Grid & off-grid

Net metering calculator, Ohio

Enter your exact usage, system size, and rate details to see how Ohio'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 Ohio's average peak sun hours. Adjust if you know your local figure.
Defaulted to Ohio's current average residential rate. Your utility's actual rate may differ.
Within each month your solar offsets your usage at your full rate. Surplus beyond that month's usage is credited at only the energy component of your utility's standard service offer, roughly half of a typical Ohio rate, and carries forward as a bill credit.
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 Ohio 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

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

How net metering works in Ohio

Surplus is credited at the energy portion of your standard rate

Ohio's net metering rule, Ohio Administrative Code 4901:1-10-28, requires the investor-owned utilities, AEP Ohio, Duke Energy Ohio, AES Ohio, and FirstEnergy's three Ohio utilities (Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating, and Toledo Edison), to offer a standard net metering tariff. Within each monthly billing cycle, your solar output offsets your usage kilowatt-hour for kilowatt-hour, and you pay your normal tariff on whatever net usage remains. If you send more to the grid than you use in a month, the surplus becomes a monetary credit valued at the energy component of the utility's standard service offer, which is only a portion of the full per-kWh rate.

AEP Ohio's push to change the rules did not succeed

During PUCO's five-year review of the net metering rules, AEP Ohio proposed further restricting its program, including shifting fully from net metering to net billing (charging distribution costs on all electricity delivered, not just net usage) and limiting eligibility to customers who don't shop for their own electricity supplier. PUCO's staff recommended no change, and on January 7, 2026, the commission issued an order in Docket 25-0349-EL-ORD declining to change the rules. Ohio's code site now lists the next five-year review of the rule for 2031.

Credits carry forward with no annual reset, and system size is capped at 120%

Surplus credits roll forward from bill to bill with no annual reset. The rule doesn't require the utility to pay a leftover balance out in cash, though, and a credit can be lost if you never use it or stop taking service from the utility, so a system sized to your own usage is safer than one built to bank a large surplus. The rule also caps system size: your facility can't exceed 120 percent of your electricity requirements at the time of interconnection, based on your historical usage. See the glossary entry for net billing if that term is new to you.

Your utility and your electricity supplier shape what the credit is worth

Because the surplus credit follows each utility's own standard service offer, it differs between AEP Ohio, Duke Energy Ohio, AES Ohio, and FirstEnergy's Ohio utilities. The generation price to compare that your utility publishes is the best guide to its size, and those prices ran about 10 to 11 cents per kWh at the major utilities in recent months. If you buy electricity from a competitive supplier instead, the rule lets that supplier set its own terms for your excess generation or decline to offer net metering at all, so check your contract, and Ohio's tax credit and rebate estimator applies regardless of which utility or supplier covers you.

Interconnection and the off-grid comparison

Ohio's utilities each run their own interconnection process, with an application and inspection before anything is switched on, and the grid interconnection cost estimator walks through what that step costs. Even with surplus credited below the full rate, a grid-tied system still undercuts an off-grid build by a wide margin; the grid tie vs off grid comparison tool puts a number on that gap.

Questions If your utility credits exports at less than the retail rate, storing power can beat exporting it. The backup runtime estimator in our Battery & Storage section can help you size a battery for that.

Frequently asked

Ohio's net metering rule has your solar output offset your usage each month at your normal rate. Any surplus beyond that month's usage becomes a bill credit valued at the energy component of your utility's standard service offer, only a portion of the 19.5 cent average retail rate, and the credit carries forward to future bills with no annual reset.

The average residential rate in Ohio was about 19.5 cents per kWh as of mid-2026, per EIA data. Surplus solar credits are valued at only the energy portion of your utility's standard service offer, which varies by utility and runs roughly half of that full rate.

No. As part of PUCO's five-year review of the rules, AEP Ohio proposed shifting fully to net billing and limiting eligibility to customers who don't shop for their own electricity supplier. PUCO's staff recommended no change, and on January 7, 2026, the commission issued an order declining to change the rules.

Not on a set schedule. Under Ohio's rule, surplus credits carry forward continuously to future bills, but the utility isn't required to pay a leftover balance in cash, and a credit can be lost if you don't use it or stop taking service from the utility.

Related tools

Compare Ohio's policy to other structures

Grid tie vs off grid comparison Net billing vs net metering Buy all sell all vs net metering Avoided cost rate calculator Grid export cap calculator Grid interconnection cost estimator Grid tie with battery backup comparison All grid and off-grid tools