On March 1, 2026 the credit Utah pays for exported solar fell again. Rocky Mountain Power’s Export Credit Rate dropped to 4.855¢ per kWh in summer and 4.033¢ the rest of the year, down from 5.636¢ and 4.745¢, a cut of roughly 14%. That is not a one-off. The rate is reset every March 1 by the Public Service Commission, it has moved downward each time, and any unused credits you are holding expire at the March meter read. Utah solar is a good buy that gets slightly worse to export from every year, which is an argument about timing and sizing rather than about whether to do it.
The Export Credit Falls Again Every March
Export Credit Rate | Before March 1, 2026 | Now |
|---|---|---|
Summer, June to September | 5.636¢/kWh | 4.855¢/kWh |
Winter, October to May | 4.745¢/kWh | 4.033¢/kWh |
What you pay to buy power | Your Rocky Mountain Power rate (13.11¢ statewide average shown) | Your Rocky Mountain Power rate (13.11¢ statewide average shown) |
Next scheduled change | March 1, 2026 | March 1, 2027, and every March after |
This is net billing rather than net metering: your consumption is charged at the standard retail rate and your exports earn the Export Credit Rate, which is roughly a third of it. Schedule 137 has applied to every new interconnection since October 31, 2020, with a residential cap of 25 kW DC. The older Schedule 135 net metering and Schedule 136 transition arrangements are closed but grandfathered, so a neighbor with an older system is genuinely on better terms than you can get today.
Enter your ZIP code and we will model your system against the current credit rather than last year’s.
Model against the current credit
Credits Expire at the March Meter Read
The second half of the design is the expiry. Export credits offset the power and energy charges on your bill and carry forward within the Annualized Billing Period, which ends at your March meter read. Anything unused at that point is gone. So a Utah system that overproduces through summer and autumn is banking credits against a deadline that arrives at the end of winter, and the further past your own consumption you build, the more of that bank you are likely to lose.
Put the two mechanisms together and the guidance is consistent: build to cover what you use, prefer self-consumption over export, and treat a battery as a way of keeping kilowatt-hours at your retail rate, modeled at the 13.11¢ statewide average, instead of selling them at 4.855¢. The gap between those two numbers is the entire argument for storage in this state.
Small Systems, Expensive Houses
Utah households are the lightest users in this group at 774 kWh a month, and the sun is strong at 1,524 kWh per kW around Salt Lake City, so systems are small. At $2.80 per watt (as of March 1, 2026), 20th cheapest, the typical install is 6.09 kW at about $17,065 gross, producing roughly 9,281 kWh a year.
The benchmark across the sizes Utah households actually buy, gross before incentives; the typical install here is about 6.09 kW:
| System size | Gross at Utah’s $2.80/W benchmark |
|---|---|
| 4 kW | $11,200 |
| 5 kW | $14,000 |
| 6 kW | $16,800 |
| 7 kW | $19,600 |
| 8 kW | $22,400 |
| 10 kW | $28,000 |
Consumed as generated, that is worth about $1,217 a year, a 14.0-year payback. Rates are climbing 3.28% a year, which helps steadily. Median home values of $545,200 mean solar is a small fraction of the property here, and the federal residential credit is $0 for owner-purchased systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025 under Public Law 119-21. Utah authorizes both leases and power purchase agreements, so third-party ownership is available if you would rather someone else held the equipment.
Who Should Think Hard in Utah
- Anyone modeling on last year’s export credit. The rate fell about 14% on March 1, 2026. A proposal built on 5.636¢ is overstating your export income by a fifth.
- Anyone modeling on a flat rate for 25 years. It resets every March and has moved down each time. Ask what escalation, or de-escalation, the model assumes.
- Households being sold maximum roof coverage. With credits expiring at the March meter read, surplus beyond your own use is the most perishable thing on the proposal.
- Customers of Provo, St George, Lehi or another municipal utility. Schedule 137 is Rocky Mountain Power’s. Municipals and cooperatives set their own rules entirely.
Utah Solar Cost FAQs
About $2.80 per watt installed, 20th cheapest in the country as of March 1, 2026. Utah households are light users at 774 kWh a month and the sun is strong, so the typical system is small at 6.09 kW, roughly $17,065 before incentives.
On Rocky Mountain Power’s Schedule 137, 4.855¢ per kWh from June to September and 4.033¢ from October to May, effective March 1, 2026. That is down from 5.636¢ and 4.745¢, a cut of roughly 14%. The rate is reset by the Public Service Commission every March 1.
Not for new customers. Utah moved to net billing under Schedule 137 for every interconnection since October 31, 2020: consumption is charged at standard retail while exports earn the lower Export Credit Rate. The older Schedule 135 net metering and Schedule 136 transition terms are closed to new applicants but grandfathered for those already on them.
Yes. Export credits offset power and energy charges and carry forward within the Annualized Billing Period, which ends at your March meter read. Anything unused at that point is lost, so building well beyond your own consumption tends to bank credits you will never spend.
About 14.0 years for a household consuming what it generates, modeled at the 13.11¢ statewide average; Rocky Mountain Power files its own Schedule 1 residential rate, which is the number your real payback runs on, with rates rising 3.28% a year. Exporting is worth roughly a third of that, so self-consumption drives the outcome, and a battery here is mainly a way of keeping kilowatt-hours at retail value rather than selling them at 4.855¢.
The credit falls each March and your surplus expires each March. Enter your ZIP code and we will size around both.
Build for self-use, not for export
Methodology: cost figures use the EcoGen Solar Cost Index for Utah, $2.80 per watt as of March 1, 2026, with payback modeled with no federal residential credit for owner-purchased systems, exports at the current Export Credit Rate, rate escalation at the state 5-year average of 3.28%, 0.5% annual panel degradation, and a 25-year horizon. Export Credit Rates are read from the Schedule 137 tariff sheet effective March 1, 2026 and are reset annually, so this page needs refreshing each March.
References & Research Sources
EcoGen America reviewed the Rocky Mountain Power net billing tariff, federal electricity price and utility datasets, Census home-value data, and federal tax guidance for this Utah solar cost guide. Sources were accessed between June 10 and August 17, 2026, unless another date is listed below.
- Rocky Mountain Power. Schedule 137: Net Billing Service. Export Credit Rate, the 25 kW DC residential cap, the Annualized Billing Period ending at the March meter read, and credit expiry, under Docket 26-035-T03. First Revision Sheet 137.3, effective March 1, 2026. Accessed June 11, 2026.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A. Average residential electricity prices by state, March 2026 edition. Accessed June 10, 2026.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Form EIA-861: Annual Electric Power Industry Report, 2024. Residential customer counts for PacifiCorp, Provo City, St George, and Lehi City. Accessed June 10, 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2024. Median home value data used for cost-to-value context. Accessed June 11, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service (IRS). One, Big, Beautiful Bill Provisions. Guidance on Public Law 119-21, including termination of the Section 25D residential credit for systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025. Accessed August 15, 2026.
