SolarBeginner
Read Your Net-Metering Bill
Time
20–40 min
Steps
6
Pre-check
3 items
Skill
Beginner
Scope
Make sense of your utility statement after going solar. Explains the difference between net metering and net billing, how to find imported vs. exported kWh, how export credits and rates work, what a true-up period is, and the fixed and non-bypassable charges that remain even at net-zero usage. Finishes by reconciling the bill against your inverter monitoring app. This is a reading-and-reconciliation task — no electrical work.
Safety
Read before starting
No tools and no hazards — this is a billing exercise. The only thing to protect is your wallet: the goal is to confirm the utility is crediting your exported solar correctly and to catch a surprise true-up bill before it surprises you.
Pre-Check
3 items · complete before you start0 / 27 complete
Steps
Identify your billing arrangement
- Net metering: exported kWh offset imported kWh one-for-one — your meter effectively "spins backward," and you’re billed on net consumption.
- Net billing: exported kWh are bought by the utility at a lower export rate while you buy imported kWh at the full retail rate — the two are tracked separately, not netted 1:1.
- Find which one applies on your rate sheet or interconnection agreement; newer programs (e.g., California NEM 3.0-style) are usually net billing.
- This distinction determines how much each exported kWh is actually worth to you.
Find imported and exported kWh on the bill
- Look for separate line items: energy "delivered"/"imported" (grid → home) and energy "received"/"exported" (home → grid).
- A solar bill is bidirectional — the meter records both directions, so there are two numbers, not one.
- Note the billing period dates so you can match them to the same window in your monitoring app.
- Some utilities show net kWh only; if so, you’ll lean more on your inverter data to see gross export.
Understand credits and rates
- Under net metering, exports usually carry forward as kWh credits that cancel future imports.
- Under net billing, exports become a dollar credit at the export rate — which may be a flat avoided-cost rate or a time-of-use rate that’s higher at peak.
- Time-of-use plans pay more for energy exported during peak hours (late afternoon/evening) than midday — when solar produces most. This timing mismatch is why batteries pencil out under net billing.
- Tally this period’s credits and confirm they’re applied where the rate sheet says they should be.
Code notes
- Net billing’s lower export value is the main reason a battery (shift midday production to evening peak) improves the economics — tie this back to the battery-backup planning guide.
Locate the true-up period
- Many solar tariffs settle annually: each month nets out, and once a year a "true-up" reconciles your cumulative credits against your cumulative charges.
- During the year you may see small or zero energy charges while credits bank — then a single larger statement at true-up.
- Find your true-up month on the bill or rate sheet so the annual statement isn’t a shock.
- If you’re banking a surplus, check whether unused credits roll over, expire, or get paid out (usually at a low rate).
Tips
- Set a calendar reminder for your true-up month and check your running credit balance the month before.
Account for fixed and non-bypassable charges
- Even at net-zero energy, you’ll still owe a fixed monthly customer/meter charge and any minimum bill.
- Net-billing tariffs often add non-bypassable charges on every imported kWh that solar credits cannot offset.
- These are why a "100% offset" system rarely produces a literally $0 bill — set that expectation.
- Add these up so you know your unavoidable monthly floor.
Reconcile against your inverter monitoring
- Pull the same billing-period dates in your monitoring app and compare its production total to the utility’s metered export plus your self-consumption.
- Self-consumed solar (used in the home as produced) never shows as export — so production should exceed metered export. That’s expected, not an error.
- If utility-metered numbers are wildly lower than production, flag a possible meter or interval-data issue with the utility.
- Confirm the export rate and credits applied match your rate sheet; dispute discrepancies in writing.
✅Continue Gate:Can you account for every number on the bill — import, export, credits, true-up timing, and fixed charges — and does it reconcile with your monitoring data?