# What your utility actually pays for the solar you export

URL: https://solarrealcost.com/does-solar-pay/what-your-utility-pays-for-exported-solar
Updated: 2026-09-18
Review: Reviewed by SolarRealCost Editorial Team, editorial review: primary sources checked and independently fact-checked

Export credit can be worth a third of a system's lifetime value, and it is set by 51 separate commissions. How to find your own answer in ten minutes.

What your utility pays for power your panels send back to the grid can be worth as much as a third of a system's lifetime value. It is also the number most likely to be wrong in a sales pitch, because it is set by 51 separate commissions on their own schedules.

- **Retail-rate net metering** credits exports at the price you pay. **Net billing** credits them lower.
- A rooftop system **exports a large share** of what it makes, so the rate matters enormously.
- Rules change, and existing customers are often **grandfathered** on different terms.
- The question is not what your state did historically but **what applies to you, from your interconnection date, and for how long**.
- We do not publish a tariff we have not read. Check yours and keep the answer in writing.

## The two regimes

Under traditional net metering, every kilowatt-hour you export earns a credit equal to the retail price you pay for one — the meter effectively runs backwards. Under net billing, exports earn a lower wholesale or avoided-cost rate. Same panels, same roof, potentially half the economic value.

The [Department of Energy's homeowner guide](https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/homeowners-guide-going-solar) explains the mechanism in plain terms.

Tool: [Net metering where you live](https://solarrealcost.com/does-solar-pay/tools/net-metering-where-you-live). What your state actually credits you for power you export, and whether existing customers are grandfathered.

## Why we have not published a table

Because we have not read all 51 commissions' current orders, and an unverified tariff would be worse than a blank — you would act on it. Our rule across this site is real data or nothing. When we verify a state, its row will carry the citation and the date.

## How to find yours, in about ten minutes

Look your state up on [DSIRE](https://www.dsireusa.org/), which indexes current policy and links the underlying order. Then ask your own utility, in writing, three questions:

- What tariff would a new residential solar customer interconnecting today be placed on?
- What are exports credited at under that tariff?
- For how many years is that locked in?

Keep the answer. It is yours, it is free, and it is the input an installer's payback model rests on. The EIA also publishes [net metering and distributed generation data](https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia861m/) if you want the national picture.

**Grandfathering cuts both ways**
Being placed on today's tariff for twenty years is valuable if today's tariff is generous. If it is not, a long lock is a long commitment to a poor rate. Ask for the term as well as the rate.

## Bottom line

Get the export rate in writing from your own utility before you believe any payback figure — including ours. Then run the numbers in [are solar panels worth it now](https://solarrealcost.com/does-solar-pay/are-solar-panels-worth-it-now) against the price in [what solar costs to install](https://solarrealcost.com/does-solar-pay/install-solar-panels-cost).

Start the Solar Check: https://solarrealcost.com/check

## Common questions

### What is net metering?

Traditional net metering credits every kilowatt-hour you export at the same retail price you pay for one. Net billing, which several states have moved to, credits exports at a lower wholesale or avoided-cost rate.

### Why does it matter so much?

A rooftop system exports a large share of what it makes, because it generates most at midday when the house uses least. Whether that power is worth retail or a third of retail changes the payback substantially.

### What is grandfathering?

When a state changes its rules, customers already interconnected are often kept on the old terms for a set number of years. So the question is what applies to you from your interconnection date.

### Should I trust my installer's summary?

Check it yourself. It is the number with the biggest effect on their payback model and the one most likely to be out of date.

## Sources

- [U.S. Department of Energy: Homeowner's guide to going solar](https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/homeowners-guide-going-solar)
- [DSIRE: Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency](https://www.dsireusa.org/)
- [U.S. Energy Information Administration: net metering and distributed generation data](https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia861m/)
- [U.S. Energy Information Administration: average retail price of electricity by state](https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a)
- [NLR (formerly NREL): Solar market research and analysis](https://www.nlr.gov/solar/market-research-analysis/)