Utility guides
The company on your bill decides your solar math
Written by the Solar Learning Lab research deskUpdated August 22, 20264 min read
Shoppers compare installers for weeks and never read a word about the utility those panels will feed. That is backwards. The utility sets what a kilowatt-hour costs you, what an exported kilowatt-hour earns you, and how long the interconnection queue runs. Two identical systems in the same metro can pay back years apart because the wires belong to different companies. These guides go tariff by tariff through fourteen utilities serving the places we cover.
Massachusetts
Eversource
Thirty-five cent power after the August 2026 supply reset, full-value net metering for rooftop systems, and a battery pilot paying $400 per kW in parts of Greater Boston. The rate zones matter more than most quotes admit.
Massachusetts
National Grid
The highest all-in residential price we cover, about 40 cents per kWh, against an export credit we compute in the low 30s. The strongest solar economics in our directory, with one stale tariff PDF to watch for.
Florida
Florida Power & Light
One tariff for nearly the whole state, a bill built from nine separate line items, and full retail net metering that still works the old fashioned way. We take the RS-1 rate apart charge by charge.
Charlotte and western North Carolina
Duke Energy Carolinas
The default Solar Choice rider nets each billing period at a 4.53 cent export credit, with a 22 dollar minimum bill and a mandatory time of use rate. A capacity limited net metering bridge closes to new participants January 1, 2027, and PowerPair pays up to 9,000 dollars when you pair solar with a battery.
Central and Gulf Coast Florida
Duke Energy Florida
Bills fell roughly a quarter in 2026 as storm charges rolled off, which quietly rewrites every solar payback model in the territory. Same net metering rule as FPL, very different denominator.
Tampa and Hillsborough County
Tampa Electric
A storm surcharge came off the bill in August 2026 and energy charges are tiered at 1,000 kWh, so what an exported kilowatt hour is worth depends on which side of the tier you sit. Same three-tier net metering rule as FPL and Duke, plus a year-end payout at the as-available rate.
Rhode Island statewide
Rhode Island Energy
One utility covers 38 of 39 towns, and every solar homeowner faces a binding either-or choice: near-retail net metering credits around 22.4 cents, or the REG program's fixed 31.55 cents for 15 years. Pick wrong and you live with it for the life of the system.
New York City
Con Edison
The priciest power in our coverage, plus a monthly charge that applies only to solar owners. The choice between classic net metering and the Value Stack changes what a Brooklyn roof earns.
Northern California
Pacific Gas & Electric
A restructured bill with a $24 fixed charge, peak prices touching 55 cents, and a NEM 2.0 completion window that closed for good in April 2026. Every new roof here prices out under net billing.
Southern California
Southern California Edison
Export credit prices locked for nine years if you enroll before 2028, PTO in as little as ten business days, and a time-of-use price sheet that is strangely hard to actually read. We flag exactly what is missing.
Los Angeles
LADWP
A city owned utility that never adopted the export cuts California's big three took in 2023. Retail rate crediting survives here, and that quietly makes LA one of the better solar deals in the state.
Houston
CenterPoint Energy
CenterPoint owns the wires but never sells you a kilowatt-hour. In Houston your solar economics live in whichever retail plan you sign, and the buyback fine print varies more than most shoppers expect.
Dallas-Fort Worth
Oncor
The biggest wires company in Texas, itemized rider by rider. Self-consumed solar dodges about six cents of delivery charges per kWh that exports never earn back, which flips the sizing logic most quotes use.
Phoenix metro
Arizona Public Service
Export credits set in annual tranches that only move one direction. Your rate locks for ten years at whatever tranche is live when you apply, which turns application timing into real money.
Phoenix metro
Salt River Project
A public power district with an elected board, meters that track exports instantaneously instead of netting them, and a flat 3.45 cent export price. Different physics of billing than any IOU we cover.
Tucson
Tucson Electric Power
The next export rate cut is already printed on the tariff sheet, waiting on a commission vote. Application timing sets your price for ten years, and TEP publishes its review times so you can plan the sprint.
Las Vegas and Reno
NV Energy
One brand, two legal utilities, and two different export clocks. Southern Nevada still nets solar credits monthly while new Reno applicants get netted every 15 minutes, a split that changes payback math more than any rate number on the bill.
San Diego County and south Orange County
San Diego Gas and Electric
The most expensive large utility in the country at 43.63 cents per kWh, a 24.15 dollar monthly fee that solar exports cannot touch, and a service area where most cities have already left for community choice providers.
Denver, Aurora, and Boulder
Xcel Energy Colorado
One of the last big utilities still crediting excess solar at the full retail rate, with a rollover bank that never expires and a rate case that just added 5 dollars a month to the average bill. The catch is an election you make once and mostly cannot undo.
Sacramento County and small slices of Placer and Yolo
SMUD
A municipal utility that never adopted NEM 3, with residential power at 17.87 cents per kWh against a 33.25 cent state average and a flat 9.6 cent export credit that just rose from 7.4 cents. The math here runs on cheap imports, not generous exports.
Newark, Jersey City, and 13 counties
PSE&G New Jersey
Full retail net metering plus a 15 year SREC-II payment on top, which makes New Jersey one of the strongest solar payback states left. The catch is that the state already blew past its 5.8 percent net metering milestone and regulators are studying what replaces it.
How these guides connect to the rest of the site
Our city pages answer the question of whether solar pens out where you live. These utility guides answer why. The rate tables on the Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, New York City and Phoenix pages all trace back to the tariffs documented here. When a tariff changes, we update both layers and note the date.
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