Oregon solar export compensation
What Oregon pays for exported rooftop solar power, with the source and the date each figure was checked.
Record verified 2026-09-16 · 16 of 17 fields sourced
What does your utility pay?
No single rate — formula based
Full retail-rate net-metering kWh credit; no fixed dollar/kWh export rate stated in the cited material.
Portland General Electric · Oregon
PGE says net metering is available to existing retail service customers and describes excess generation tracked by a bidirectional meter; its page lists a 2 MW maximum.
Source: portlandgeneral.com
Full Portland General Electric detail →Oregon's current statewide framework remains retail-rate net metering: customer-generators receive kWh credits at the full retail rate, and unused credits are transferred to low-income assistance programs at the utility's average annual avoided-cost rate after the annual billing cycle. The Oregon PUC's current materials and the PGE and PacifiCorp materials reviewed here do not show an adopted statewide net-billing replacement for new PGE or PacifiCorp customers; the current rules and tariffs continue to provide net metering.
Program details
| Compensation mechanism | Net metering: exports are credited as cumulative kWh against the next monthly bill, at the full retail rate for kWh-based rate components; this is not a separate fixed-dollar buyback rate. |
|---|---|
| Export rate | Full retail rate for each rate component on the bill that uses kWh as the billing determinant; no single statewide dollar-per-kWh export rate is specified. |
| Rate effective | The current OAR 860-039-0055 net-metering credit rule is in effect; the cited rule does not state a separate future effective date for a replacement export rate. |
| Credit rollover | Excess kWh becomes a cumulative credit applied to the customer's next monthly bill; Oregon PUC describes the credit as carrying over for up to 12 months. |
| Credit expiration | At the end of the annual billing cycle, unused kWh credits are transferred to customers enrolled in the utility's low-income assistance programs and valued at the applicable average annual avoided-cost tariff rate. |
| Annual true-up | End of the March billing month each year, unless the utility and customer-generator agree to another billing-cycle end date; an alternative cycle must be 12 months or less. |
| Residential system cap | 25 kW for residential installations (PUC program summary). |
| Commercial system cap | 2 MW for commercial installations (PUC program summary). |
| Aggregate program cap | The PUC or governing body may not limit cumulative net-metering capacity to less than 0.5% (one-half of one percent) of the utility's historic single-hour peak load; after that threshold is reached, the obligation to offer net metering to new customer-generators may be limited following the statutory process. |
| Program status | Open in the materials reviewed: PGE and PacifiCorp continue to publish/offer net-metering materials. The statutory 0.5% threshold has been exceeded historically, but no current PUC closure order was located in the cited sources. |
| Regulator | Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) for PGE and PacifiCorp, the state's investor-owned electric utilities. |
| Docket | AR 688 is the current listed rulemaking to update Division 82 small-generator interconnection rules and Division 39 net-metering rules; no separate adopted statewide net-billing transition docket was identified in the cited current PUC rulemaking list. |
| Governing rule | ORS 757.300 and OAR 860-039-0010 through 860-039-0080, including OAR 860-039-0055 and 860-039-0060. |
| Grandfathering | No general statewide grandfathering provision was identified in the cited current Oregon net-metering rules, PUC summary, or the PGE/PacifiCorp materials reviewed; do not infer grandfathering beyond any customer-specific tariff or agreement. |
| Interconnection application | Submit the utility's standard net-metering interconnection application; the OAR says the standard form is available from and posted by the public utility. PGE instructs applicants not to begin construction until approval. |
| Interconnection timeline | Tier 1: within 10 business days after the utility says the application is complete, it must notify the applicant whether the facility meets the Tier 1 screens; if it does not notify within 20 business days after receipt of a complete application, the application passes the screening criteria under the rule. Other tiers have different review timelines. |
| 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.
| Portland General Electric (PGE) | Full retail-rate net-metering kWh credit; no fixed dollar/kWh export rate stated in the cited material. Current PGE net-metering offering; no replacement net-billing effective date identified. PGE says net metering is available to existing retail service customers and describes excess generation tracked by a bidirectional meter; its page lists a 2 MW maximum. |
|---|---|
| PacifiCorp (Pacific Power, Oregon) | Schedule 135 credits net-metering energy at the full retail rate for each kWh-based rate component. Current Oregon Schedule 135 tariff fetched; no replacement net-billing effective date identified. Unused credits through the March billing period are transferred to the low-income assistance program at PacifiCorp's applicable average annual avoided-cost rate. |
Sources read for this record
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
- Louisiana — Avoided-cost export rates effective in 2026 are $0.0386407/kWh for Ent
- 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
- 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