Grid & off-grid

Net metering calculator, North Dakota

Enter your exact usage, system size, and rate details to see how North Dakota'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 North Dakota's average peak sun hours. Adjust if you know your local figure.
Defaulted to North Dakota's current average residential rate. Your utility's actual rate may differ.
North Dakota typically credits exports around 100% of retail. Full retail net metering up to 100 kW.
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 North Dakota 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

North Dakota'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 North Dakota's current export credit rate costs you compared to full 1:1 retail crediting.

How net metering works in North Dakota

A 1991 rule applies only to investor-owned utilities

North Dakota's net metering policy, adopted by the Public Service Commission in 1991, applies to renewable energy systems up to 100 kW, but only for customers of investor-owned electric utilities. Otter Tail Power and Montana-Dakota Utilities both compensate customers under this rule, offsetting your usage with your generation within each billing cycle. Xcel Energy also serves North Dakota, but sources disagree on whether it is currently accepting new residential net metering applications, so confirm with Xcel directly before counting on it.

Montana-Dakota Utilities pays a set avoided-cost rate on monthly excess

Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU), one of North Dakota's three main investor-owned providers, nets your generation against your usage within each monthly billing period. According to MDU's own website, any excess in that period is net billed at its avoided-cost rate, currently $0.0269/kWh, rather than carried forward as kWh credits the way MDU handles customers in Montana and Wyoming. If MDU serves your address, size your system close to your own monthly usage, since surplus pays far less than the power you offset.

Unused monthly credits cash out at avoided cost

Within a billing period, credits under this net metering structure are valued at the full retail rate. Any credit balance left unused at the end of the month is purchased by the utility at its avoided-cost rate instead, considerably lower than what that same power was worth while offsetting your own usage during the month.

Cooperatives and municipal utilities set their own rules entirely

North Dakota's 1991 net metering policy is not available to customers of municipal utilities or electric cooperatives; it applies specifically to investor-owned utility customers, a distinction worth checking against the grid interconnection cost estimator before assuming your process matches a neighbor's. If a cooperative or municipal provider serves your address, its net metering terms, if it offers them at all, are set independently rather than under the statewide framework.

Interconnection and the off-grid comparison

Whichever investor-owned utility serves your address, connecting a system runs through that utility's own interconnection application, and North Dakota's tax credit and rebate estimator covers what still helps offset it. And with at least two of North Dakota's investor-owned utilities offering full retail crediting within the billing month, staying grid-tied remains far cheaper than going fully off-grid; the grid tie vs off grid comparison tool shows exactly how much cheaper.

Questions

Frequently asked

North Dakota's 1991 PSC policy covers investor-owned utilities and systems up to 100 kW. Your generation offsets your usage within each billing month at the full retail rate, and any monthly excess is purchased at a lower avoided-cost rate. Otter Tail Power and Montana-Dakota Utilities both follow this structure, with Montana-Dakota currently paying $0.0269/kWh on excess. Xcel Energy also serves North Dakota, but sources disagree on whether it is accepting new residential net metering applications, so confirm with Xcel directly.

The average residential rate in North Dakota was about 13.4 cents per kWh as of July 2026, per EIA data, among the lowest in the country. Investor-owned utilities offset your generation against your usage within the month under the state's 1991 net metering policy, with any excess paid at avoided cost.

Not under that name, but it does net your generation against your usage each billing month. Per MDU's own website, any excess in a monthly billing period is net billed at its avoided-cost rate, currently $0.0269/kWh, rather than carried forward as kWh credits the way MDU handles customers in Montana and Wyoming.

They're purchased by the utility at its avoided-cost rate at the end of the billing period, rather than carried forward at retail value. Within the month, though, exports are still credited at the full retail rate, which is why sizing a system close to your monthly usage captures the most value.

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