North Dakota solar export compensation
What North Dakota pays for exported rooftop solar power, with the source and the date each figure was checked.
Record verified 2026-09-16 · 10 of 17 fields sourced
What does your utility pay?
Fixed export rate
Base Avoided Costs $0.04571 per kWh; Renewable Energy Credit $0.00096 per kWh; Solar Renewable Energy Credit $0.00300 per kWh.
Otter Tail Power (North Dakota) · North Dakota
The rider is available to any Qualifying Facility not exceeding 100 kW; it says the customer is compensated monthly for all energy received from the small qualifying facility less the customer charge.
Source: otpco.com
Full Otter Tail Power (North Dakota) detail →North Dakota's cited statewide rule is N.D.A.C. chapter 69-09-07, which applies to sales and purchases between qualifying facilities and electric utilities. Qualifying facilities with a design capacity of 100 kW or less are entitled to net energy billing, while purchases outside that standard arrangement are based on the purchasing utility's avoided costs. The rule's text and its filed objection identify the requirement as applying to investor-owned electric utilities; rural cooperatives and municipal utilities set their own terms. Otter Tail Power's current North Dakota rider shows a concrete avoided-cost export rate of $0.04571/kWh effective June 1, 2026. Northern Plains Electric Cooperative publishes a separate member buyback rate below 2.4 cents/kWh and a 1.6605-cent/kWh PURPA rate at the time of its publication. Other credit rollover, true-up, and aggregate-cap terms are left unreported where the cited sources do not state them.
Program details
| Compensation mechanism | Qualifying facilities with a design capacity of 100 kW or less are entitled to net energy billing; other qualifying-facility purchases may be based on the purchasing utility's avoided costs. |
|---|---|
| Export rate | No single statewide dollar export rate is stated. For energy provided as available, purchase rates are based on the purchasing utility's avoided costs calculated at the time of delivery. |
| Rate effective | The statewide rule is identified as amended effective May 1, 1991; current utility-specific terms vary. Otter Tail's cited North Dakota rider is effective with bills rendered on and after June 1, 2026. |
| Credit rollover | Not yet verified |
| Credit expiration | Not yet verified |
| Annual true-up | Not yet verified |
| Residential system cap | Qualifying facilities with a design capacity of 100 kW or less are entitled to net energy billing. |
| Commercial system cap | Qualifying facilities with a design capacity of 100 kW or less are entitled to net energy billing; the cited rule does not state a separate residential or commercial cap. |
| Aggregate program cap | Not yet verified |
| Program status | Not yet verified |
| Regulator | North Dakota Public Service Commission. |
| Docket | Otter Tail's cited North Dakota Small Power Producer Rider was approved in Case No. PU-26-51 by order dated May 14, 2026. |
| Governing rule | N.D.A.C. chapter 69-09-07, Small Power Production and Cogeneration; the rule identifies N.D.C.C. 49-02-02 as the law implemented. |
| Grandfathering | Not yet verified |
| Interconnection application | For Otter Tail's small qualifying facilities, the customer must sign a contract; before installation, the customer must furnish a detailed generator and related-equipment diagram for company approval and execute an electric service agreement. |
| Interconnection timeline | For an optional North Dakota Public Service Commission certification application, the Commission must act within 90 days of a complete filing, or the application is deemed granted if no order is issued within 90 days. |
| 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.
| Otter Tail Power Company | Base Avoided Costs $0.04571 per kWh; Renewable Energy Credit $0.00096 per kWh; Solar Renewable Energy Credit $0.00300 per kWh. Effective with bills rendered on and after June 1, 2026. The rider is available to any Qualifying Facility not exceeding 100 kW; it says the customer is compensated monthly for all energy received from the small qualifying facility less the customer charge. |
|---|---|
| Northern Plains Electric Cooperative | The cooperative says its buyback rate is less than 2.4 cents per kWh for systems less than 150,000 watts (150 KW); it states the PURPA purchase rate was 1.6605 cents per kWh at the time of publication. Northern Plains says members must notify the cooperative, obtain a signed interconnection agreement, and obtain approval before purchasing equipment. |
| Cass County Electric Cooperative | No published export rate Cass County's policy publishes a net-billing program for renewable systems less than 40 kW AC and says excess energy is paid at the applicable renewable energy rate; the cited policy does not print the dollar rate. |
Sources read for this record
- xcelenergy.com/staticfiles/xe/Corporate/Corporate%20PDFs/ND_69-09-07.pdf
- law.cornell.edu/regulations/north-dakota/N-D-A-C-69-09-07-09
- otpco.com/media/yprnx0q2/nd_1201.pdf
- nplains.com/distributed-energy-resource-policies
- casscountyelectric.com/sites/default/files/2024-09/net-billing-policy.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.
- 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
- Montana — No single statewide dollar-per-kWh export rate is stated in the review
- 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
- 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