Utilities · Phoenix Metro

SRP in 2026: the meter that never nets

Written by the Solar Learning Lab research deskUpdated August 17, 20268 min read

Salt River Project is not a company in the usual sense. It is a public power district with a board its customers elect, it sets prices through public processes rather than state rate cases, and it made one design choice that defines solar economics across its half of the Phoenix valley: exports are tracked the instant they happen, not netted against your usage at the end of the month. Once you understand that choice, every SRP solar decision gets easier to reason about.

3.45¢

Flat credit per exported kWh on SRP's export price plans, a fraction of what imports cost

23.38¢

July and August on-peak import price on TOU Export, the number load shifting is aimed at

1,117 kWh

SRP's own average residential customer usage, the baseline its bill impacts are quoted on

SRP's export plans credit surplus solar at a fixed 3.45 cents per kWh, measured instantaneously rather than netted monthly. Summer on-peak imports cost up to 23.38 cents, so the payoff comes from consuming your own production and shifting load, not from exporting. Service charges run $20, $30 or $40 by home size with no demand charge on TOU Export, and a temporary $0.0038 per kWh price cut runs May through October 2026.

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A utility with an elected board

SRP price changes go through board votes and public comment, not Arizona Corporation Commission dockets. The most recent cycle shows the texture of that process: the board approved changes on February 27, 2025, effective with November 2025 bills, that combined base price increases with a fuel adjustment decrease, reworked service charge tiers, retired and added plans, and expanded the Economy Price Plan credit from $23 to $35 a month for households at up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level, plus a new $10 credit up to 200 percent. Net revenue impact, 2.4 percent. You can argue with the outcomes, but the process is legible, published and local.

Source: SRP price plan FAQ.

Instantaneous metering changes everything

SRP states it directly: metering now tracks kWh delivered and kWh exported separately, on an instantaneous basis, which the utility distinguishes from net metering where excess is subtracted from deliveries. The current lineup built on that metering is Customer Generation Time-of-Use Export, Customer Generation EV Export and Customer Generation Average Demand. Exports on the export plans earn a fixed 3.45 cents per kWh; the Renewable Export Program schedule (QF24) applies to qualifying facilities of 100 kW AC or less and confirms the same residential export rate. Storage-only systems are not eligible for that schedule.

The strategic consequence: an SRP roof should be sized and oriented for the household's own load, with west-facing production and batteries earning their keep against the summer on-peak window. Oversizing for export income is how you build a system that pays 3.45 cents for power worth more than 20 behind the meter.

Sources: SRP solar energy options; SRP Renewable Export Program.

TOU Export prices by season

The Time-of-Use Export plan is the workhorse for SRP solar homes without demand-charge appetite. Import prices swing hard by season while every export earns the same flat credit:

Season	On-peak import	Off-peak import	Export credit
Winter (Nov through Apr)	14.25¢	10.41¢	3.45¢
Summer (May, Jun, Sep, Oct)	20.83¢	11.18¢	3.45¢
Summer peak (Jul, Aug)	23.38¢	11.19¢	3.45¢

Source: SRP Time-of-Use Export, per kWh. Monthly service charge $20, $30 or $40 by home size; no demand charge on this plan. A temporary reduction of $0.0038 per kWh applies May through October 2026.

Read the winter row against the export column and the asymmetry is stark: even the cheapest import costs three times what an export earns. Every seasonal table for the other plans, including the demand-based ones, is on SRP's plan comparison page.

The levers that move an SRP bill

Because exports earn little, the wins are operational. Shift the dishwasher, pool pump and EV charging into off-peak or solar hours. Point panels west if the roof allows, trading total production for production that lands on-peak. Consider the $250 demand management rebate, since the qualifying hardware automates exactly this shifting. And if you are comparing against the other side of the valley, the contrast is instructive: an APS system earns a locked export rate near 5.5 to 6.2 cents, while an SRP system earns 3.45 cents but avoids tranche timing games entirely. Our APS page and Phoenix page carry both sides.

Rebate source: SRP residential rebates.

SRP solar questions, answered

Why does instantaneous metering matter so much?

Under monthly netting, a kilowatt-hour exported at noon cancels one imported at 9 p.m. Under SRP's approach, the exported one earns 3.45 cents while the imported one costs whatever your plan charges at 9 p.m. The spread between those two numbers is the whole argument for batteries and load shifting in SRP territory. Source: SRP solar energy options.

Which plans use net metering instead?

The demand-based Customer Generation and Average Demand plans still net exports against deliveries, per SRP's plan comparison. They add demand charges in exchange, so the decision becomes export price versus demand exposure, and the right answer depends on whether you can keep your peak 30-minute draw low. Source: SRP compare solar plans.

Is there any SRP solar rebate?

Not for panels. The published residential offer is $250 back for installing a demand management system, and SRP lists a Battery Partner Program without stating a payment amount on that page. The panels themselves earn nothing upfront from SRP. Source: SRP residential rebates.

What is the Capacity Cost Adjuster?

A charge on the Renewable Export Program schedule, $6.16 per kW per month per two-hour block for customers enrolling in 2025. It prices the capacity SRP holds ready behind your system. If an installer's proposal ignores it, the proposal is incomplete. Source: SRP Renewable Export Program.

Are SRP prices going up or down right now?

Both, on purpose. The board raised overall prices with the November 2025 billing cycle, a 3.5 percent increase worth $5.61 a month for the average 1,117 kWh customer, then approved a temporary cut of $0.0038 per kWh for the May through October 2026 cycles, returning to listed prices in November 2026. Model on the listed prices, treat the relief as a bonus. Sources: SRP price plan FAQ; SRP TOU Export.

What we could not verify

Open as of August 17, 2026: the effective date of the 3.45 cent export rate (the program page does not state one), the Battery Partner Program payment amount from SRP's own pages, and Capacity Cost Adjuster values for enrollment years after 2025. Where SRP's pages are silent, so are we, and updates land here when the utility publishes them.

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