Why net metering can make or break solar economics
Net metering is the policy that decides what your solar energy is actually worth. A rooftop system rarely produces exactly when your home consumes — it makes the most power at midday and little in the evening. Net metering bridges that gap by crediting the surplus you export to the grid, and the size of that credit varies enormously from state to state.
Self-consumption versus export
Every kilowatt-hour your panels make falls into one of two buckets. Energy you use the instant it’s produced — running the air conditioner while the sun is high — is the most valuable, because it directly avoids buying power at your full retail rate. The rest is exported to the grid and credited at your utility’s export rate. This calculator splits your production into both buckets and values each correctly.
Full retail versus net billing
For two decades, full-retail net metering was the norm: an exported kilowatt-hour was worth exactly as much as one you bought. Many states still offer it, including Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New York. But a growing number have shifted to net billing, where exports are credited at a fraction of retail — California’s NEM 3.0 values them near the utility’s avoided cost, often a quarter to a third of retail. Set the export-credit slider to match your policy, and you’ll see how dramatically it changes annual savings.
What to do under a low export rate
If your state credits exports poorly, the smartest response is usually to consume more of your own solar rather than send it to the grid — by shifting big loads like EV charging or laundry to daylight hours, or by adding a battery that stores midday surplus for evening use. Pair this calculator with our Battery Sizing tool to see how storage can recapture value that a low export rate would otherwise leave on the table.