Colorado solar export compensation
What Colorado pays for exported rooftop solar power, with the source and the date each figure was checked.
Record verified 2026-09-16 · 18 of 17 fields sourced
What does your utility pay?
No single rate — formula based
Monthly excess kWh offset applicable retail kWh at 1:1; annual cash-out at AHIC, or customer may elect indefinite rollover dollar credits at the prevailing total energy rate plus applicable per-kWh riders
Xcel Energy Colorado · Colorado
Schedule NM is Xcel's CPUC-filed Net Metering Service tariff. Xcel also purchases RECs under separate Solar*Rewards contracts; REC payments are distinct from net-metering export compensation.
Source: xcelenergy.com
Full Xcel Energy Colorado detail →Colorado's investor-owned utilities generally provide retail-rate net metering for new customer-sited renewable generation: monthly excess kWh offset later retail kWh at 1:1, subject to annual cash-out at the utility's average hourly incremental cost unless the customer elects indefinite rollover. Xcel Energy and Black Hills Energy are CPUC-regulated; municipal utilities and most rural cooperatives operate under their own governing bodies and tariffs. Colorado's rules allow systems sized up to 120% of site consumption for ordinary on-site net metering, while Black Hills' on-site tariff reflects a 200% multi-property consumption standard authorized under its current tariff and commission rules.
Program details
| Compensation mechanism | Retail-rate net metering for investor-owned qualifying retail utilities: monthly excess kWh carry forward at 1:1 against retail kWh; annual cash-out is at the utility's average hourly incremental cost unless the customer makes the one-time election for an indefinite rollover credit. Xcel's rollover election converts excess generation to a dollar credit based on the prevailing total energy rate; Black Hills also provides on-site net metering under its filed tariff. |
|---|---|
| Export rate | No single statewide dollar export rate. Under ordinary net metering, monthly excess is credited 1:1 in kWh against the customer's applicable retail rate; annual cash-out is at each utility's average hourly incremental cost. Black Hills' filed 2026 Energy Payment/AHIC rate is $0.03489/kWh for annual cash-out. Xcel's rollover option uses the prevailing total energy rate plus per-kWh riders for the generation period. |
| Rate effective | Retail credit applies under the utility's effective retail rate schedule; Black Hills' $0.03489/kWh AHIC cash-out rate is effective January 1, 2026. Xcel's tariff does not state one fixed statewide export price. |
| Credit rollover | Excess kWh carry from month to month at 1:1 against retail kWh. A customer may make a one-time written election for a dollar-credit rollover indefinitely until service terminates; Xcel's dollar credit is based on the prevailing total energy rate for the period generated, while Black Hills' tariff provides the same indefinite rollover option for on-site net metering. |
| Credit expiration | No expiration while the customer remains in service if the indefinite rollover option is elected; remaining credits are not paid when service terminates. Without that election, excess is reconciled and cashed out within 60 days after the calendar year or service termination. |
| Annual true-up | Within 60 days after the end of each calendar year, or within 60 days after termination of retail service, unless the customer has elected indefinite rollover. |
| Residential system cap | For ordinary investor-owned-utility net metering, no more than 120% of the customer's average annual electricity consumption at the site and no more than the service entrance capacity. Black Hills' current on-site tariff states a 200% limit measured across all properties owned or leased by the customer in its service territory, subject to capacity and distribution limits. |
| Commercial system cap | For ordinary investor-owned-utility net metering, no more than 120% of average annual site consumption and no more than service entrance capacity; Black Hills' current on-site tariff applies a 200% reasonably expected average annual total-consumption limit across the customer's properties in its territory. Off-site systems are limited by statute/tariff to 500 kW for a single-meter installation or 300 kW per meter for a multi-meter installation. |
| Aggregate program cap | No statewide aggregate program-capacity cap identified for ordinary on-site net metering. The principal limits are customer/site sizing and service-entrance or distribution capacity; off-site installations have 500 kW single-meter and 300 kW-per-meter multi-meter limits. |
| Program status | No statewide ordinary on-site net-metering cap reported as reached. Black Hills' tariff states customer-specific sizing and off-site limits rather than a program subscription cap. |
| Regulator | Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) |
| Docket | Proceeding No. 21A-0625EG (Xcel Renewable Energy Standard/Off-Site DG settlement and tariff); Proceeding No. 21AL-0650E / Decision No. R22-0316 (Black Hills off-site net metering). |
| Governing rule | 4 CCR 723-3-3664 (Net Metering), C.R.S. § 40-2-124, and each utility's CPUC-filed net-metering tariff (Xcel Schedule NM; Black Hills On-Site Net Metering Service). |
| Grandfathering | No separate statewide fixed-term grandfathering period was identified. Existing customers can retain the indefinite rollover treatment by making the one-time election described in the rule/tariff; credits end without payment when service terminates under that election. |
| Interconnection application | Customer or installer submits the utility's distributed-energy-resource interconnection application and required technical documents through the serving utility's process/portal; after approval, the utility installs or programs bidirectional metering and authorizes parallel operation. Xcel uses its DER interconnection portal; Black Hills requires the appropriate application and fee under its interconnection tariff. |
| Interconnection timeline | For certified inverter-based resources up to 25 kW AC, Level 1 verification is within 10 business days under current Rule 3854. Level 2 initial review is within 15 business days after a complete request; larger or non-qualifying projects use supplemental or Level 3 study timelines. The utility must acknowledge receipt within 3 business days and determine completeness within 10 business days under the current interconnection procedures. |
| Pending change | HB26-1225 was enacted in 2026 and is scheduled to take effect August 12, 2026 if no referendum petition changes that outcome. It requires qualifying utilities to implement off-site installation limits (500 kW single-meter and 300 kW per meter multi-meter), directs the CPUC to evaluate those limits in a future Renewable Energy Standard compliance plan, and requires a qualifying utility with more than 500,000 Colorado customers to report its interconnection working-group recommendations by December 15, 2026. The act also creates an October 1, 2026 option for community-solar organizations to direct different fixed/annual credit treatment for income-qualified and other subscribers; this is community solar, not ordinary on-site NEM. |
Rates by utility
State rules set the framework. Individual utilities often pay something different, and where they do the utility tariff governs.
| Public Service Company of Colorado (Xcel Energy) | Monthly excess kWh offset applicable retail kWh at 1:1; annual cash-out at AHIC, or customer may elect indefinite rollover dollar credits at the prevailing total energy rate plus applicable per-kWh riders Current filed Schedule NM read 2026-09-16; annual cash-out within 60 days after calendar year Schedule NM is Xcel's CPUC-filed Net Metering Service tariff. Xcel also purchases RECs under separate Solar*Rewards contracts; REC payments are distinct from net-metering export compensation. |
|---|---|
| Black Hills Colorado Electric, LLC d/b/a Black Hills Energy | Monthly on-site excess kWh offset at 1:1 against retail kWh; annual cash-out at AHIC. Filed Energy Payment/AHIC rate: $0.03489/kWh effective January 1, 2026. January 1, 2026 AHIC cash-out rate; on-site net-metering tariff current July 1, 2026 tariff book The current tariff includes On-Site Net Metering Service and separate Off-Site Net Metering Service. Residential TOU customers' excess on-peak/off-peak kWh are monetized at the respective rates and applied as a bill credit. |
| Municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives | Not statewide CPUC-regulated; compensation depends on the utility's own tariff or governing-body policy Utility-specific Colorado net-metering rule 3664 applies to investor-owned qualifying retail utilities. Municipal utilities and cooperatives that have exempted themselves from CPUC jurisdiction are outside that rule's direct coverage; examples include Colorado Springs Utilities, Fort Collins Utilities, Longmont Power, and many rural cooperatives. |
Sources read for this record
Keep reading
- Every state we track
- How these figures are sourced and dated
- Arizona — Set per utility, not statewide. APS: $0.05554/kWh. TEP: $0.0513/kWh, w
- California — No single statewide export rate. Compensation is set by the CPUC Avoid
- Florida — No single statewide dollar-per-kWh export rate. Monthly net exports ar
- Hawaii — Hawaiian Electric Smart Renewable Energy Export rates for 2024-2026, i
- Illinois — No single statewide dollar-per-kWh rate. For new residential and small
- Massachusetts — No single statewide dollar-per-kWh rate. For ordinary qualifying solar
- New Jersey — One-for-one retail-rate credit against delivered electricity during th
- New York — No single statewide $/kWh rate. The Value Stack is calculated from uti
- Texas — No statewide rate. Published municipal examples include Austin Energy