Grid & off-grid

Net metering calculator, Arizona

Enter your exact usage, system size, and rate details to see how Arizona's net metering policy affects your solar bill, with precise controls for season, tiered rates, and fixed fees.

Your numbers

1 Project details Optional
Shown on your exported report. Leave blank to skip.
2 Your usage and system
Find this on a recent utility bill, usually labeled kWh used.
Use your quoted or planned system size. Panel count times panel wattage divided by 1,000 gives a rough figure.
Solar production swings seasonally; pick a specific month type to see how your bill shifts.
Most utilities charge a flat customer or connection fee regardless of usage.
3 Your location and rate
Defaulted to Arizona's statewide average. Adjust if you know your local figure.
Defaulted to Arizona's current average residential rate. Your utility's actual rate may differ.
Arizona typically credits exports around 70% of retail. Net billing under Arizona Corporation Commission rules; export credit set below retail, varies by utility (APS, TEP, SRP).
Some utilities charge progressively higher per-kWh rates as monthly usage climbs into higher tiers.
Accounts for inverter loss, wiring loss, dust, and temperature derate combined.
Informational only. A monthly cycle means unused export credit does not carry to the next bill; annual and rolling cycles do.

How it works

Three steps to your Arizona solar bill estimate

Step 1

Enter your usage, system size, and season

Pull your monthly kWh from a recent bill and enter your planned or quoted system size in kW. If you only know your panel count, multiply it by each panel's wattage and divide by 1,000 to get a kW figure first. Select a season to model a specific month rather than only an annual average.

Step 2

Confirm your rate, tier, and export credit

Arizona's typical residential rate and export credit level are filled in by default. Swap in your utility's actual tariff numbers, tier bracket, and fixed monthly fee if you have a recent bill or interconnection agreement showing them.

Step 3

Compare the result to a full retail scenario

Run the net billing vs net metering comparison tool to see exactly how much Arizona's current export credit rate costs you compared to full 1:1 retail crediting. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's solar guide explains how net metering fits into the wider solar picture.

How net metering works in Arizona

APS, SRP, and TEP each run their own export rate

Arizona ended full-retail net metering for new customers years ago, and, as Arizona's statewide incentive listing, today's three big utilities each set their own net billing terms. APS credits exports at roughly 6.17 cents/kWh through its Rate Rider RCP for systems that interconnected before September 2026, a rate locked for 10 years from interconnection, with the Arizona Corporation Commission capping any annual reduction at 10%. The RCP resets each September, and systems interconnecting from September 2026 through August 2027 lock in a lower rate, around 5.55 cents/kWh, instead. TEP has run net billing since 2018 and currently credits exports near 5.7 cents/kWh. SRP retired its older solar plans entirely in November 2025, moving new customers onto net-billing time-of-use plans (such as E-28 and E-16) with a flat export credit around 3.45 cents/kWh, plus a separate demand charge based on your peak usage hour. Across the three utilities those export credits run from about 23 to 41 percent of the 15.2 cent retail rate this calculator uses, so pick the 30 percent option, worth about 4.6 cents, as the closest match; the 70 percent typical rate option would overstate the credit by more than 4 cents.

SRP isn't regulated like the other two

Salt River Project is a self-governed federal reclamation entity dating to 1903, run by its own elected board rather than the Arizona Corporation Commission; Arizona's statewide incentive listing is a useful way to see how each utility's program compares side by side. That means SRP's rates, including its export credit and demand charges, are set through a different process than APS or TEP, and can change on a different schedule.

Arizona's abundant sun makes self-consumption the priority

With export rates running a fraction of the retail rate across all three utilities, and Arizona's exceptional sun hours making overproduction easy, sizing a system to closely match your own usage, rather than maximize total output, is usually the better strategy here; Arizona's tax credit and rebate estimator can help you weigh that against what incentives are worth capturing on a larger system, and storing midday surplus for evening use matters even more once SRP's demand charges enter the picture.

What to expect for interconnection

Each utility runs its own interconnection review before a system can be energized, and costs scale with system size the same way they do elsewhere. The grid interconnection cost estimator can help you estimate application, equipment, and any study fees ahead of signing a contract. The glossary entry for demand charge spells out what that term means here. If any term on this page is unfamiliar, the buy-all sell-all entry in our Glossary explains it in plain English.

Would off-grid make sense in a state with such low export rates?

Even with Arizona's export credits well below retail, staying grid-tied and leaning on self-consumption is still dramatically cheaper than going fully off-grid, since off-grid systems require battery capacity for the rare cloudy stretch rather than typical daily cycling. The grid tie vs off grid comparison tool runs the full cost comparison using Arizona's actual utility rates.

Questions

Frequently asked

Arizona's three big utilities each run their own net billing structure. APS credits exports around 6.17 cents/kWh, TEP near 5.7 cents/kWh, and SRP around 3.45 cents/kWh plus a demand charge, all well below the roughly 15.2 cent retail rate.

The average residential rate in Arizona is about 15.2 cents per kWh. APS, TEP, and SRP each run their own net billing structure rather than a single statewide net metering program.

SRP's residential solar plans include a demand charge based on your single highest usage hour each billing period, separate from its roughly 3.45 cents/kWh export credit. Because SRP is a self-governed entity rather than a utility regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission, it can structure its solar rates differently from APS or TEP, and demand charges make managing peak usage, not just total usage, part of the savings equation.

Yes, for a defined period, though the rate itself resets every September. APS locks your export rate under Rate Rider RCP for 10 years from your interconnection date, and the Arizona Corporation Commission caps how much that rate can drop between September tranches to 10% annually. Systems interconnecting from September 2026 through August 2027 lock in around 5.55 cents/kWh rather than the prior tranche's 6.17 cents.

Related tools

Compare Arizona's policy to other structures

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