.5K clawback.
• ❌ Certified before selling.

Go get the sale. A battery is a strong product — clean energy, independence, backup, long-term savings, and in Texas real VPP income. A customer who wants one for any honest reason is a good sale. We never walk away over price or low savings — that's the customer's call. Do right by the customer, protect the company, be honest.

PART B — The Deep Reference

1. Orientation

• Utility: Dominion Energy North Carolina — regulated IOU under the NC Utilities Commission; the northeastern NC footprint (Norfolk-metro extension: Currituck, Camden, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Chowan, Gates, Hertford counties). Smaller customer base than Duke's utilities.
• Grid note (the framing key): PJM Dom Zone — the same RTO as Dominion Virginia, and NOT SERC — the opposite of Duke NC. PJM capacity framing applies HERE and never in Duke content; Duke's SERC/rate-case content never appears here.
• Territory gates: the county check (Dominion vs Duke — three IOUs, three cohort treatments) and the state line (Dominion VA runs Virginia's rules).
• Market type: PRESERVED FULL-RETAIL 1:1 (one_to_one_nm, narrative render) — battery today-bill impact ~$0, shown and said on purpose; value = position (Dom Zone trajectory, 25-yr scenarios) + coastal resilience + takeover + future-readiness; no Duke programs apply (PowerPair/EnergyWise = Duke-only); no sunset, no deadline, nothing filed.
• Default config: backup-capable ($18,500 / $23,942 / ~$228); self-consumption ($17,000 / $22,068 / ~$210).

2. How the Dominion NC Bill Works

1. Consumption and netting: residential solar nets at full retail, 1:1, under Schedule 1 (Rate 163), with a rolling twelve-month credit. Dominion NC's specific rate card isn't separately pinned in our materials — the tool carries the working figures, and the typical-bill estimate (~$130) is flagged as an estimate.
2. What this means for a battery, exactly: intra-day shifting changes nothing the netting doesn't already do — today-bill impact ~$0, rendered that way, said that way. The 25-year position value under the rate scenarios (3%/5%/7% → ~$11K/$17K/$24K) is the forward story, and it's quoted as position.
3. The trajectory: PJM Dom Zone — the 833% capacity-auction spike, NoVA data-center cost allocation, and VCEA compliance flow through Dominion's pass-through riders. No Dominion-NC-specific rate case is cited — the framing is structural, and Duke's rate-case numbers never substitute for it.

Why this matters for the pitch: the ~$0 is the trust move — a rep who says it first, in words, owns the appointment; a proposal that shows it proves the company means it. Everything else in the pitch is the part the netting can't reach.

3. Net Metering at Dominion NC — The Exception Left Standing

Everything below is pinned to the configured NEM status and the NC record.

• The arrangement: full retail 1:1 for all residential net-metering customers — Schedule 1 (Rate 163), rolling 12-month credit; grandfather status "intact — no successor transition on Dominion NC" (verified July 2026).
• The contrast (used honestly): Duke Carolinas and Duke Progress closed legacy 1:1 to new customers September 30, 2023 and moved new solar to the Bridge Rate — none of which applies to Dominion NC. The contrast is context and evidence, never a Dominion deadline.
• The shared-context discipline: NC proposals render statewide context that includes Duke's Bridge Rate enrollment close (December 31, 2026) and legacy sunset dates. For a Dominion customer, every one of those dates is framed as the other utilities' story — "here's what happened across the state, and why your preserved arrangement is valuable by contrast" — and never as this customer's clock.
• The battery truth: a battery neither protects nor extends the customer's netting, adds ~nothing to today's bill under it, and readies the home for whatever comes after it — all three said plainly.
• The rep move: "You're the exception in this state — Duke's customers lost full net metering; yours is intact, Schedule 1, one-for-one, credits rolling across the year. So I'll tell you what most reps won't: a battery won't move this month's bill much, and our proposal will show you exactly that. What it does instead: keeps the house running through the next Florence, positions you against a rate curve that runs through the same grid as Northern Virginia's data-center boom, and puts one accountable company behind the whole system. That's the honest job description — and if the rules here ever go the way Duke's did, you're already equipped."
• See the "Net Metering & Grandfathering Status" section for the cited detail; the flag for Dominion NC is PRESERVED-1:1 (narrative render; ~$0 today-bill said first; position + resilience + takeover; Duke anti-conflation absolute).

4. Rate Reality + The Position Story

What drives the Dominion NC pitch (named, honest):

1. The ~$0, said first. The preserved-netting truth from our mouth before the screen — the trust move the whole appointment rides on.
2. The corridor. Florence, Isaias, Helene — the coast's own calendar, at honest attribution.
3. The Dom Zone curve. The one NC utility where PJM's spike is the customer's actual grid — position, told as position.

Documented vs. speculation (say this right):

• ✅ "Your netting is full retail, one-for-one, credits rolling twelve months — intact, with nothing filed against it" (the arrangement)
• ✅ "A battery won't move this month's bill much — your netting already does that work, and our proposal shows it" (the ~$0, owned)
• ✅ "Duke's customers lost this arrangement in 2023 — yours is the exception, which is an asset and a lesson" (contrast, honest)
• ✅ "Your grid is PJM's Dom Zone — the same one as Northern Virginia — where capacity spiked eight-fold; that's the curve your rates ride" (trajectory, structural)
• ✅ "PowerPair and EnergyWise are Duke programs — they don't exist in your territory, and I'd rather tell you than let a flyer confuse you" (the guard)
• ✅ "Florence and Helene are the state's measuring sticks — the big counts you've heard are Duke's system numbers; your coast's exposure is the same corridor" (honest attribution)
• ❌ Inventing today-bill savings under preserved 1:1 (the render shows ~$0 and the rep said it first)
• ❌ Claiming a battery protects, extends, or locks the customer's netting (it doesn't)
• ❌ Importing Duke's Bridge Rate dates, sunsets, or rate case as Dominion urgency or Dominion numbers (the cardinal sin here)
• ❌ Quoting PowerPair's ~$9K or EnergyWise to a Dominion customer (Duke-only — the wrong-program guard)
• ❌ Attributing Duke's storm counts (1.34M / 703K / 1.5M) to Dominion (cite the events and the pattern; Dominion-specific counts aren't broken out)
• ❌ Using SERC framing here or Dom Zone framing in Duke content (the RTO split is absolute)
• ❌ Pitching §25D battery-residual eligibility (installer-blog claim — tax-counsel review required)

5. Incentives & Programs

• Dominion NC programs: none. PowerPair (~$9K battery rebate) and the EnergyWise Home Battery VPP are Duke-only — Dominion NC customers cannot enroll in either, and the honest answer to "what about that $9K rebate?" is that it doesn't exist in this service territory. No Dominion NC VPP exists; if one ever launches, the battery-equipped home is already positioned — stated as readiness, never as a prediction.
• Taxes, honestly: no NC state solar income credit (the 35% credit expired in 2015 and was never renewed); 100% residential property-tax exemption for solar — automatic, no application; solar equipment is generally sales-tax exempt at the state level; federal ITC expired 12/31/2025 — never quote 30%; §25D battery-with-solar residual claims are not pitched without tax-counsel review.
• The value is position + resilience + the takeover — under an arrangement whose honesty we prove by showing the ~$0.

6. System Rescue Value — The System Takeover

This applies to any customer with existing solar — and it's identical across every Top Tier market. These are takeover facts, not TX-specific.

The Orphaned Solar Customer Problem. Many Texas solar customers installed during the 2019–2024 growth years and now face:

• An original installer that's gone out of business, been acquired, or stopped servicing residential (especially common after the federal tax credit expired Dec 2025)
• A 10-year workmanship warranty that's unenforceable (installer is gone)
• An inverter approaching or past typical failure windows
• No service relationship, and most companies refuse to service systems they didn't install

The Inverter Failure Reality. Inverters are the weakest link. Panels last 25–30 years; the inverter fails much sooner.

• SolarEdge string inverters: 8–15 years (12-yr standard warranty)
• Enphase microinverters: 10–20 years (25-yr warranty)
• Industry-wide: 70–90% of systems experience inverter failure within the panel lifespan
• When it fails on an orphaned system: production stops, bills jump to full retail, most providers won't quote it, out-of-pocket replacement is $3,500–5,000, and the customer is down 4–8 weeks.

What Top Tier's takeover provides (formalized through a Service Warranty Agreement with a brand-new 10-year Limited Workmanship and Roof Penetration Warranty):

• A new 10-year Top Tier workmanship warranty (regardless of system age)
• Manufacturer warranty claim handling (Top Tier chases the claim + labor, not the customer)
• Inverter replacement coverage when it fails within manufacturer warranty (customer pays nothing for the work)
• Single point of contact; monitoring setup help; performance verification at inspection

The $11K System Takeover Bundle (the exact 5-tile bundle on the proposal):

How to use it: "On top of the bill math, you're picking up over $11K of bundled services that aren't sold separately. If your inverter fails in year 12, the warranty handling alone is worth a few hundred; the replacement coordination saves $3–5K; the Align contract is $1,500 you'd otherwise pay. It adds up."

Align Solar Protection — the terms (get these right):

• 5-year term, $0 deductible, insurance-backed by American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, non-transferable to subsequent owners.
• Covers: mechanical breakdown of existing PV (panels, inverters/optimizers, racking) — parts, labor, service calls.
• Does NOT cover: the new battery (own warranty), wear-and-tear, weather/hail, pre-existing conditions, roof issues.
• Age limits: panels/microinverters under 15 years; string/central inverters under 7 years. Not every system fully qualifies — disclose at inspection.
• It's ONE of three layers: (1) equipment manufacturer warranties, (2) Top Tier's 10-yr workmanship, (3) the 5-yr Align contract. Never call it "full coverage."
• NEVER say: "Everything's covered" / "never worry again" / "Align is your full coverage" / "you can extend beyond 5 years" / "Align transfers when you sell."

Quantifying the rescue value:

This is independent of bill savings — the rescue alone can be worth $4,000–7,500.

7. Outage Reality — The Corridor's Own Calendar

Why outages happen here. Northeastern North Carolina fronts the sounds and the hurricane track:

• Hurricane Helene (September 2024): the state's defining outage — ~1.34 million Duke customers out across the Carolinas at peak, ~703,000 in NC — Duke-system numbers, cited as the state's pattern (Dominion-specific counts aren't broken out, and we don't invent them).
• Hurricane Florence (September 2018): eastern North Carolina's storm — ~1.5 million Duke outages, the largest Duke mobilization ever — and eastern NC is this footprint's neighborhood.
• Hurricane Isaias (August 2020): raked the coast — the reminder that the corridor's events aren't once-a-decade.
• The standing pattern: named storms June–November, sound-side flooding, nor'easters in the cold months — and rural coastal restorations that run long.

What a battery does — and the honest mechanism. Grid-tied solar shuts off automatically in an outage. A battery with backup keeps essential loads running — refrigerator, medical devices, connectivity, heat or cooling circuits by season — and recharges from solar daily through restoration.

How to pitch it honestly: "Florence hit this end of the state hardest, Isaias raked the coast two years later, and Helene is the storm all of North Carolina now measures by — and every solar roof was off through all of them. Your netting is the best in the state; it has never once kept a light on. That's the battery's job, and on this coast it's the first one."

8. Hidden Costs Avoided / What You Own vs What You Rent

• What you rent: power on the Dom Zone curve — data-center demand and an eight-fold capacity spike upstream — on a coast the storm track visits by name.
• What you own (with the battery): a house that runs through the next named storm, position against the curve on every future kilowatt-hour, and readiness for whatever version of the rules comes next.
• Hidden costs avoided: the $11K takeover bundle + every hurricane restoration's real costs — spoiled food, lost connectivity, evacuation nights.

9. Battery Products

• Backup config (the point — hurricane corridor): Tesla Powerwall 3 (13.5 kWh; Redline: $20,500), FranklinWH aPower 2 (15 kWh; Redline: $20,500). Not compatible with HDM.

• Self-consumption config: Enphase IQ 5P (10 kWh; Redline: $15,500 SC / $17,600 BU), SolarEdge Home Battery (9.7 kWh usable; Redline: $14,500 SC / $16,000 BU), SolarEdge Nexis (self-consumption only pending crew backup training; Redline: $15,500 SC).

• Dominion NC takeaway: no VPP routes hardware here (EnergyWise is Duke's — the guard again) — selection is about backup depth for a multi-day coastal event, said plainly. Under preserved 1:1 the sizing conversation is purely resilience-driven; the position story rides whatever capacity the storm case justifies. Confirm config, county, and utility in the tool.

• Financing terms vary by lender — price deals through the proposal tool.

10. Objection Handling

Universal objections (swap in Dominion NC context) + Dominion-specific objections.

"If my net metering is so good, why do I need a battery?" (Dominion-specific — THE register objection; the answer is the pitch)

"Because your netting is a billing arrangement, and a billing arrangement has never once kept a refrigerator running. You're right that it's good — full retail, one-for-one, the exception left standing in this state, and I'll show you a proposal where today's bill barely moves because of it. What the battery does is everything the netting can't: it ran your essentials through Florence and would through the next one; it positions you against a rate curve that runs through the same grid as Northern Virginia's data-center boom; and it comes with one company accountable for your whole system. And one more thing your netting can't do — survive a rule change. Duke's customers thought theirs would too."

"What about that $9,000 battery rebate I heard about?" (Dominion-specific — the wrong-program answer)

"That's PowerPair — and it's a Duke Energy program, full stop. Duke Carolinas and Duke Progress customers can apply; Dominion customers can't, and neither can I make it apply to your territory. Same with the EnergyWise battery program you might see advertised — Duke-only. I'd rather tell you that in the first ten minutes than have you find it in the fine print. Your math is your math: the netting you already have, the backup this coast actually needs, and the takeover — no phantom rebate in it."

"Should I hurry before net metering ends here like it did for Duke?" (Dominion-specific — the anti-manufacture answer)

"No — and be careful with anyone who says yes. Nothing is filed against Dominion NC's net metering: no sunset, no successor docket, no deadline. Those dates you've seen — the Bridge Rate enrollment closing, the legacy sunsets — those are Duke's calendar, not yours. Here's the honest version: Duke's closure proves North Carolina's terms can change, which is an argument for being ready, not for panicking on a date nobody has filed. The clock that's real here is hurricane season — and that one keeps its own calendar every year."

"Is there a tax credit?" (the honest-list answer)

"Here's the complete picture: no North Carolina state solar income credit — the old 35% credit expired back in 2015 and was never renewed — and the federal credit expired at the end of last year, so I won't quote you 30%. Two real bright spots: North Carolina gives solar a 100% residential property-tax exemption, automatically, and solar equipment is generally sales-tax exempt at the state level — both already reflected in how we price. Anyone pitching you a battery tax angle beyond that is ahead of what the IRS has actually affirmed, and we don't sell ahead of the record."

"Why is the loan more than the system price?"

"The cash price is $17,000–18,500 depending on config. Service Finance adds dealer fees bringing the financed amount to about $22,068–23,942. Cash or a HELOC is cheaper if that's an option. There's no rebate in this territory and the federal credit expired — what the payment buys is backup on a named-storm coast, position on the Dom Zone curve, and the takeover, with over $11K of the total in warranty, service, and inverter coverage — under a proposal honest enough to show you today's bill barely moving."

11. DO SAY / NEVER SAY

12. Required Disclosures

• Dominion Energy NC residential customers receive full retail 1:1 net metering (Schedule 1 / Rate 163, rolling 12-month credit), which remains in effect with no successor transition; under this arrangement a battery does not materially reduce the current bill, and projections show the with-battery bill approximately unchanged with this explanation displayed. The battery's represented value is backup power, rate-trajectory positioning, future-readiness, and the system takeover.
• The Duke Energy Bridge Rate / RSC transition, its enrollment and sunset dates, and Duke rate-case figures apply to Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress only and do not apply to Dominion Energy NC; no representation is made that any change to Dominion NC's net metering is pending. No representation is made that a battery protects or extends net-metering status.
• Dominion Energy NC operates within PJM (Dom Zone); rate-trajectory framing reflects PJM capacity-market and regional dynamics and is presented as positioning context, not as current-bill savings. Rate scenarios (3%/5%/7%) are illustrative. No Dominion NC-specific rate proceeding is cited.
• Duke Energy's PowerPair rebate and EnergyWise Home Battery program are available only to Duke Energy customers; Dominion Energy NC customers are not eligible, and no program income or rebate is quoted. No Dominion NC VPP exists.
• North Carolina provides no state solar income-tax credit; the 100% residential property-tax exemption for solar applies automatically; solar equipment is generally exempt from state sales tax. No federal ITC applies after 12/31/2025, and no battery-specific federal tax treatment is represented without independent tax advice.
• Hurricane references (Helene 2024, Florence 2018, Isaias 2020) cite statewide events; published outage totals are Duke Energy system figures, and no Dominion NC-specific outage counts are represented. Backup duration depends on system sizing and load, and whole-home coverage through a multi-day event is not implied.
• Service territory (Dominion vs Duke; North Carolina vs Virginia) is confirmed before proposal; Dominion NC rate figures are carried in the tool, and the typical-bill estimate is identified as an estimate.
• Align Solar Protection is non-transferable; workmanship warranty transfer requires written consent; manufacturer warranties transfer per OEM terms. Align coverage is contingent on inspection + age limits (panels <15 yr, inverters <7 yr). Pricing confirmed in the tool before commitment.

13. Quick-Reference Numbers (dated — confirm before quoting)

• THE ARRANGEMENT: full retail 1:1 — Schedule 1 (Rate 163), rolling 12-month credit; INTACT, no successor transition, nothing filed (verified 7/2026)
• BATTERY TODAY-BILL IMPACT: ~$0 — rendered AND said first, on purpose; the battery neither protects nor extends the netting
• Position story: 25-yr scenarios 3/5/7% → ~$11K/$17K/$24K — POSITIONING, never today-savings | Grid: PJM Dom Zone (same as Dominion VA; NOT SERC — the opposite of Duke NC); 833% capacity spike + NoVA data-center curve = the framing; NO Dominion-NC rate case cited
• THE GUARDS: PowerPair (~$9K) + EnergyWise = DUKE-ONLY (never quoted here); Duke's Bridge Rate dates/sunsets/rate case = DUKE'S calendar (context only, NEVER a Dominion clock); Duke's storm counts = Duke's system numbers (events cited, counts never borrowed)
• THE CHECK: county + utility FIRST (NE NC counties: Currituck/Camden/Pasquotank/Perquimans/Chowan/Gates/Hertford = Dominion); Dominion VA = Virginia's rules — state-line gate
• Retail/bill: tool-carried; ~$130 typical = FLAGGED estimate
• Taxes: no NC income credit (35% dead since 2015); property-tax exemption 100% automatic; equipment generally sales-tax exempt; federal ITC expired 12/31/2025; §25D battery angles = tax-counsel only
• Inverter replacement out-of-pocket: $3,500–5,000 | Takeover bundle: ~$11,800
• Default config: backup $18,500 / self-consumption $17,000
• Storm anchors: Helene 9/2024 (state-defining; 1.34M/703K = DUKE numbers); Florence 9/2018 (eastern NC; 1.5M = Duke); Isaias 8/2020 (coastal) — events + pattern cited, counts never attributed to Dominion

14. Sell Hard, Sell Honest — the standing rules

• The ~$0 is said before it's shown. The preserved-netting truth from the rep's mouth first — the trust move the whole territory rides on.
• The netting is the customer's asset — credited, never threatened; the battery neither protects nor extends it, and no Dominion deadline exists to invent.
• Duke's calendar stays Duke's. The Bridge Rate dates render as statewide context — a rep who converts them into Dominion urgency commits this territory's cardinal sin.
• Duke's programs stay Duke's. PowerPair and EnergyWise get the wrong-program answer in the first ten minutes, unprompted if the customer's seen the ads.
• The RTO split is absolute — Dom Zone framing here, never SERC; and never Duke's rate case as a stand-in.
• Storm counts keep their attribution — the events are the state's; the numbers are Duke's; the exposure is this coast's.
• The position story is position — $11K/$17K/$24K on the scenarios, never laundered into today's bill.
• Never quote the federal ITC (expired), the dead 35% NC credit, or unreviewed battery tax angles.