Louisiana solar export compensation
What Louisiana pays for exported rooftop solar power, with the source and the date each figure was checked.
Record verified 2026-09-16 · 17 of 17 fields sourced
What does your utility pay?
Fixed export rate
$0.0386407 per kWh
Entergy Louisiana · Louisiana
Rider DG credits exports at the avoided-cost rate; additional credit carries to the following billing cycle and final-service remaining credit is paid by check.
Source: entergylouisiana.com
Full Entergy Louisiana detail →Louisiana's LPSC revised distributed-generation rules use two-channel billing: customers pay the retail rate for electricity supplied by the utility, receive zero-price treatment for generation consumed on site, and receive an annually updated avoided-cost credit for exports. Customers with qualifying systems or completed interconnection applications before January 1, 2020 retain full-retail treatment through December 31, 2034. The principal investor-owned utilities are Entergy Louisiana, Cleco Power, and SWEPCO; their current filed riders publish separate avoided-cost rates.
Program details
| Compensation mechanism | Two-channel distributed-generation billing: full retail rate for utility-supplied energy, zero rate for self-generated energy consumed on site, and an avoided-cost credit for energy sold to the utility. |
|---|---|
| Export rate | Avoided-cost export rates effective in 2026 are $0.0386407/kWh for Entergy Louisiana (effective April 1, 2026), $0.03854/kWh for Cleco Power (filed schedule effective March 1, 2026), and SWEPCO's avoided-cost rate is 3.656 cents/kWh for April 2026 through March 2027 billing cycles. |
| Rate effective | Entergy's avoided-cost attachment is effective April 1, 2026 and updates annually with April billing; Cleco's filed DG schedule is effective March 1, 2026 and adjusts annually; SWEPCO's filed rate applies to April 2026 through March 2027 billing cycles and is updated annually. |
| Credit rollover | Export credits carry forward to the next billing period under the current utility riders: Entergy carries additional bill credit to the following billing cycle, Cleco credits monthly excess in the next billing period, and SWEPCO carries any account credit balance to the next billing period. |
| Credit expiration | There is no annual credit-expiration date stated in the cited current riders. Entergy and Cleco require payment by check for the remaining credit balance when service ends; SWEPCO's rider states that account credit is carried to the next billing period. |
| Annual true-up | No statewide annual true-up date is stated in the LPSC rule or the cited utility riders. Billing and crediting occur in each billing period; final-service balances are paid out by Entergy and Cleco, while SWEPCO carries account balances to the next billing period. |
| Residential system cap | The filed utility schedules specify a residential generating-capacity limit of no more than 25 kW for standard distributed-generation service; Entergy also allows an LPSC-approved system above the ordinary threshold under its rider. |
| Commercial system cap | The filed utility schedules specify a commercial generating-capacity limit of no more than 300 kW per location for standard distributed-generation service; Entergy's rider permits a larger system when approved by the LPSC under the Distributed Generation Rule. |
| Aggregate program cap | The 0.5% statewide solar-user cap was eliminated by the LPSC's revised rule; the current rule does not establish an aggregate program-capacity cap. |
| Program status | The former 0.5% cap is eliminated. The prior full-retail net-metering rider is closed to new business, while distributed-generation riders remain available under the revised avoided-cost framework. |
| Regulator | Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC). |
| Docket | LPSC General Order 09-19-2019 (R-33929), the Commission's revised distributed-generation/net-metering rulemaking order. The requested R-35472 number is not the docket identified by the current LPSC net-metering page or the governing order; the governing order is R-33929. |
| Governing rule | LPSC General Order 09-19-2019 (R-33929) Corrected, Distributed Generation Rule, especially the billing and avoided-cost provisions in Sections 4.1 and 6.2. |
| Grandfathering | Customers that submitted a complete interconnection request and completed installation by December 31, 2019 receive full-retail export credit through December 31, 2034; after that date their exports receive avoided-cost credit. The grandfathered status may continue for purchasers of the property under the current utility riders. |
| Interconnection application | Customers must submit a completed interconnection application or agreement and operate under the utility's distributed-generation interconnection agreement; the utility riders require a standard interconnection agreement for distributed-generation facilities. |
| Interconnection timeline | No statewide calendar-day interconnection timeline is stated in the cited LPSC rule or the current Entergy, Cleco, and SWEPCO distributed-generation riders; those sources require an interconnection agreement and applicable studies or equipment, but do not publish a uniform deadline. |
| Pending change | No pending statewide change was identified on the LPSC net-metering page as checked on September 16, 2026; the page continues to identify General Order dated September 19, 2019 as the revised rule and publishes 2026 avoided-cost-rate materials. |
Rates by utility
State rules set the framework. Individual utilities often pay something different, and where they do the utility tariff governs.
| Entergy Louisiana | $0.0386407 per kWh April 1, 2026; updated annually effective with April billing Rider DG credits exports at the avoided-cost rate; additional credit carries to the following billing cycle and final-service remaining credit is paid by check. |
|---|---|
| Cleco Power | $0.03854 per kWh for distributed-generation facilities with design capacity of 300 kW or less March 1, 2026; adjusted annually based on newly calculated avoided costs The current DG schedule gives full-retail treatment through December 31, 2034 to qualifying pre-2020 customers and avoided-cost treatment to post-2019 customers. |
| SWEPCO | 3.656 cents/kWh avoided-cost export rate for April 2026 through March 2027 billing cycles. April 2026 through March 2027 billing cycles The Distributed Generation Rider credits customer outflow at avoided cost, carries account credit to the next billing period, and continues to bill the applicable base service charge or minimum bill. |
Sources read for this record
- lpsc.louisiana.gov/Utilities_NetMetering
- lpsc.louisiana.gov/docs/orders/GO-09-19-2019.pdf
- entergylouisiana.com/wp-content/uploads/ell_elec_dg.pdf
- entergylouisiana.com/wp-content/uploads/ell_elec_nm.pdf
- cleco.com/docs/default-source/rates-and-fees/rate-schedule/2026/22-optional-resi
- swepco.com/lib/docs/ratesandtariffs/Louisiana/LA_Tariff_Book_as_of_07-30-26.pdf
Keep reading
- Every state we track
- How these figures are sourced and dated
- Alabama — Rate PAE 2026 payment options are time-of-day: 5.17¢/kWh weekday 10 a.
- 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
- Colorado — No single statewide dollar export rate. Under ordinary net metering, m
- Connecticut — Netting export rate is a formula, not a single statewide dollar figure
- Florida — No single statewide dollar-per-kWh export rate. Monthly net exports ar
- Georgia — 3.2188¢/kWh solar avoided cost for 2026, plus 4¢/kWh adder for RNR-Ins
- 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
- Indiana — Utility-specific EDG rates, not one statewide rate; the verified utili
- Maryland — No single statewide export price: for the annual-accrual option, net e
- Massachusetts — No single statewide dollar-per-kWh rate. For ordinary qualifying solar
- Michigan — Utility- and rate-schedule-specific, not one statewide flat rate. DTE'
- Minnesota — There is no single statewide dollar export rate. Xcel's latest posted
- Missouri — Utility-specific avoided-fuel-cost/cogeneration rate, not a single sta
- Nevada — Tier 4 exports are credited at 75% of the applicable retail rate; Nort
- 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
- North Carolina — No single statewide export rate exists. For the current DEC NMB and RS
- Ohio — No single statewide dollar rate. Under the standard utility tariff, ex
- Oregon — Full retail rate for each rate component on the bill that uses kWh as
- Pennsylvania — No single statewide dollar rate: full retail kWh rate for monthly offs
- South Carolina — No single statewide export rate exists. Santee Cooper's DG-25 rider li
- Tennessee — NESolar Connect publishes seasonal base rates of $0.07363/kWh summer,
- Texas — No statewide rate. Published municipal examples include Austin Energy
- Utah — Schedule 137: 4.855 cents/kWh for exports in June through September; 4
- Virginia — No single statewide rate exists. APCo Rider N.M.S. II lists total avoi
- Washington — Applicable retail energy rate / kWh credit under the customer's utilit
- Wisconsin — Utility-specific. 2026 examples are WEPCO CGS-NM residential/secondary