Vermont solar export compensation
What Vermont pays for exported rooftop solar power, with the source and the date each figure was checked.
Record verified 2026-09-16 · 15 of 17 fields sourced
What does your utility pay?
Fixed export rate
Base excess-generation credit: $0.20710/kWh under the tariff effective with bills rendered on or after August 1, 2026, before applicable REC and siting adjustors.
Green Mountain Power · Vermont
The tariff applies category-specific REC and siting adjustors; accumulated monetary credits must be used within twelve months.
Source: static.greenmountainpower.com
Full Green Mountain Power detail →Vermont operates a statewide net-metering program rather than a single flat export tariff. Exported generation produces bill credits based on the applicable blended residential rate, with REC and siting adjustors that depend on the system category, site, and REC election; the statewide blended residential rate is $0.2071/kWh effective August 1, 2026. Credits roll forward but must be used within 12 months, and the program is administered through Commission Rule 5.100 and utility tariffs approved by the Vermont Public Utility Commission.
Program details
| Compensation mechanism | Net metering: excess generation is credited on the customer's bill at the applicable blended residential rate, with REC and siting adjustors applied according to the system's certificate of public good. |
|---|---|
| Export rate | The statewide blended residential base credit is $0.2071/kWh effective August 1, 2026. Actual compensation varies by utility and system category because the applicable tariff may use a lower utility blended rate and may apply REC and siting adjustors; the 2026 order lists Category I and II compensation of $0.1571/kWh for customers transferring RECs, before any utility-specific difference. |
| Rate effective | The statewide blended residential rate of $0.2071/kWh and the 2026 REC and siting adjustors apply beginning August 1, 2026. |
| Credit rollover | Yes. Unused bill credits carry forward to later billing periods, subject to the 12-month use limit. |
| Credit expiration | Credits must be used within 12 months from the month earned; otherwise they revert to the electric company without compensation. |
| Annual true-up | No annual true-up date is specified in the reviewed rule or tariffs; credits are billed monthly and expire on a rolling 12-month basis. |
| Residential system cap | Category I systems are 15 kW or less. The general net-metering system eligibility ceiling is 500 kW, with larger residential systems subject to the category and site rules. |
| Commercial system cap | Category II is greater than 15 kW and up to 150 kW on a preferred site; Category III is greater than 150 kW and up to 500 kW on a preferred site. Category IV covers greater than 15 kW and up to 150 kW on a non-preferred site, although the Commission says it no longer anticipates applications for Category IV because of statutory changes. |
| Aggregate program cap | Not yet verified |
| Program status | Not yet verified |
| Regulator | Vermont Public Utility Commission; it regulates construction and operation of net-metering systems and reviews and approves utility net-metering tariffs. |
| Docket | Case No. 26-0291-INV (2026 biennial update of the net-metering program). |
| Governing rule | 30 V.S.A. §§ 8002 and 8010, implemented through Vermont Public Utility Commission Rule 5.100; Rule 5.128 governs the biennial updates to rates, adjustors, and eligibility criteria. |
| Grandfathering | Yes. Pre-existing systems with a complete CPG application filed before January 1, 2017 retain the applicable pre-existing rates and incentives for 10 years from commissioning; they are not subject to the newer REC and siting adjustors during that period. |
| Interconnection application | Applicants file through ePUC using the Net-Metering Registration/Application. For projects greater than 15 kW, the utility interconnection application and approval are required before the CPG filing; VEC directs applicants over 15 kW to send the Rule 5.500 interconnection application to its interconnection email and attach the approval letter to the ePUC filing. |
| Interconnection timeline | For systems up to 15 kW, VEC communicates issues by the 15th day following a complete application. For systems greater than 15 kW and up to 150 kW, VEC must issue an interconnection approval letter by the 31st day following a completed application unless further analysis is required; Rule 5.100 also provides deemed-CPG construction dates of the 11th business day for systems up to 15 kW and the 31st day for systems over 15 kW when no timely interconnection objection is filed. |
| Pending change | The 2026 Commission order says the current Rule 5.100 framework may have run its course and that the Commission will issue an order announcing a process for making changes to the net-metering rule; further Rule 5.100 changes in response to Act 179 of 2024 are to be considered in a rulemaking. |
Rates by utility
State rules set the framework. Individual utilities often pay something different, and where they do the utility tariff governs.
| Green Mountain Power | Base excess-generation credit: $0.20710/kWh under the tariff effective with bills rendered on or after August 1, 2026, before applicable REC and siting adjustors. August 1, 2026 The tariff applies category-specific REC and siting adjustors; accumulated monetary credits must be used within twelve months. |
|---|---|
| Vermont Electric Cooperative | Blended residential rate currently $0.2071/kWh for excess energy sent back to the grid. Current VEC program page checked 2026-09-16 VEC separately describes 2026 siting charges and a four-cent-per-kWh REC charge for customers retaining RECs. |
| Burlington Electric Department | No published export rate Burlington Electric Department confirms on its own net-metering page that its customers are billed under net metering, but that page publishes no credit rate, and the previously cited BED tariff URL now returns 404. No fetchable source supports a dollar rate for BED, so the rate is left unverified rather than estimated. |
Sources read for this record
- puc.vermont.gov/sites/psbnew/files/documents/2026-biennial-final.pdf
- puc.vermont.gov/sites/psbnew/files/doc_library/5100-PUC-nm-effective-07-01-2017_0.pdf
- puc.vermont.gov/electric/net-metering
- legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/30/005/008010
- static.greenmountainpower.com/tariffs/documents/Self-Generation-Net-Metering.pdf
- vermontelectric.coop/client_media/files/VEC_tariff_effective_1_1_26_2.pdf
- vermontelectric.coop/net-metering
- burlingtonelectric.com/sites/default/files/Net-Metering-Tariff.pdf
- burlingtonelectric.com/solarbilling/
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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 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
- 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