Does my electric bill go to zero after solar?

Usually not, and a company that promises zero is telling you what you want to hear. Almost every utility keeps a fixed monthly charge for the connection itself, and many add small non-bypassable or local government fees on top. A well sized system takes out the energy charge, which is the large part. The bill that is left is the small part.

Why is my first bill after solar higher than I expected?

Two normal reasons. The system was switched on partway through a billing cycle, so the bill covers days before it was producing. Or the utility had not finished the meter change, so exports were not being counted yet. Both show up on the first statement and resolve on the second.

What is a true-up bill?

In some states, California most of all, the utility tracks your credits all year and settles the account once, on an annual true-up statement. Your monthly statements in between can look small or near zero while a balance is building quietly. That is the bill people get surprised by, and it is the one to ask about before you sign anything.

What do the credits on my bill actually mean?

When the system sends power back, the utility records it. Depending on your state and your rate, it is recorded either as kilowatt hours banked or as a dollar credit, and it usually rolls forward to cover a month when the house uses more than it makes. The rate they credit you at is often lower than the rate they charge you, which is what changed in California in April 2023.

How do I read my own bill?

Find your utility below and open their sample. They publish the real thing, annotated, and it is the most reliable version there is. If yours is not listed, or you want a person to read yours with you, send it over and we will go through it line by line. No obligation attached to that.

SOLAR BILLS

Your bill after solar,read honestly.

The bill does not disappear. It changes shape, and most of the arguing in this industry happens because nobody explains how before the sale. Here is what actually changes, and then the sample bills the utilities publish themselves, so you can read the real document instead of ours.

Find my utility Have someone read mine

Every sample below opens on the utility's own site. Nothing here is a WC mockup.

01 //WHAT ACTUALLY CHANGES

Three things move. Only one of them is the number at the bottom.

The energy charge shrinks. The connection charge does not.

Solar offsets the kilowatt hours you buy. It does not remove the fact that you are still connected to the grid, and nearly every utility bills a fixed monthly amount for that connection whether you import anything or not.

A second set of numbers appears.

Your statement starts showing what the house pulled from the grid and what the system sent back, as two separate figures. Reading the bill means reading both, not just the amount due at the bottom.

Credits carry, and sometimes they settle later.

Overproduction in June is meant to cover December. Some utilities apply that month to month, some hold it and settle once a year. Which one you are on changes what a low monthly bill actually means.

This is the part a rep should walk you through before you sign, not after your first statement arrives. If the person at your door cannot explain your utility's version of it, that tells you something.

02 //OFFICIAL SAMPLE BILLS

Your utility publishes the real one. Here is where.

These utilities put an actual annotated post-solar bill on their own website. That is the version to trust, because it comes from whoever prints your statement.

National Grid New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island. View our solar bills. A library of real sample bills, including New York residential, community solar, and Massachusetts net metering.
National Grid Massachusetts. Massachusetts net metering bill, page by page. Walks the credit line and the language used when the system makes more than the house uses.
APS Arizona. Renewable net metering bill guide. Bill images with each solar line item called out. One of the clearest a utility publishes.
PG&E California. Understand your solar bill. The monthly statement and the annual True-Up, which are two different documents and the source of most confusion in California.
PG&E territory California. NEM sample bill with a line-by-line breakdown (PDF). Published by Redwood Coast Energy Authority, a community choice aggregator, not by PG&E.
SDG&E California. Understanding your solar bill. Solar Billing Plan explainer with sample PDFs for both community choice and standard customers.
Tampa Electric Florida. Net meter sample bill (PDF). The cleanest full sample bill published by a Florida utility.

Utilities that publish the rules but not a full sample

FPL Florida. Net metering. How the monthly energy bank and the kWh reserve work. FPL does not publish a full sample bill.
FPL Florida. Net metering FAQ. The Keep in Mind section is where the excess energy bank is actually explained.
NV Energy Nevada. Solar FAQ (PDF). Covers the monthly bill, basic service and local government fees, and how excess generation credits are applied.
NV Energy Nevada. Net metering program. The program rules behind the FAQ above.
Duke Energy North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky. Generate your own energy. Duke publishes the policy but not a customer-facing sample bill. The regulator page below is more useful in North Carolina.
North Carolina Public Staff North Carolina. Net metering, state utilities commission. The state consumer advocate explaining what Duke may and may not charge a solar customer.
Appalachian Power (AEP) Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee. Generating equipment and net metering. Interconnection and net metering terms for the AEP operating companies.

TEXAS // Most of Texas is deregulated. Oncor, CenterPoint and the other wires companies handle the meter and the interconnection, but the bill comes from a retail electric provider you chose, and every provider prices solar buyback differently. There is no single Texas sample bill to point at. Send us the provider name on your bill and we will read that plan specifically.

Not listed? Send us the bill and the utility name. We keep adding to this page as we confirm sources, and a person will read yours either way.

03 //QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK

Does my electric bill go to zero after solar?: Usually not, and a company that promises zero is telling you what you want to hear. Almost every utility keeps a fixed monthly charge for the connection itself, and many add small non-bypassable or local government fees on top. A well sized system takes out the energy charge, which is the large part. The bill that is left is the small part.
Why is my first bill after solar higher than I expected?: Two normal reasons. The system was switched on partway through a billing cycle, so the bill covers days before it was producing. Or the utility had not finished the meter change, so exports were not being counted yet. Both show up on the first statement and resolve on the second.
What is a true-up bill?: In some states, California most of all, the utility tracks your credits all year and settles the account once, on an annual true-up statement. Your monthly statements in between can look small or near zero while a balance is building quietly. That is the bill people get surprised by, and it is the one to ask about before you sign anything.
What do the credits on my bill actually mean?: When the system sends power back, the utility records it. Depending on your state and your rate, it is recorded either as kilowatt hours banked or as a dollar credit, and it usually rolls forward to cover a month when the house uses more than it makes. The rate they credit you at is often lower than the rate they charge you, which is what changed in California in April 2023.
How do I read my own bill?: Find your utility below and open their sample. They publish the real thing, annotated, and it is the most reliable version there is. If yours is not listed, or you want a person to read yours with you, send it over and we will go through it line by line. No obligation attached to that.

Want yours read out loud?

Send the bill and the address. You get production for your roof and every payment path your state allows, side by side, with real monthly numbers. If solar does not beat what you are paying now, that is what we tell you.

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