Avista Utilities solar export rate
What Avista Utilities pays for power exported from rooftop solar in Washington, with the source and the date it was checked.
No single rate — formula based
Customer's standard schedule retail rate; excess kWh becomes a bill credit for following billing periods.
Avista Utilities · Washington
Schedule 63 is available first-come, first-served until June 30, 2029 or the four-percent 1996-peak-demand cap, whichever comes first; annual unused credits are granted to Avista without compensation on March 31.
Source: myavista.com
Full Avista Utilities detail →Washington rules that apply to Avista Utilities
The state framework sets the default. Where Avista Utilities pays something different, the utility tariff governs and is what the card above reports.
| Compensation mechanism | Monthly net-energy billing: exported excess is credited in kWh against later electricity use, rather than paid as a separate cash export rate. |
|---|---|
| Export rate | Applicable retail energy rate / kWh credit under the customer's utility rate schedule; no single statewide cents-per-kWh export rate. |
| Rate effective | Effective export compensation is the applicable utility retail rate for ordinary net metering; Seattle City Light states its up-to-100-kW credits are valued at the customer's retail electricity rate. |
| Credit rollover | Excess kWh credits appear on bills for following billing periods and reduce the following period's bill; credits are not a separate cash payment. |
| Credit expiration | Remaining annual kWh credits are cleared at the annual balance date; Washington's statutory balance date is April 30. |
| Annual true-up | April 30 each year. |
| Aggregate program cap | For the three UTC-regulated investor-owned utilities, availability ends at the earlier of June 30, 2029 or four percent of the utility's 1996 peak demand; at least half of the 1996 peak-demand capacity must be reserved for renewable-energy systems. Seattle City Light has a separate municipal program. |
| Program status | Avista and Pacific Power tariffs state the four-percent / June 30, 2029 availability limit; the UTC overview identifies Avista, Pacific Power, and Puget Sound Energy as Washington investor-owned net-metering utilities. |
| Grandfathering | No single statewide grandfathering rule is stated in the UTC overview; transition terms are utility-specific. Pacific Power expressly preserves aggregation arrangements entered before July 1, 2019 under the existing arrangement. |
| Regulator | Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) regulates the investor-owned electric utilities' tariffs; Seattle City Light is a municipal utility with its own published program. |
| Governing rule | RCW 80.60 (Net Metering of Electricity), implemented for interconnection through WAC 480-108. |
| Pending change | Seattle City Light says it has begun planning the next phase of its net-metering program and will provide at least six months' advance notice before proposed changes take effect; PSE's Schedule 150 proceeding is closed with conditions shown in UE-231031. |
Other Washington utilities
- Puget Sound EnergyFormula basedRetail-rate kWh net-metering credit under Schedule 150; no separate statewide export price.
- Seattle City LightFormula basedRetail electricity rate for net-metering credits on systems up to 100 kW AC; larger systems use
- Pacific Power (Washington)Formula basedApplicable standard-service tariff energy charge; excess net energy becomes a kWh credit for th