Seattle City Light solar export rate
What Seattle City Light pays for power exported from rooftop solar in Washington, with the source and the date it was checked.
No single rate — formula based
Retail electricity rate for net-metering credits on systems up to 100 kW AC; larger systems use a separate Large Renewables program.
Seattle City Light · Washington
Municipal utility; limited qualifying building programs can receive net metering above 100 kW, while systems over 100 kW and up to 5 MW use monthly-varying Large Renewables export rates.
Source: seattle.gov · seattle.gov
Full Seattle City Light detail →Washington rules that apply to Seattle City Light
The state framework sets the default. Where Seattle City Light 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.
- Avista UtilitiesFormula basedCustomer's standard schedule retail rate; excess kWh becomes a bill credit for following billin
- Pacific Power (Washington)Formula basedApplicable standard-service tariff energy charge; excess net energy becomes a kWh credit for th