Can I Plug In Solar
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What will your meter do with plug-in solar?

A balcony kit makes the most power at midday, when most homes use little. In our calculator, 42% to 50% of what an 800 W kit makes goes out through the meter. What that power is worth depends on your meter and your state's law.

  • Credited$147a year in Denver
  • Not credited$74a year in Denver
  • Counted as usage$1a year in Denver
800 W kit, south-facing railing150 W always-on load

By · Checked

Where your kit's power goes

south railing
Kit
Always-on load

450 kWh used at home440 kWh out through the meter (50%)

  • Credited at your priceThe meter subtracts it, as if it ran backward $147
  • Not creditedYour bill ignores it; our default $74
  • Counted as usageThe meter adds it to your bill $1
Try it at your address → Open the Denver result

Savings a year. Our calculator, run Oct 19, 2026; the price starts at the state's average (EIA).

Short answer

In our calculator, an 800 W kit on a south-facing railing sends 42% to 50% of its power out through the meter in 10 cities, because a home's always-on load uses only part of the midday output. What that power is worth depends on the meter. If it's credited at your price, the kit saves $107 to $263 a year; if the meter ignores it, $58 to $143; if the meter counts it as usage, only $1 to $23. None of the 10 signed state laws sets a credit for it: six exclude kits from net metering, and Connecticut's law requires kits to warn that it's charged as usage unless the meter allows net metering. Ask your utility what your meter does before you plug in.

Why so much goes out

Denver, one sunny day in March

600 W300 W0 150 W home load 12am3am6am9amnoon3pm6pm9pm 600 W300 W0 150 W home load 12am3am6am9amnoon3pm6pm9pm
Watts each hour on a sunny early March day in Denver (from the typical-year weather data): an 800 W kit upright on a south-facing railing and a 150 W always-on load. Clock time.
  • Used at home as it's made
  • Out through the meter
  • Home load
3.5 kWhmade by the kit that day
2.1 kWhwent out through the meter, 58% of it, from 8am to 5pm
2,225 hoursin the year when some power went out: the home can only use 150 W at a time

Open this Denver result →

Three kinds of meter

Credit, nothing or a charge

Credited at your price

A meter set up for net metering

The picture most people have: the meter runs backward. The U.S. Department of Energy says that picture comes from the 1990s, when the meter "simply ran backwards when power was being exported, but it is rarely that simple today."

Today a net meter is usually a smart meter that records power coming in and going out separately, and the utility's billing credits what goes out. That credit comes with a net metering program.

$147 a year for the Denver kit

U.S. Department of Energy, Homeowner's Guide to Going Solar · Reference Manual for the PURPA Standards in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (APPA, EEI, NARUC, NRECA; hosted by DOE)

Not credited

A meter that keeps it apart

Many smart meters count what goes out in its own "received" register, apart from the one you're billed on. One maker's manual calls this detent mode: received energy is "ignored in the Total energy register used for billing purposes."

You save on what the kit covers at home, and the rest goes to the grid for nothing. The Clean Energy States Alliance says that's how it works in Utah. It's what our calculator assumes unless you change it.

$74 a year for the Denver kit

Landis+Gyr E330 FOCUS AX meter manual (filed with the New York Department of Public Service) · Clean Energy States Alliance, Plug-In Solar (June 2026)

Counted as usage

A meter that adds it to your usage

Some meters are set to count energy in both directions as usage. Another maker's manual describes a mode in which delivered and received energy "are added together", so the reading only goes up; it's the default unless the utility orders otherwise.

Maryland's Public Service Commission warns that on a meter that can't track power sent out, it "may be treated as zero consumption or erroneously added to electric consumption depending on the meter type."

$1 a year for the Denver kit

Aclara (GE) I-210+ meter manual (filed with the New York Department of Public Service) · Maryland Public Service Commission, Balcony Solar

10 cities, one kit

On a meter that counts it as usage, the kit saves almost nothing

An 800 W kit on a south-facing railing with a 150 W always-on load, at each state's average price. If your meter counts what goes out as usage, what it sends out cancels most of what you used yourself.

  • DenverCO · 16.6¢/kWh 50%440 kWh $147$74$1
  • PortlandME · 29.3¢/kWh 48%370 kWh $224$117$9
  • ManchesterNH · 26.8¢/kWh 47%360 kWh $206$109$12
  • Salt Lake CityUT · 13.3¢/kWh 46%370 kWh $107$58$9
  • BurlingtonVT · 23.9¢/kWh 46%330 kWh $174$94$15
  • Los AngelesCA · 33.1¢/kWh 46%360 kWh $263$143$23
  • BaltimoreMD · 22.3¢/kWh 45%330 kWh $166$91$17
  • HartfordCT · 28.2¢/kWh 45%320 kWh $201$112$22
  • NewarkNJ · 23.6¢/kWh 44%310 kWh $168$94$20
  • RichmondVA · 16.6¢/kWh 42%290 kWh $115$67$18
  • Credited at your price
  • Not credited
  • Counted as usage

Our calculator, run Oct 19, 2026: NLR PVWatts v8 hourly output for each city, the 150 W load, and each state's average residential price from the EIA (12 months to Jul 2026). Rounded to the dollar.

If your meter counts it as usage

A smaller kit can save more

Kit size, 150 W load, Denver
  • 400 W kit22% goes out $59 $42
  • 800 W kit50% goes out $74 $1
  • 1,200 W kit63% goes out $81 −$58
Always-on load, 800 W kit, Denver
  • 50 W load79% goes out $31 −$86
  • 100 W load63% goes out $54 −$39
  • 150 W load50% goes out $74 $1
  • 300 W load21% goes out $116 $85
  • Not credited
  • Counted as usage (below zero: your bill goes up)

On a meter that adds what goes out to your bill, every kWh the kit sends out undoes a kWh it saved. A 400 W kit sends out 22% of its power in Denver and saves $42 a year; a 1,200 W kit sends out 63% and adds $58 a year to the bill. A battery or running appliances at midday keeps more at home: what a battery adds.

State law

What the 10 signed laws say about power you send out

Each law's own wording, as we recorded it from the statute. None of them sets a credit for it.

Warns it can be billed as usage

  • CTConnecticut

    Device must warn that generation above on-site use is charged as usage unless the meter allows net metering.

No credit under the law

  • MEMaine

    Not eligible for net energy billing (§ 3475(4)).

  • MDMaryland

    Not subject to the net metering law (§§ 7–306, 7–306.1) and can't generate renewable energy credits (§ 7–321(c)).

  • NJNew Jersey

    None — exempt from net metering.

  • UTUtah

    None — not subject to net metering.

  • VTVermont

    None — export 'shall not be compensated'; not eligible for net metering.

    The law also requires a smart meter.

  • VAVirginia

    None — exempt from net energy metering.

Law is silent on credit

  • CACalifornia

    Statute is silent on export credit. Utilities can't charge a fee for electricity the device feeds into the building's wiring.

  • COColorado

    Statute is silent on export credit. Utilities can't charge a fee related to the device (C.R.S. § 40-2-140(4)(a)).

  • NHNew Hampshire

    Not addressed in the law. It defines a plug-in system as intended to exclusively offset part of the customer's onsite use (RSA 362-A:1-a, IV-a), and the utility isn't liable for "compensation or charges arising from" one (RSA 374:1-b).

"No credit under the law" is what these laws say about payment for exported power; a utility may still offer a program of its own. Each state's page has the full law and its source. General information, not legal advice.

Before you plug in

How to find out what your meter does

  1. 1

    Read the face plate

    Note the meter's make and model; your utility can tell you how that meter is set up.

    APS, How to Read Your Electric Meter

  2. 2

    Look for a "received" screen

    Many digital meters cycle through screens. One showing energy "received" or sent to the grid stays at zero until something sends power out.

    PPL Electric, How to Read Your New Meter

  3. 3

    Ask your utility in writing

    Ask whether power your kit sends out is credited, ignored or added to your usage, and whether the meter needs changing. Maryland's commission tells kit owners to check with their electric company.

    Maryland Public Service Commission, Balcony Solar

  4. 4

    Watch it on a sunny day

    With the kit making more than the home is using, the reading you're billed on shouldn't go up. If it keeps climbing, ask your utility before you leave the kit running.

Questions to ask your utility

  • What kind of meter do I have, and does it record power sent to the grid separately?
  • If my plug-in kit sends power out, is it credited, ignored or added to my usage?
  • Does my meter need to be reprogrammed or replaced, and is there a charge for that?
  • Do you want me to tell you about the kit, and how? (Some state laws require notice; see your state's page.)
  • Do you have any program that pays for power a plug-in kit sends out?

Free calculator

See it for your address and your meter

Your direction, tilt and utility rate, hour by hour. On the result page, set the export rate under "Your assumptions": 0 if your meter ignores it, minus your price if it counts it as usage.

Check your address →

Plug-in solar and your meter: questions

Will my meter spin backward with a balcony solar kit?

Most likely not: about 72% of US electric meters were smart meters in 2022, according to the EIA, and they have no dial to turn. A smart meter can keep power going out apart from power coming in, and how it's set decides whether that power is credited, ignored or added to your usage. The U.S. Department of Energy says meters running backward dates from the 1990s and "it is rarely that simple today."

Will I get paid for the power my kit sends to the grid?

Not under any of the 10 signed state plug-in solar laws: none sets a credit, six exclude kits from net metering (Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, Utah, Vermont and Virginia), and Connecticut requires kits to warn that the power is charged as usage unless the meter allows net metering. Utilities say the same: Rocky Mountain Power says "Only customers enrolled in a net metering/net billing program can receive compensation for providing power back to the company."

Can a plug-in solar kit raise my electric bill?

On a meter that adds power sent out to your usage, it can. In our calculator in Denver, a 1,200 W kit on a south-facing railing with a 150 W always-on load would add $58 a year to the bill, and an 800 W kit with a 50 W load would add $86. Maryland's Public Service Commission warns that exported power may be "erroneously added to electric consumption depending on the meter type."

How much power does a balcony solar kit send to the grid?

More than most people expect. In our calculator, an 800 W kit on a south-facing railing with a 150 W always-on load sends 42% to 50% of what it makes out through the meter in 10 cities: 290 to 440 kWh a year. A 400 W kit sends out 22% in Denver; a 1,200 W kit 63%.

Do I need a new meter for plug-in solar?

Vermont's law requires a smart meter. Elsewhere the laws don't say, so ask your utility what your meter does with power sent out, and whether it needs to be reprogrammed or replaced if it would count that power as usage.

How can I send less power out through the meter?

Use more while the sun is up, or make less than you can use. In Denver, going from 800 to 400 W cuts the share sent out from 50% to 22%. A small battery stores some of the midday surplus for the evening, and running a dishwasher or laundry at midday uses it directly. What a battery adds

How we got these numbers

Every figure is our calculator's own result, run Oct 19, 2026 through the same steps as a result page: NLR PVWatts v8 hourly output for a kit upright on a south-facing railing, clipped at the inverter, a flat always-on load (150 W unless shown) and no battery. Each state's average residential price comes from the EIA. The three meter cases differ only in the export rate: your price, 0, or minus your price. We ran all three for Denver; for the other cities the same arithmetic applies (savings = kWh used at home × price + kWh sent out × export rate). Our full method.

Law wording comes from each state's page, checked against the statute; meter facts from the sources linked beside them, read Oct 19, 2026. General information, not legal advice.