Net metering is the billing arrangement that governs how solar panel owners get credit from their utility for the excess electricity their panels produce during the day. True net metering means every excess kilowatt-hour (kWh) of energy gets counted as a credit to offset a kWh the customer draws from the grid, like at night when the sun isn’t shining.
At the end of the month, the utility counts up all of the kilowatt-hours of solar sent to the grid, as well as the kilowatt-hours drawn from the grid, and compares them. If there are more kWh sent by the customer than received, the customer earns a credit for the next month. If not, they pay the difference. Fairly simple, right?
New Hampshire net metering is not quite as simple as described above. In New Hampshire, solar owners still earn credit for their excess energy, but the credit for each kWh is reduced slightly by a fraction of the retail price. The final credit ranges from 75 to 95% of the retail price, based on whether the solar installation produces more electricity than the homeowner needs in a given month (we explain further below).
That’s still not a bad deal, and the cost of electricity from Eversource New Hampshire has increased over 30% this year, so solar is a better deal than ever! We’ll cover how it works in the sections below and explain why the current net metering rules will soon change. Here’s a short version if you’re strapped for time:
New Hampshire net metering at a glance:
- Net Energy Metering, or NEM, is a utility billing arrangement that governs how solar panel owners get paid for solar energy. Basically, the utility offers a credit that carries over to the next bill for every kilowatt-hour (kWh) a solar system produces over the customer’s usage during the month.
- New Hampshire is on the second version of net metering, called NEM 2.0.
- Credit for all solar energy produced under NEM 2.0 is reduced by small fractions of the retail price, called “non-bypassable charges”. They’re responsible for paying for storm recovery and other programs and worth about a penny per kWh.
- If a customer’s solar production exceeds their usage from the grid during a month, the credit for the excess kilowatt-hours is also reduced by 75% of the distribution charge. That’s about another four cents per kWh, but again only applies to excess generation at the end of the month.
- All in all, home solar in New Hampshire is still a good financial decision, but that may be changing soon. A review of NEM 2.0 is happening now, and will be used by the state Public Utilities Commission to design NEM 3.0.
- Because a lot about NEM 3.0 is uncertain, Granite State homeowners who are interested in solar power should get solar quotes sooner rather than later to decide if solar panels are a good choice for them.
How net metering works in New Hampshire
As we covered above, net metering earns you credit on your electricity bills. But in New Hampshire, it isn’t as simple as getting a 1-to-1 credit for each excess kWh.
Electricity prices are actually made up of several components, and New Hampshire doesn’t want solar owners getting credit for things that everyone should be paying.
Here’s how the charges from one of New Hampshire’s largest utilities, Eversource, break down:
| Component | Cost per kWh in 2023* | Credit earned from exported solar energy |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Service Charge | $0.1656 | Full |
| Transmission Charge | $0.0236 | Full |
| Distribution Charge | $0.0541 | 25% for net monthly exports |
| System Benefits Charge | $0.0086 | Zero for all exports |
| Stranded Cost Recovery Charge | $0.0027 | Zero for all exports |
| Regulatory Reconciliation Adjustment | $0.0005 | Full |
| Total | $0.2550 | $0.2438 / $0.20495** |
* Source: Genability
** $0.2438 for exported energy up to monthly usage / $0.20495 for monthly net excess generation
The table above shows the different charges that go into making up the full price of electricity, as well as which of those charges aren’t included in the credits solar homeowners receive for their solar energy.
We know this can be confusing, so let’s further break down how the utility calculates those credits.
How utility bill credits get applied
If you own solar panels, there are three different ways to account for electricity:
- Energy your solar panels produce that goes to power your home reduces your electricity bill by the full-retail amount, because you’re neither drawing from the grid nor selling energy back
- Energy your solar panels produce and you don’t consume is sent to the grid, counted by a 2-way meter, and totaled up at the end of the month
- Energy you draw from the grid when your solar panels aren’t making enough electricity (like at night or on cloudy days) is counted on your bill as usage
At the end of the month, your utility counts up all the solar energy you sent to the grid and all the energy you consumed from the grid (again, solar energy used to power your home is not counted, but does reduce your bill).
If you drew more electricity from the grid than your panels exported:
If you used more electricity than your solar panels sent to the grid, New Hampshire utilities will charge you for that surplus, and add a separate charge of just the System Benefits Charge (SBC) and Stranded Cost Recovery Charge (SCRC) for all the solar kWh you exported.
If your panels exported more electricity than you drew from the grid:
If, on the other hand, there is a surplus of solar energy, the utility will multiply the number of kWh of surplus by the Energy Service Charge, Transmission Charge, and 25% of the Distribution Charge, and subtract that from your bill total.
As in the above example, it will also multiply all your exported solar kWh by the SBC and SCRC and add that to your bill.
Phew! That’s the complicated story of how you earn energy bill credits with NEM 2.0 in New Hampshire! If you have further questions about how it works, talking with a local solar installer will help.
How long will New Hampshire residents receive net metering?
Unfortunately, there is another complication of net metering in New Hampshire.
The current rules apply to all solar installations under 1,000 kilowatts (kW), and the owners of those systems will receive bill credits under net metering until January 1, 2041. At that point, system owners will be transitioned to whatever program exists at the time.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean you have until 2040 to sign up - in fact, you’ll likely have less than a year from now. The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is in the midst of a proceeding to come up with a new version of net metering, which will take effect soon after the proceeding concludes.
The proceeding will be based on a study of the value of distributed energy resources (small renewables like home and business solar installations) that was conducted by Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors. The study’s findings will guide the PUC in designing a successor program to net metering.
We hope this will mean good things for New Hampshire residents who want to go solar, but because of recent attempts to change net metering in California and Florida, we’re not confident in a good outcome. If you’re a person who doesn’t like to stake their financial future on the outcome of utility industry policy making, now (before the changes are final) would be a good time to consider going solar in New Hampshire.
Thi Deremer
Solar Policy Analyst and Researcher
Ben Zientara is a writer, researcher, and solar policy analyst who has written about the residential solar industry, the electric grid, and state utility policy since 2013.