Chris Meehan has covered solar and clean energy since 2010 and served as Executive Editor of SolarReviews for seven years, running its daily industry news desk. His work has appeared in Sun & Wind Energy and other trade publications.
Pennsylvania credits exported solar at the full retail rate, 1-to-1, and it is written into the utility tariffs rather than left to each company. PPL’s filed net metering rider states it plainly: a customer-generator receives a credit for each kilowatt-hour the company receives “at the full retail rate consistent with Commission regulations,” and any excess is carried forward and credited against later bills at that same full retail rate.
Two details set Pennsylvania apart from its neighbors, and both change how you should size a system here. Your credits settle on May 31, not on your install anniversary. And what you are paid for whatever is left is not the retail rate you were credited at all year.
Key takeaways
- Pennsylvania credits every exported kilowatt-hour at the full retail rate, 1-to-1, written into each utility’s tariff.
- Your credit year closes on May 31, and whatever is left is paid at the Price To Compare, well below retail, so size the system to your usage.
- Residential net metering is capped at 50 kW, far above a normal rooftop.
- The 2026 PPL settlement moves only systems above 100 kW to a new default service class; a home system stays on the residential class with full-retail netting.
- SRECs are separate money from net metering and are sold on their own.
Your Credit Year Ends May 31, Not on Your Anniversary
Pennsylvania ties the net metering year to the PJM planning period, which ends May 31 every year. Excess kilowatt-hours accumulate until that date and then settle.
That date is unusually well suited to solar. A system switched on in autumn banks credit through winter and spends it in spring, then starts fresh at the beginning of the strongest production months. It is the opposite of a December reset, which would cash you out at your weakest point of the year.
The Annual Settlement Pays Price To Compare, Not Retail
This is the number most Pennsylvania quotes gloss over. Through the year, exports offset your usage at the full retail rate. But on the annual settlement, anything still unused is compensated at the Price To Compare, the generation-and-transmission portion of your bill, which is meaningfully lower than retail because it excludes distribution.
What Happens | When | Rate You Receive |
|---|---|---|
Exports offset your usage | Every billing period | Full retail, 1-to-1, the rate you would have paid to buy that power |
Unused credit carries forward | Month to month | Still full retail, so a summer surplus keeps its full value into winter |
Whatever is left is cashed out | End of the PJM year, May 31 | Price To Compare, which strips out distribution and is well below retail |
The practical consequence is the same one that catches people in every full-retail state: a system sized to your actual annual usage captures full value, and one deliberately oversized to produce a May payout converts retail credit into a lower wholesale-style payment. Size to your usage, not to your roof.
Sized to your usage or to your roof? Compare quotes from vetted Pennsylvania installers and see how each one models your May 31 settlement before you sign.
Get Free Quotes →Pennsylvania Caps Residential Net Metering at 50 kW
The tariff limits a residential net-metered system to a nameplate capacity no greater than 50 kW. A typical Pennsylvania home system is around 7 kW, so this ceiling is not a practical constraint for most households. It matters if you are planning for an electric vehicle, a heat pump and a large battery together, and it is worth knowing the ceiling exists before an installer sizes past it.
Ask Which Default Service Class You Will Be In
Pennsylvania’s utilities have been re-examining how customer-generators are classified for default service, and the PPL question is now settled on paper. The Public Utility Commission approved PPL Electric’s rate case settlement (docket R-2025-3057164) on June 11, 2026, and the compliance tariff took effect July 1, 2026. What it changes: the hourly-priced GSC-2 default service class, where exported energy is valued at PJM’s hourly real-time price instead of a fixed price to compare, is aimed at large customer-generators (PPL’s filing drew the line at more than 100 kW imported or exported over the previous 12 months) and at no-load net-metering facilities, per the Commission. A 140 MW pool of projects that applied for interconnection on or before September 30, 2025 and receive permission to operate by December 31, 2026 keeps the fixed GSC-1 price through December 31, 2036 (Power Advisory, on the approved settlement).
What it does not change: a residential rooftop system, which Pennsylvania caps at 50 kW, does not import or export 100 kW and stays on the residential price to compare with full-retail netting under 52 Pa. Code §75.13. Two things are still moving: a coalition of customer-generators asked the Commission on June 29, 2026 to reconsider parts of the order, and FirstEnergy’s Pennsylvania utilities have proposed a similar reclassification with three-year grandfathering for June 2027 that remains under review. Before you sign, ask your installer to confirm in writing which default service class your system will be billed under and for how long; for a home system in PPL territory the answer should be the residential class. If they cannot answer, ask the utility directly.
Want the default service class question answered in writing? A second Pennsylvania quote shows whether each bidder names your utility and your rate class before you commit.
Compare Quotes →Net Metering and Pennsylvania SRECs Are Separate Money
Net metering reduces your bill. Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards program pays you separately: every 1,000 kWh your system produces earns one SREC that you sell on an open market.
Be careful how a quote presents that second number. Pennsylvania SRECs trade on an open market and have historically been worth a fraction of New Jersey’s fixed SREC-II payment, and unlike New Jersey there is no set price locked in for 15 years. A quote that projects Pennsylvania SREC income at a flat rate for two decades is projecting a market price nobody can promise. Treat it as upside, not as the basis for your payback.
The full picture of what Pennsylvania pays, including the exemptions, is in our Pennsylvania solar incentives guide.
Pennsylvania Net Metering FAQs
Does Pennsylvania have full retail net metering?
Yes. Pennsylvania utility tariffs credit exported power at the full retail rate, 1-to-1, and carry unused credit forward at that same rate.
When does the Pennsylvania net metering year end?
May 31, the end of the PJM planning period. Credits accumulate until then rather than resetting on your install date or at the calendar year end.
What am I paid for leftover credits in Pennsylvania?
Net excess remaining at the May 31 settlement is compensated at your utility’s Price To Compare, the generation and transmission portion of the rate. That is lower than the full retail rate you were credited at during the year, which is why sizing to your usage beats oversizing.
How large a system can I net meter in Pennsylvania?
Residential net metering is capped at 50 kW nameplate capacity. A typical Pennsylvania home system is roughly 7 kW, so most households are nowhere near the limit.
Is Pennsylvania net metering changing?
How customer-generators are classified for default service is under active change. PPL reached a settlement approved by the Public Utility Commission in June 2026, and FirstEnergy’s Pennsylvania utilities have filed proposals still under review. Ask your utility to confirm in writing which default service class your system will be billed under, and for how long, before you sign a contract.
References & Research Sources
- PPL Electric Utilities Corporation. Electric Pa. P.U.C. No. 201, Net Metering for Renewable Customer-Generators. Filed tariff rider setting full retail crediting, carry-forward, the PJM planning period ending May 31, Price To Compare settlement and the 50 kW residential cap. Accessed August 30, 2026.
- Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Decision in the PPL Electric distribution rate proceeding, June 4, 2026. Settlement approval and compliance tariff timing. Accessed August 30, 2026.
- Pennsylvania Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act. 73 P.S. 1648.1 to 1648.8. Statutory basis for alternative energy credits and net metering eligibility. Accessed August 30, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. One, Big, Beautiful Bill Provisions. Federal clean energy credit changes covering Section 25D. Accessed August 30, 2026.
- Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Docket R-2025-3057164, PPL Electric Utilities distribution rate proceeding: Joint Petition for Settlement (March 13, 2026), Joint Stipulation with the Joint Solar Advocates (March 6, 2026), Opinion and Order (June 11, 2026), Supplement No. 2 to Tariff PA PUC No. 202 effective July 1, 2026, and the Customer-Generator Coalition petition for reconsideration (June 29, 2026). Accessed September 8, 2026.
- Power Advisory LLC. Pennsylvania Net Metering: A Favorable Value Stack Emerges Following PPL Approved Settlement and FirstEnergy Filing and PPL Enters the Fray with Rate Case Filing. The 140 MW grandfathering terms, the GSC-1 and GSC-2 definitions, and the more-than-100 kW reclassification line in PPL’s filing. Accessed September 8, 2026.
