Colorado municipal utilities and co-ops solar export rate
What Colorado municipal utilities and co-ops pays for power exported from rooftop solar in Colorado, with the source and the date it was checked.
Not yet verified
Not statewide CPUC-regulated; compensation depends on the utility's own tariff or governing-body policy
Colorado municipal utilities and co-ops · Colorado
Colorado net-metering rule 3664 applies to investor-owned qualifying retail utilities. Municipal utilities and cooperatives that have exempted themselves from CPUC jurisdiction are outside that rule's direct coverage; examples include Colorado Springs Utilities, Fort Collins Utilities, Longmont Power, and many rural cooperatives.
Source: law.cornell.edu
Full Colorado municipal utilities and co-ops detail →Colorado rules that apply to Colorado municipal utilities and co-ops
The state framework sets the default. Where Colorado municipal utilities and co-ops pays something different, the utility tariff governs and is what the card above reports.
| Compensation mechanism | Retail-rate net metering for investor-owned qualifying retail utilities: monthly excess kWh carry forward at 1:1 against retail kWh; annual cash-out is at the utility's average hourly incremental cost unless the customer makes the one-time election for an indefinite rollover credit. Xcel's rollover election converts excess generation to a dollar credit based on the prevailing total energy rate; Black Hills also provides on-site net metering under its filed tariff. |
|---|---|
| Export rate | No single statewide dollar export rate. Under ordinary net metering, monthly excess is credited 1:1 in kWh against the customer's applicable retail rate; annual cash-out is at each utility's average hourly incremental cost. Black Hills' filed 2026 Energy Payment/AHIC rate is $0.03489/kWh for annual cash-out. Xcel's rollover option uses the prevailing total energy rate plus per-kWh riders for the generation period. |
| Rate effective | Retail credit applies under the utility's effective retail rate schedule; Black Hills' $0.03489/kWh AHIC cash-out rate is effective January 1, 2026. Xcel's tariff does not state one fixed statewide export price. |
| Credit rollover | Excess kWh carry from month to month at 1:1 against retail kWh. A customer may make a one-time written election for a dollar-credit rollover indefinitely until service terminates; Xcel's dollar credit is based on the prevailing total energy rate for the period generated, while Black Hills' tariff provides the same indefinite rollover option for on-site net metering. |
| Credit expiration | No expiration while the customer remains in service if the indefinite rollover option is elected; remaining credits are not paid when service terminates. Without that election, excess is reconciled and cashed out within 60 days after the calendar year or service termination. |
| Annual true-up | Within 60 days after the end of each calendar year, or within 60 days after termination of retail service, unless the customer has elected indefinite rollover. |
| Aggregate program cap | No statewide aggregate program-capacity cap identified for ordinary on-site net metering. The principal limits are customer/site sizing and service-entrance or distribution capacity; off-site installations have 500 kW single-meter and 300 kW-per-meter multi-meter limits. |
| Program status | No statewide ordinary on-site net-metering cap reported as reached. Black Hills' tariff states customer-specific sizing and off-site limits rather than a program subscription cap. |
| Grandfathering | No separate statewide fixed-term grandfathering period was identified. Existing customers can retain the indefinite rollover treatment by making the one-time election described in the rule/tariff; credits end without payment when service terminates under that election. |
| Regulator | Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) |
| Governing rule | 4 CCR 723-3-3664 (Net Metering), C.R.S. § 40-2-124, and each utility's CPUC-filed net-metering tariff (Xcel Schedule NM; Black Hills On-Site Net Metering Service). |
| Pending change | HB26-1225 was enacted in 2026 and is scheduled to take effect August 12, 2026 if no referendum petition changes that outcome. It requires qualifying utilities to implement off-site installation limits (500 kW single-meter and 300 kW per meter multi-meter), directs the CPUC to evaluate those limits in a future Renewable Energy Standard compliance plan, and requires a qualifying utility with more than 500,000 Colorado customers to report its interconnection working-group recommendations by December 15, 2026. The act also creates an October 1, 2026 option for community-solar organizations to direct different fixed/annual credit treatment for income-qualified and other subscribers; this is community solar, not ordinary on-site NEM. |
Other Colorado utilities
- Xcel Energy ColoradoFormula basedMonthly excess kWh offset applicable retail kWh at 1:1; annual cash-out at AHIC, or customer ma
- Black Hills Energy ColoradoFormula basedMonthly on-site excess kWh offset at 1:1 against retail kWh; annual cash-out at AHIC. Filed Ene