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Two Idaho households can buy identical systems, put them on identical roofs under identical sunshine, and end up years apart on payback. The difference is not the panels or the price. It is how often the meter does its arithmetic, and Idaho’s three main utilities do it on three completely different schedules. No quote we have ever seen explains which one it assumed.
The Netting Interval Decides What Counts as Yours
Every solar arrangement compares what your roof made against what your house used. The only question is the size of the window in which that comparison happens, and it changes the answer enormously.
To compare the Idaho case against the whole country, start with our solar payback across the country.
Netting window | What counts as power your house used | Effect on a normal household |
|---|---|---|
Real time | Only what you consume in the same instant it is generated | Most midday output is treated as exported, because nobody is home using it |
Monthly | Anything you use anywhere in the same month | Daytime generation offsets evening consumption freely |
Annual | Anything you use anywhere in the same year | Surplus carries month to month, then any unused credit is surrendered each March 31, so a summer surplus has the winter to be spent before the reset |
Under real-time netting, a household out of the house from eight to six sees most of its generation classified as an export and paid at the export credit rate. Under annual netting, the same household sees almost all of it offset consumption at retail, modeled at the 12.52¢ statewide average because Avista files its own residential rate; rerun the figure with the rate on your bill. Same roof, same year, very different bill.
Which Idaho Utility You Have Is the Whole Question
Utility | Share of Idaho households | Arrangement |
|---|---|---|
Idaho Power | About 63% | Real-time net billing since January 1, 2024, under Order 36048; exports credited about 15.68¢ summer on-peak, 3.39¢ summer off-peak and 2.9¢ the rest of the year |
Avista | About 15% | Schedule 63, retail netting by kilowatt-hour, unused credits handed to the utility every March 31 |
Rocky Mountain Power | About 9% | Seasonal export credit since December 1, 2025: 14.67¢ on-peak and 3.66¢ off-peak from June through October, and 5.60¢ on-peak and 1.23¢ off-peak from November through May |
Cooperatives and municipal utilities | About 13% | Each sets its own netting and export terms, so confirm yours in writing |
Nearly two thirds of Idaho is on the least favorable of the three for a house that is empty in the daytime, and roughly one in seven is on the most generous. If you are an Avista customer, your output is netted against consumption in kilowatt-hours across the year and your position is close to traditional net metering. If you are an Idaho Power customer, it is not.
Enter your ZIP code and we will confirm which of the three sets your terms.
Confirm which of the three sets your terms
What Idaho Power Pays for Exported Power
Idaho Power credits exports at roughly 15.68¢ in the summer on-peak window (3pm to 11pm, June through September), about 3.39¢ summer off-peak and about 2.9¢ for the rest of the year, under Order 36785 effective October 1, 2025. These cent values are approximate, so confirm the current Export Credit Rate with Idaho Power in writing before modeling on it. Rocky Mountain Power pays a seasonal export credit of 14.67¢ on-peak and 3.66¢ off-peak from June through October, and 5.60¢ on-peak and 1.23¢ off-peak from November through May.
The rate is time-differentiated, so what your exports earn depends on the hour as well as the season, with the summer late-afternoon window paying substantially more than midday. And the annual updates to that rate are paused until a filing due April 1, 2028, which means an Idaho Power customer connecting now has an unusually long stretch of known terms ahead. That stability is worth something real, in a policy area that changes yearly in most states.
For an Idaho Power house that is empty in the daytime, assume about 35% of output is used as it is made and 65% is exported. The self-used share, valued at the 12.52¢ statewide average as a placeholder for Idaho Power’s own residential rate, is worth about $500 a year; the exported share, most of it at the 3.39¢ and 2.9¢ tiers, adds on the order of $300 to $370. Call it roughly $800 to $870 a year against $23,243, a simple payback in the high twenties, which is past the warranted life of the equipment. Shift usage into daylight hours, or add storage that discharges into the summer 3pm to 11pm window, and the figure improves. This is an illustration at stated assumptions rather than a quote.
A house empty from eight to six typically uses 25% to 40% of its output as it is made; a house occupied in the day, or charging an electric vehicle at midday, 50% or more. Your Idaho Power account portal shows hourly usage, which is the number to check.
Ask Idaho Power directly for the current export credit rate schedule in writing, and ask any installer to show you the same figure in their model. If the two disagree, the installer’s savings projection is wrong.
What a Typical Idaho System Returns
A typical Idaho system is 7.52 kW at about $23,243, producing roughly 11,325 kWh a year against household use of around 944 kWh a month. Idaho has genuinely good sun at 5.35 peak hours and 1,506 kWh per kilowatt annually, and among the cheapest electricity in the country at 12.52¢, about 30% below the US average and rank 47 nationally.
On an Avista connection the typical system returns up to about $1,418 a year and breaks even in about 16.4 years at best. That is the ceiling: every kilowatt-hour valued at the 12.52¢ statewide average, before financing, rate rises and degradation, and before any credit lost at Avista’s March 31 surrender. An Idaho Power household on real-time netting lands well behind it, as the illustration above shows.
Cheap electricity is the underlying constraint in Idaho regardless of utility. At the 12.52¢ statewide average, each unit your roof displaces is worth less than in almost any other state, and prices have risen only about 3.1% a year. Good sunshine cannot fully compensate for a low-value thing to displace, which is why even the favorable Avista case runs to about sixteen years.
A Deduction Is Not a Credit
Idaho offers a residential alternative energy deduction rather than a tax credit, and the distinction costs real money. A credit reduces your tax bill by its face value. A deduction reduces the income on which tax is calculated, so it is worth your marginal rate rather than the full amount.
If a proposal treats the Idaho deduction as though it were a credit, it is overstating your benefit by a wide margin. Ask specifically what dollar figure the deduction is expected to return in your circumstances, and treat any answer that matches the deduction amount itself as an error.
The Section 25D federal residential credit is $0 for host-owned systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025, under Public Law 119-21, so it contributes nothing either. A third-party owner may qualify for the separate Section 48E business credit under current deadlines, but Idaho’s position on residential power purchase agreements is unsettled and no company currently offers leases or PPAs here, so do not assume that route.
When the Answer Is No in Idaho
- An Idaho Power customer who is out of the house all day and is not adding storage. Real-time netting plus an empty house is the least favorable combination available in this state.
- Any quote that does not name the netting interval it assumed. Without that, the savings figure cannot be checked, and the difference between the assumptions is worth years.
- An oversized system on Idaho Power. Under real-time netting, extra capacity produces extra exports rather than extra savings, so a bigger array works against you.
- Anyone who will sell before the system pays back. Even the favorable Avista case needs about sixteen years at best, so a move inside that window only works if the sale prices the system in.
- A Kootenai Electric or other cooperative member who has not confirmed their own terms, since cooperatives set their own and none of the above will describe them.
One group is in a genuinely strong position and should know it: anyone who interconnected before December 2019 keeps one-to-one kilowatt-hour netting through 2045. If that is you, the arrangement you already hold is better than anything available to a new applicant, and it is worth protecting rather than replacing. Our Idaho incentives guide covers the deduction and tariff detail, and the Idaho installer list covers who works here.
Get quotes modeled on your own utility’s export schedule before you compare any two proposals.
Get quotes modeled on your utility’s export schedule
Idaho Solar FAQs
Are solar panels worth it in Idaho?
It depends which utility bills you more than on anything else. On an Avista connection, where output is netted against consumption at retail across the year, our modeling puts simple payback at about 16.4 years at best on a typical 7.52 kW system costing around $23,243, valuing every kilowatt-hour at the 12.52¢ statewide average. Idaho Power uses real-time net billing, which is materially less favorable for a household that is out during the day, and a house empty in the daytime there lands in the high twenties. Idaho also has among the cheapest electricity in the country at 12.52¢, about 30% below the US average and rank 47 nationally, which limits the upside everywhere.
What is real-time net billing at Idaho Power?
Since January 1, 2024, under Order 36048, Idaho Power compares your generation against your consumption instant by instant rather than over a month or a year. Only power your house uses in the same moment it is produced offsets the retail rate; everything else is treated as an export and paid at the export credit rate. For a household that is empty during the day, that reclassifies most midday generation as exported, which is why the netting interval matters more than the headline rate.
What does Idaho Power pay for exported solar?
The export credit rate is set by Order 36785, effective October 1, 2025, and it is time-differentiated so the value depends on hour and season. Exports run at roughly 15.68¢ in the summer on-peak window of 3pm to 11pm from June through September, about 3.39¢ summer off-peak and about 2.9¢ for the rest of the year. These cent values are approximate, so ask Idaho Power for the current schedule in writing, and check it against whatever number your installer used.
Does Idaho have a solar tax credit?
Idaho offers a residential alternative energy deduction rather than a credit, and the difference costs real money. A credit reduces your tax bill by its face value; a deduction reduces the income the tax is calculated on, so it returns your marginal rate rather than the full amount. A proposal that treats the deduction as though it were a credit is overstating your benefit substantially. The Section 25D federal residential credit is $0 for host-owned systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025, under Public Law 119-21.
I installed Idaho solar before 2019. What do I have?
A better arrangement than anything currently available to a new applicant. Customers who interconnected before December 2019 keep one-to-one kilowatt-hour netting through 2045, meaning every unit your roof produces offsets a unit you would otherwise buy at the full retail price, regardless of when it happens. That is worth protecting. Be cautious about any change to your system or account that could put the legacy status at risk without confirming the consequences first.
Methodology: cost figures use the EcoGen Solar Cost Index for Idaho, $3.09 per watt as of March 1, 2026. Payback figures are simple payback at year-one values, before financing, rate escalation and degradation, with no federal residential credit for host-owned systems and exports at the utility’s credit rate at net-billing utilities; the state five-year escalation average is 3.1%. The 12.52¢ figure is the EIA statewide average residential rate, used as labeled context where a utility’s filed rate is not modeled.
References & Research Sources
EcoGen America reviewed Idaho Public Utilities Commission Order 36048 for Idaho Power’s move to real-time net billing effective January 1, 2024, and Order 36785 for the export credit rate effective October 1, 2025 and the pause on annual updates until a filing due April 1, 2028; the Idaho Power export credit rate application for the time-differentiated structure of that rate. Cent values quoted for the Idaho Power export credit rate are approximate; readers should obtain the current schedule from Idaho Power directly. We also reviewed Avista Schedule 63 for retail kilowatt-hour netting with unused credits granted to the utility each March 31; Rocky Mountain Power Schedule 136, Net Billing Service, for the seasonal export credit rates effective December 1, 2025; the legacy provision preserving one-to-one kilowatt-hour netting through 2045 for customers interconnected before December 2019; the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency for Idaho’s residential alternative energy deduction, which is a deduction against taxable income rather than a tax credit; EIA Electric Power Monthly for the 12.52¢ residential price and the five-year growth rate of roughly 3.1% a year; and IRS guidance on the Public Law 119-21 termination of Section 25D. Output of 1,506 kWh per kilowatt per year, 5.35 peak sun hours, the 7.52 kW system size, the $23,243 installed cost and the 944 kWh monthly usage are EcoGen America figures for Idaho dated March 1, 2026. Cooperatives set their own terms and are not described here. Utility shares of residential customers are from EIA-861 2024. Sources accessed between June 10 and August 18, 2026.
