In Utah the answer turns on one split: how much solar power your home uses as it is made, and how much goes to the grid. Exports earn about a third of the average price, so in our example a typical system does not pay for itself within the 25 years panels usually last: about 33 years at 40% home use and about 25.5 at 60%. A lower price or more daytime use shortens it.
Typical payback, 40% used at homeAbout 33 years
40% or 60% used at homeAbout 25 to 33 years
Typical owned 7.89 kW Utah system at $23,749 cash (EcoGen Solar Cost Index, September 2026), Rocky Mountain Power, no battery. At 60% used at home: about 25.5 years. Uses the EIA average price, a 4.307¢ export credit, $237 a year in owner costs and our assumption that 40% of the solar power is used at home as it is made and 60% is sent to the grid. See the math.
- Home-use share: printed on the quote. It moves the answer more than any incentive.
- Your utility: Rocky Mountain Power, a city utility or a co-op. Each sets its own export credit.
- Cash price: compare it with the Index’s $3.01 per watt. A lower price shortens the wait.
2026 rules: new home systems get no 30% federal homeowner credit (IRS), and the Utah credit is $0 for home solar installed since January 1, 2024. New Rocky Mountain Power solar homes are on Schedule 137 net billing, with the current export credits in effect since March 1, 2026.
How we checked this guide
Export credits come from utility price sheets, tax rules from the IRS and the Utah Office of Energy Development, and the electricity price from the U.S. EIA. Assumed numbers are labelled.
The writer and checker shown above are EcoGen staff. EcoGen is paid when homeowners request quotes, which is explained beside the quote form. Read our editorial standards.
Where a Utah solar deal is won or lost
Utah gives you strong sun: about 1,524 kWh a year from each kW of panels. Little else. There is no state credit or panel rebate, and exported power earns a small credit. So the money comes from power you never have to buy. Read each row across.
Daytime use
Worth a closer look
Someone is home in the day, or cooling or a car charger runs in sunny hours.
Pause and check
The house sits empty all day, so much of the output leaves for a few cents a kWh.
Check next: your hourly or monthly use from your Rocky Mountain Power account.
System size
Worth a closer look
The system is sized to what your home uses in sunny hours, not to fill the roof.
Pause and check
The design is bigger than your use. Extra kWh earn as little as 4.033 cents per kWh, and unused credits expire each March.
Check next: year-one kWh next to your last 12 months of use.
Export assumptions
Worth a closer look
The quote names Schedule 137 and uses both seasonal credits: 4.855 cents per kWh and 4.033 cents per kWh.
Pause and check
Exports are valued at the retail price or an old rate.
Check next: the export credit per kWh the savings estimate used.
Price and roof
Worth a closer look
A cash price near the Index’s $23,749 for 7.89 kW, on a roof with years of life left.
Pause and check
A price well above that, a dealer fee hidden in a loan, or a roof due for replacement.
Check next: the cash and financed prices side by side, and the roof’s age.
Battery
Worth a closer look
You want backup power and will enroll in Wattsmart Battery.
Pause and check
A battery sold only to shorten the panel payback.
Check next: the battery price on its own line.
One Utah roof, two ways of using its power
Three terms first. A kWh (kilowatt-hour) is the unit on your power bill. An export credit is what your utility pays for each kWh your panels send to the grid. Simple payback is the years your savings take to cover what you paid: net cost divided by yearly savings. Here is the typical Utah system, paid in cash, in a home that uses 40% of its solar power as it is made.
- Cash price
- $23,749
- Confirmed incentives
- $0
- Year-one production
- 12,024 kWh
- Used at home / exported
- 40% / 60%
- Average price (EIA, 12 months)
- $0.1332/kWh
- Export credit
- $0.04307/kWh
- Owner-cost allowance
- $237/yr
- Used-at-home value
12,024 × 40% × $0.1332$641/yr - Export value
12,024 × 60% × $0.04307$311/yr - Yearly savings after owner costs
$641 + $311 − $237$715/yr - Simple cash payback
$23,749 ÷ $715about 33.2 years
Inputs: the EcoGen Solar Cost Index typical Utah system (7.89 kW, $23,749 cash, September 2026; 1,524 kWh per kW a year), with no rebate to subtract. The 13.32¢ EIA average includes fixed charges, so the rate you really avoid is likely a little lower. The export credit averages Schedule 137’s two seasonal rates over 12 months. Our assumptions: 40% of the solar power used at home as it is made, 60% sent to the grid, and $237 a year in owner costs ($30 per kW, including a reserve for a new inverter). The 40/60 split is a planning assumption based on home-use research, not a measured Utah average. No battery.
Now change one thing: the home uses 60% of the power as it is made. Think of a family that works from home, cools on summer afternoons or charges a car at midday. That 60% is our assumption.
| Scenario | Used at home | Savings before costs | Yearly savings | Simple payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical day, 40% used | 40% | $951 | $715 | about 33.2 years |
| Home during the day, 60% used | 60% | $1,168 | $931 | about 25.5 years |
The panels, price and credit rates did not move. Only where the power went did. A kWh shifted from export to home use is worth about three times as much, so a quote that cannot tell you its home-use share cannot tell you its payback. Both paybacks run past the 25 years panels usually last. A lower price, a system no bigger than your daytime use, and heavy chores moved into sunny hours all shorten them.
Run your own Utah numbers
The tool starts with the 40% case. Enter your own quote and bill, then press Calculate. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
Example result
about 33.2 years
simple cash payback
- Used-at-home value
- $641/yr
- Export value
- $311/yr
- Owner costs
- −$237/yr
- Yearly savings
- $715/yr
- Net cost
- $23,749
Starts with the 40% case above. Type 60 into the home-use box to see the home during the day. Flat first-year values; rates, export credit resets, panel wear and repairs will change the result. No battery is included.
How Rocky Mountain Power counts what you send out
Rocky Mountain Power serves about 3 in 4 Utah homes. New solar homes go on Schedule 137, called net billing: you pay the normal price for grid power and earn a lower credit for power you send out, 4.855 cents per kWh in June through September and 4.033 cents per kWh in October through May.
The meter sorts power moment by moment: only what your home is not using at that instant counts as exported. So 100 kWh your home uses as it is made saves about $13.32 at the average price, while the same 100 kWh sent out in July earns about $4.86, and in January about $4.03.
Used at home: 4,810 kWh. Each one replaces power you would have bought, so it saves the full variable rate ($0.1332 here).
Sent to the grid: 7,214 kWh. These earn whatever your utility pays for exports ($0.04307 here). That can be far less.
Credits carry from bill to bill, then expire at your March meter reading, with nothing paid out. A system much bigger than your use builds credits it may never spend.
Buying a home with panels? Ask its schedule. Old net metering (Schedule 135) closed on November 15, 2017 and runs to December 31, 2035; Schedule 136 pays 9.2 cents per kWh, closed on October 31, 2020 and runs to December 31, 2032. Utah homes paid an average of 13.32¢ per kWh from August 2025 to July 2026 (EIA).
Get Utah quotes built on your own daytime use
Ask each quote for the home-use share and the Schedule 137 credit it assumed.
Solar providers that serve your area may contact you, and they pay EcoGen for the introduction. How we make money.
Not on Rocky Mountain Power? Your city or co-op sets the terms
Schedule 137 covers Rocky Mountain Power only. City utilities and co-ops write their own rules, so the example may not fit. Your utility’s name is on your bill.
Utility | What exported power earns | The catch |
|---|---|---|
Provo Power | 6.742 cents per kWh, from the September 1, 2026 billing period. | Credit left after the February 28 cycle is given up; credits cannot pay the $18 monthly charge. |
St. George Energy Services | Extra kWh are banked and cancel kWh you use later. A December balance can be sold back at 3.622 cents per kWh. | A 2.67 cents charge on every kWh your panels make, plus a $245 review fee and a $424 meter fee. |
Moon Lake Electric | 2.4 cents per kWh for extra power each month. | Solar accounts pay a service charge of $45 a month. |
Can a battery lift your home-use share?
A battery stores midday power for the evening, so more of your output counts as used at home. Rocky Mountain Power’s Wattsmart Battery program pays $1,000 for a new battery under 10 kW and $2,000 for one over it, plus a yearly credit of $15 per kW up to $100 from year two. You commit for 4 years. A battery adds its own price, so our panel example leaves it out. For loans, see our solar financing guide.
Five lines to find on a Utah quote
Get two or three quotes, and favor the one that shows its working.
- Home-use share in writing. The share of output the design expects your home to use as it is made.
- Both export credits. Schedule 137 at 4.855 cents per kWh and 4.033 cents per kWh, not the retail price.
- No old credits. No state or federal solar credit taken off a new system.
- Cash and financed prices. Both totals side by side, with any dealer fee shown.
- Battery on its own line. Its price and kW rating, apart from the panels.
Compare Utah solar quotes
Ask each installer to show the numbers behind its savings figure. Enter your ZIP code to request quotes from solar providers that serve your area.
How EcoGen is paid
EcoGen America does not sell or install solar. When you request quotes, we pass your request to solar providers serving your area, and they pay us for the introduction. Providers can include installers, solar marketplaces and lead exchanges, and more than one may contact you. You never pay us. This is not an application to Rocky Mountain Power’s net billing service.
More Utah solar guides
- Utah solar incentives: export credits and the one battery payment
- What solar costs in Utah
- Free solar panels in Utah: what a no-money-down offer really means
- Are solar panels worth it? The national guide and payback calculator
All 51 state guides
Utah solar questions, answered
Are solar panels worth it in Utah?
It depends on how much of the power your home uses as it is made. In our example a typical owned system takes about 33 years at 40% home use and about 25.5 at 60%, so neither pays for itself within the 25 years panels usually last. Because exports earn about a third of the average price, that share and the cash price decide it.
What does Utah pay for exported solar power?
Rocky Mountain Power credits exports under Schedule 137: 4.855 cents per kWh in June through September and 4.033 cents per kWh in October through May, as bill credits, never cash, since March 1, 2026. Provo Power pays 6.742 cents per kWh. Power your home uses as it is made saves about 13.32¢ instead.
Will the Utah export rate keep falling?
Nobody quoting you knows. The current Schedule 137 rates date from March 1, 2026, and the Utah Public Service Commission can reset them. What you control is your exposure: the more of your power you use at home, the less any future change matters.
Is there still a Utah solar tax credit?
Not for new home solar. The Utah credit is $0 for systems installed on or after January 1, 2024, and home batteries are not eligible either. The federal homeowner credit does not apply to systems installed after December 31, 2025, so a quote that takes either credit off needs redoing.
What size solar system should I get in Utah?
Size it to the power your home uses while the sun is up, not to the roof. Extra kWh earn as little as 4.033 cents per kWh, and credits left at your March meter reading expire. Compare the quote’s year-one kWh with your last 12 months of use before going larger.
Do Utah solar credits expire?
Yes. With Rocky Mountain Power, credits carry from bill to bill and expire at your March meter reading each year, with nothing paid out. With Provo Power, credit left after the billing cycle that includes February 28 is given up. A system sized to your use loses little.
Sources, method and corrections
The example uses the EcoGen Solar Cost Index typical Utah system (September 2026) and the Schedule 137 export credits, averaged over 12 billing months. Our assumptions: 40% of the solar power used at home as it is made and 60% sent to the grid (60% at home in the second case), and owner costs of $237 a year ($30 per kW, including a reserve for a new inverter). Simple payback uses flat first-year values. The calculator runs in your browser and sends nothing.
Updated October 2026: 40% home use and 60% exports, owner costs of $30 per kW a year, and a second case of 60% home use for a household that is home during the day.
Spotted an error? Tell us through our corrections and feedback process.
- Rocky Mountain Power: Schedule 137, Net Billing Service (export credits and credit expiry; read September 29, 2026)
- Rocky Mountain Power: Schedule 135, Net Metering Service (closed November 15, 2017)
- Rocky Mountain Power: Schedule 136, Transition Program (closed October 31, 2020)
- Rocky Mountain Power: Wattsmart Battery program change notice (enrollment payments since June 15, 2026)
- Provo City Energy Department: Net Metering Schedule No. 1.1 (export credit and credit forfeit)
- City of St. George: Net metering information (December credit and Solar Reliability Charge)
- Moon Lake Electric Association: Schedule NM-1 (export credit and service charge)
- Utah Office of Energy Development: Renewable Energy Systems Tax Credit (no state credit for home solar installed from 2024)
- IRS: Residential Clean Energy Credit (no credit for property installed after December 31, 2025)
- U.S. EIA: Form EIA-861, 2024 (Rocky Mountain Power share of Utah homes)
- U.S. EIA: average residential electricity price by state (12-month average, August 2025 to July 2026, as used in the Cost Index)
- EcoGen Solar Cost Index, September 2026: what solar costs in Utah (typical system size, price, production and electricity price)
