Grid & off-grid

Buy all sell all vs net metering comparison

Under buy-all sell-all, you sell every kWh you produce and buy back everything you use, at two separate rates. Under net metering, only your excess is exported. Enter your exact numbers to see which one nets you more.

Your numbers

1 Project details Optional
Shown on your exported report. Leave blank to skip.
2 Your production and usage
Your estimated or metered average monthly solar output across a full year.
Find this on a recent utility bill.
Solar production swings seasonally; pick a specific month type to see how the comparison shifts.
Most utilities charge a flat customer or connection fee regardless of usage, typically $5 to $25.
3 Rates for each structure
What you pay per kWh under normal billing.
The share of retail your excess exports earn under standard net metering.
The rate your utility pays for every kWh you produce under a buy-all sell-all tariff.
Some buy-all sell-all tariffs reduce the sell rate annually for new enrollees. Informational only, not applied to this month's estimate.

How it works

Three steps to your result

Step 1

Enter your production and usage for a specific month

Type in your system's average monthly output and the kilowatt-hours shown on a recent utility bill. Then pick which billing month to model, since a low winter month and a peak summer month can give different answers.

Step 2

Enter both rate structures and any fixed fee

Fill in your retail rate, your net metering export credit percentage from the avoided cost rate calculator if you're unsure, the separate buy-all sell-all rate your utility offers, and your fixed monthly utility fee if one applies.

Step 3

Compare the two monthly totals

The lower net cost wins. If net metering comes out ahead by a wide margin, as it does for most residential customers, the net billing vs net metering comparison tool can help you understand smaller variations within net metering itself.

How buy-all sell-all differs from net metering

Two separate transactions instead of one offset

Net metering, as the U.S. Energy Information Administration describes it, reduces the electricity you are billed for by whatever you send back to the grid within a billing period, so only the difference, exports or imports, gets billed. Buy-all sell-all treats production and usage as two entirely separate transactions: you sell everything you generate at one rate and buy everything you use at another. This distinction matters most when the sell rate is meaningfully lower than the retail rate, which is often the case where this structure is offered. The net billing vs net metering comparison tool covers a related, more common version of this same gap.

Why self-consumption usually favors net metering

Under net metering, any electricity you use as it's generated offsets your bill at the full retail rate. Under buy-all sell-all, that same electricity is sold at the lower sell rate and then bought back at the higher retail rate, which leaves the customer worse off unless the sell rate matches or exceeds retail. This is why buy-all sell-all rarely benefits residential customers with typical daytime usage patterns. Households that use little power while the sun is up can raise their on-site share with a battery sized for self-consumption, which matters under net metering plans that credit exports below retail and changes nothing under buy-all sell-all, where every kilowatt-hour is sold and bought back regardless.

Why the gap shrinks in low-production months

When a system's winter output falls below the household's usage, there is less solar production to credit under either structure, so the dollar gap between net metering and buy-all sell-all narrows. Modeling both a peak summer month and a low winter month separately gives a more complete picture than relying on a single average month, and the seasonal savings variation calculator shows how savings shift from season to season.

Where you're likely to encounter this structure

Buy-all sell-all is the billing pattern behind feed-in tariff programs, which the U.S. Energy Information Administration notes are used to a limited extent around the United States and more often abroad. One example the agency describes is a 2013 Dominion Virginia Power program that paid 15 cents per kilowatt-hour for all solar output while customers kept paying the retail rate for everything they consumed. If you're comparing this against your state's standard net metering policy, check the net metering calculator for your state on the grid and off-grid hub for the actual default numbers.

What to ask your utility before choosing

If your utility offers a choice, ask whether the decision is reversible, whether it applies to your entire system or only new capacity, and how the sell rate is set going forward, since some buy-all sell-all rates step down annually. Comparing this tool's output against the avoided cost rate calculator can also clarify whether the sell rate you've been quoted is close to or below the utility's actual avoided cost.

Questions

Frequently asked

Under buy-all sell-all, you sell 100 percent of your solar production to the utility at a set rate, and separately buy 100 percent of your household electricity usage at the standard retail rate. None of your own solar production is used directly, unlike net metering.

It can be, when the sell rate is high relative to retail, your system produces well beyond what your household uses, and the net metering export credit is low. In most residential cases net metering comes out ahead, because self-consumed electricity offsets the full retail rate rather than a separate, often lower, sell rate.

Some utilities and jurisdictions use buy-all sell-all to more precisely value solar production separately from consumption, often as part of a formal feed-in tariff structure. It is more common internationally than in the United States, though a few U.S. utilities have offered opt-in versions.

Seasonal swings mostly change the size of the gap rather than which structure wins, although when the two rates are close, a low winter month and a peak summer month can favor different structures. When your system produces less than your household uses, a low-production winter month brings the two structures closer together, since there is less solar output to credit under either one. Model a peak summer month and a low winter month separately using the season selector above to see the full annual picture.

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