Net Metering Savings Calculator

About this calculator

Net metering is the billing arrangement that lets solar panel owners get credit from their utility for electricity they generate but don’t use themselves — the meter effectively runs backward when the panels export more than the home is drawing. Savings come from two separate sources: energy you generate and consume on-site directly offsets electricity you’d otherwise buy at the full retail rate, while excess energy you export to the grid is credited at a separate, usually lower, export rate (sometimes the wholesale or avoided-cost rate, depending on the program).

This calculator adds those two savings streams together — self-consumed kWh times the retail rate, plus exported kWh times the export rate — to estimate your total annual net-metering savings, the calculation homeowners and solar installers use to size a system and estimate payback period, since self-consumption is typically worth more per kWh than export credits.