Montana solar export compensation
What Montana pays for exported rooftop solar power, with the source and the date each figure was checked.
Record verified 2026-09-16 · 12 of 17 fields sourced
What does your utility pay?
No single rate — formula based
No fixed dollar export rate is stated on the reviewed NorthWestern net-metering page; excess energy is used toward future bills and remaining unused kilowatt-hour credit at the annual settle-up is granted to NorthWestern Energy without compensation.
NorthWestern Energy · Montana
NorthWestern says its net-metering process is governed by Rules 16-23 of the Electric Tariff and offers January, April, July, and October annual settle-up months.
Source: northwesternenergy.com
Full NorthWestern Energy detail →Montana has net metering, but the reviewed sources do not support a single statewide dollar-per-kWh export price. Under the 2025 Montana Code Annotated provisions labeled temporary, excess generation is credited in kilowatt-hours on the following bill; unused credits are granted to the supplier without compensation at the customer-selected 12-month settle-up date. NorthWestern Energy describes the same kWh-credit mechanism and offers January, April, July, or October settle-up months. Montana-Dakota Utilities' Rate 92 applies to systems up to 50 kW and credits net kWh to the next bill, with no compensation for unused credits after 12 months. A 2019 PSC final order declined to establish a new NorthWestern net-metering customer class; no newer net-metering-specific PSC order was identified in the reviewed sources.
Program details
| Compensation mechanism | Excess generation is credited in kilowatt-hours on the bill for the following billing period; it is not stated as a fixed dollar export rate in the cited statewide statute. |
|---|---|
| Export rate | No single statewide dollar-per-kWh export rate is stated in the reviewed net-metering statute. The statute provides a kilowatt-hour credit for excess kilowatt hours. |
| Rate effective | Not yet verified |
| Credit rollover | If electricity generated by the customer-generator exceeds the electricity supplied by the electricity supplier, the customer-generator must be credited for the excess kilowatt hours generated during the billing period, with this kilowatt-hour credit appearing on the bill for the following billing period. |
| Credit expiration | Any remaining unused kilowatt-hour credit accumulated during the previous 12 months must be granted to the electricity supplier, without any compensation to the customer-generator. |
| Annual true-up | On January 1, April 1, July 1, or October 1 of each year, as designated by the customer-generator as the beginning date of a 12-month billing period, any remaining unused kilowatt-hour credit accumulated during the previous 12 months must be granted to the electricity supplier, without any compensation to the customer-generator. |
| Residential system cap | Not yet verified |
| Commercial system cap | Not yet verified |
| Aggregate program cap | Not yet verified |
| Program status | No statewide enrollment cap or open/closed program status is established in the reviewed Montana sources. In its 2019 NorthWestern Energy rate-case order the Commission declined to establish a separate net-metering customer class, so net metering continues under the utilities' existing tariffs rather than a capped statewide program. |
| Regulator | NorthWestern Energy provides natural gas and electricity services through tariffs filed with and approved by the Montana Public Service Commission (MPSC). |
| Docket | REGULATORY DIVISION DOCKET NO. 2018.02.012 ORDER NO. 7604u |
| Governing rule | Part 6. Net Metering: 69-8-601 Legislative findings; 69-8-602 Utility net metering requirements; 69-8-603 Net energy measurement calculation; 69-8-604 Net metering system -- reliability and safety; 69-8-605 Applicability. |
| Grandfathering | If the commission approves new classifications of service for customer-generators, the new classifications apply only to customer-generators interconnecting net metering systems on or after the date on which the commission adopts a final order implementing the new classifications. |
| Interconnection application | Once the Applicant is authorized for interconnected operation of the Small Generator Facility in accordance with the Applicant’s Interconnection Agreement, the system will be installed by a qualified installer. |
| Interconnection timeline | If the Interconnection Request is approved under the Level 1 review, NorthWestern will provide an Interconnection Agreement to the Applicant within 5 business days after the determination. |
| Pending change | Not yet verified |
Rates by utility
State rules set the framework. Individual utilities often pay something different, and where they do the utility tariff governs.
| NorthWestern Energy | No fixed dollar export rate is stated on the reviewed NorthWestern net-metering page; excess energy is used toward future bills and remaining unused kilowatt-hour credit at the annual settle-up is granted to NorthWestern Energy without compensation. NorthWestern says its net-metering process is governed by Rules 16-23 of the Electric Tariff and offers January, April, July, and October annual settle-up months. |
|---|---|
| Montana-Dakota Utilities | No fixed dollar export rate: if customer generation exceeds company supply, the net kWh is credited to the customer's next monthly bill; unused kWh credit after the designated 12-month period is granted to the Company with no compensation. 10/1/2023 Rate 92 is available to customers with a small generator facility whose capacity does not exceed 50 Kw; the tariff says the aggregate nameplate capacity per premise must not exceed 50 Kw. |
Sources read for this record
- mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0690/chapter_0080/part_0060/sections_index.html
- mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0690/chapter_0080/part_0060/section_0030/0690-0080-006
- mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0690/chapter_0080/part_0060/section_0120/0690-0080-006
- northwesternenergy.com/clean-energy/our-environmental-projects/net-metering-private-generatio
- northwesternenergy.com/billing-payment/rates-tariffs/rates-tariffs-montana/electric-rules
- northwesternenergy.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/billing-and-payment/rates
- psc.mt.gov/_docs/news/NWE-Rate-Case/2018212-FO.pdf
- montana-dakota.com/wp-content/uploads/PDFs/Rates-Tariffs/Montana/Electric/MT_Electric92.p
- montana-dakota.com/rates-services/rates-tariffs/
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.
- Alaska — There is no single statewide dollar export rate: the applicable rate i
- Arizona — Set per utility, not statewide. APS: $0.05554/kWh. TEP: $0.0513/kWh, w
- Arkansas — There is no single statewide export number. Non-legacy exports are cre
- 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
- Delaware — There is no single statewide dollar-per-kWh export rate: the monthly e
- District of Columbia — Monthly excess generation is credited at the applicable full retail ra
- 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
- Idaho — Idaho Power Schedule 6 lists Export Credit Rate, per kWh: Summer On-Pe
- 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
- Iowa — There is no single statewide dollar rate. Under the current inflow-out
- Kansas — There is no single statewide dollar rate. For systems operating under
- Kentucky — There is no single statewide export rate. Current published utility ex
- Louisiana — Avoided-cost export rates effective in 2026 are $0.0386407/kWh for Ent
- Maine — There is no single statewide export price. The kWh Credit Program prov
- 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
- Mississippi — There is no single statewide export rate. Entergy Mississippi's Attach
- Missouri — Utility-specific avoided-fuel-cost/cogeneration rate, not a single sta
- Nebraska — There is no single statewide dollar export rate in the reviewed source
- Nevada — Tier 4 exports are credited at 75% of the applicable retail rate; Nort
- New Hampshire — There is no single statewide dollar-per-kWh rate: for small customer-g
- New Jersey — One-for-one retail-rate credit against delivered electricity during th
- New Mexico — There is no single statewide fixed export number in the cited rule. Ex
- 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
- North Dakota — No single statewide dollar export rate is stated. For energy provided
- Ohio — No single statewide dollar rate. Under the standard utility tariff, ex
- Oklahoma — There is no single statewide dollar export rate. Net excess is credite
- 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
- Rhode Island — There is no single statewide dollar headline rate. Renewable net-meter
- South Carolina — No single statewide export rate exists. Santee Cooper's DG-25 rider li
- South Dakota — There is no single statewide export rate. The PUC says South Dakota do
- 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
- Vermont — The statewide blended residential base credit is $0.2071/kWh effective
- 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
- West Virginia — Mon Power lists $0.09343 per kWh for Schedules A, B, C, CSH and Lighti
- Wisconsin — Utility-specific. 2026 examples are WEPCO CGS-NM residential/secondary
- Wyoming — No single statewide dollar-per-kWh export rate exists. Energy exported