The electric company may pay you between USD0.15 per kilowatt to USD0.08. This amount varies depending on factors such as your system’s size, the number of people selling the energy, and where you live.
Solar energy has been ranked as one of the cheapest sources of energy. Investing in solar panels saves you money that you would spend on ever-increasing energy bills. Apart from this, you can make money by selling the surplus energy to the national grid through the electric company.
The government has set up a plan through which electric companies pay solar power producers for every unit of power they feed into the national grid. Read on to find out how you can get paid by the electric company when your solar power consumption is less than your production.
How can you get paid for solar power generation?
There are various ways that you can get paid for the generation of solar power:
Net Metering
When your solar panels generate more power than your consumption, you can sell the surplus to an electric company. The electric company puts that power back into the grid and gives you credits. These credits offset any electricity you may use from the grid. The credits are issued at a retail rate.
Net billing
This model allows you to use the power generated by your solar panels and then sell the surplus to an electric company. The surplus is sold at retail price. Unlike the net metering model, you cannot accumulate credits in net billing, which makes it a suitable method for commercial production rather than residential.
Buy all – sell all
This operation model requires you to sell all the energy produced by your solar panels to an eclectic company. On the other hand, all your electricity supply is provided by this company. The energy you sell to the electricity company is sold at a wholesale price, whereas the energy supply you get from the company is at a retail price.
Conclusion
Although kilowatt-hour prices differ from state to state, selling surplus solar power to the electric company does not help the producer financially. It helps boost an entire grid, creating security by freeing it from overload, thus making it less vulnerable to blackouts.
This table shows retail prices in 10 states in the US as tabulated by Energy Information Administration.
| State | Average retail price (cents/kWh) |
| Alabama | 10.18 |
| California | 19.65 |
| Florida | 10.67 |
| Idaho | 8.17 |
| Kansas | 10.47 |
| Mississippi | 9.50 |
| Nevada | 8.58 |
| New Jersey | 14.01 |
| Texas | 9.14 |
| Washington | 8.75 |
Faqs
Can an electric company pay you for the production of solar energy?
Yes, an electric company can pay you for solar energy generation if you use less energy than what you generate.
How can I get paid by the electric company for solar power generation?
You can be paid through net metering, net billing, or buy-all-sell.
