Idaho does not have one solar policy. It has three, and which one governs your roof depends entirely on the name on your electricity bill. Idaho Power customers are on real-time net billing with a rate that changes by hour and season. Avista customers still net kilowatt-hours at retail. Rocky Mountain Power customers get a time-differentiated export credit averaging around 4.2¢. Three regimes, one state, no statewide answer, which makes “what are Idaho’s solar incentives” a question nobody can answer without asking who your utility is first.
Three Utilities, Three Different Deals
Utility | Share of homes | How your exports are handled |
|---|---|---|
Idaho Power | About 63% | Real-time net billing since January 1, 2024. Export credit varies by hour and season. |
Avista | About 15% | Schedule 63 retail kilowatt-hour netting. Credits are surrendered at each year-end. |
Rocky Mountain Power | About 9% | Time-differentiated export credit, averaging roughly 4.2¢ per kilowatt-hour. |
Kootenai Electric and other co-ops | About 4% and up | Set their own terms. None of the above applies automatically. |
The Avista line deserves a second look, because it is the best arrangement in the state and it carries a catch. Retail kilowatt-hour netting is what most states have moved away from, so Avista customers are in an unusually good position. But credits are surrendered at year-end rather than carried, which means an Avista system built to bank a summer surplus for winter is banking something that expires before winter arrives.
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The Idaho Power Rate That Beats Retail
Idaho Power moved to real-time net billing on January 1, 2024 under Order 36048, and its Export Credit Rate has been set by Order 36785 since October 1, 2025. The structure is unusual enough to be worth stating plainly: the summer on-peak credit is higher than the statewide average residential rate.
- Summer on-peak, 3pm to 11pm June through September: about 15.68¢. That is above Idaho’s statewide average residential rate of 12.52¢, so an exported kilowatt-hour in that window is worth more per kilowatt-hour than the average price of one you buy.
- Summer off-peak: about 3.39¢. A fifth of the on-peak value, in the same season.
- Non-summer: about 2.9¢. For most of the year, exporting is worth roughly a quarter of what using the power yourself is worth.
These cent values are approximate. Confirm the current Export Credit Rate with Idaho Power in writing before building a savings model on it.
One genuinely useful piece of stability sits underneath: annual updates to the Export Credit Rate are paused until an April 1, 2028 filing. In a policy area that changes yearly in most states, that is roughly two years of visibility.
The Class of 2019 Kept Something Better
Idaho Power customers who interconnected before December 2019 were grandfathered onto one-to-one kilowatt-hour net metering, and that arrangement runs through 2045. Nineteen more years of retail-value netting is a materially different asset from what a new system gets, and it transfers with the property.
If you are buying a house with an existing array in Idaho Power territory, establishing the interconnection date is the single most valuable piece of due diligence available to you. Ask for the agreement rather than accepting a description of it.
Does Idaho Have a State Solar Tax Credit?
Idaho offers a residential alternative energy deduction rather than a credit, which is a distinction with real consequences. A credit reduces the tax you owe; a deduction reduces the income you are taxed on, so its value depends on your marginal rate and is therefore smaller and different for every household. Anyone quoting you a fixed dollar benefit from it is quoting something that depends on your return.
Its value depends on your marginal tax rate, so ask your tax preparer what it is worth on your return. What we will say is that the federal residential credit is $0 for purchased systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025 under Public Law 119-21, and that Idaho’s position on residential power purchase agreements is unsettled rather than clearly authorized, so the third-party route to the remaining federal commercial credit is not something to assume here.
You Likely Will Not Qualify If
- You assumed the Idaho Power rates apply to you. They cover about 63% of households. Avista, Rocky Mountain Power and the cooperatives each do something different.
- You are hoping to join the pre-2019 grandfathered class. That closed in December 2019 and cannot be reopened.
- You are on Avista and planning to bank summer output for winter. Credits are surrendered at year-end.
- You expected the state deduction to work like a credit. It reduces taxable income rather than tax owed, so its value depends on your marginal rate.
- You are counting on the 30% federal credit. It is $0 for purchased systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025.
What This Means for an Idaho System
On Idaho Power, the tariff is asking for something specific: generation available between 3pm and 11pm in summer. That is the window where an exported kilowatt-hour beats a consumed one, and it is late enough in the day that a battery, not a bigger array, is what actually delivers it. For most of the rest of the year the answer flips and self-consumption is the whole game.
On Avista the logic is simpler and older: match the system to annual consumption and do not overbuild past what the year-end surrender will take back. Our Idaho cost guide covers pricing and the Idaho installer list covers who does the work.
Idaho Solar FAQs
It depends on your utility. Idaho Power moved to real-time net billing on January 1, 2024, so exports earn an Export Credit Rate that varies by hour and season. Avista still nets kilowatt-hours at retail under Schedule 63, though credits are surrendered each year-end. Rocky Mountain Power pays a time-differentiated credit averaging around 4.2¢. Cooperatives set their own terms.
Roughly 15.68¢ during summer on-peak hours of 3pm to 11pm from June through September, about 3.39¢ summer off-peak and about 2.9¢ outside summer, under Order 36785 effective October 1, 2025. The on-peak figure is higher than Idaho’s statewide average residential rate of 12.52¢. The cent values are approximate, so confirm current figures with the utility before modeling on them.
Idaho offers a residential alternative energy deduction rather than a credit. A credit reduces tax owed; a deduction reduces taxable income, so its value depends on your marginal rate and differs household to household. Anyone quoting a fixed dollar benefit is quoting something that depends on your return, so take the specifics to whoever prepares your taxes.
Yes, substantially. Idaho Power customers who interconnected before December 2019 were grandfathered onto one-to-one kilowatt-hour net metering running through 2045, and it transfers with the property. If you are buying a house with an existing array in Idaho Power territory, establishing the interconnection date is the most valuable check available to you.
Not immediately on Idaho Power. Annual updates to the Export Credit Rate are paused until a filing due April 1, 2028, which gives roughly two years of visibility in a policy area that changes yearly in most states. That pause applies to Idaho Power; Avista and Rocky Mountain Power operate under their own schedules.
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References & Research Sources
EcoGen America reviewed Idaho Power’s Export Credit Rate filings and orders, Avista and Rocky Mountain Power schedules, federal energy data, and IRS guidance for this page. The Export Credit Rate cent values are approximate; confirm current figures with Idaho Power. Sources accessed between June 10 and August 20, 2026.
- Idaho Power. Export Credit Rate application and orders. The move to real-time net billing under Order 36048 effective January 1, 2024, the rate structure under Order 36785 effective October 1, 2025, the pause on annual updates until an April 1, 2028 filing, and pre-December 2019 grandfathering through 2045. Accessed August 20, 2026.
- Avista. Schedule 63. Retail kilowatt-hour netting with year-end surrender in Avista territory. Accessed August 20, 2026.
- Rocky Mountain Power. Time-differentiated export credit schedule. Export crediting in PacifiCorp’s Idaho territory. Accessed August 20, 2026.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Form EIA-861 (2024) and Electric Power Monthly. Utility customer counts for Idaho Power, Avista, PacifiCorp and Kootenai Electric, and the statewide average residential price. Accessed August 20, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service (IRS). One, Big, Beautiful Bill Provisions. Guidance on the Public Law 119-21 termination of the Section 25D residential credit for systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025. Accessed August 20, 2026.
