What does Chugach pay for power sent back to the grid?

About 6.8 cents for net excess, under a 5% program cap. Dollar credits carry forward without expiring and are paid out if service ends.

Do I need a battery with Chugach?

Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Chugach does not credit exports one for one, the return has to come from using your own production rather than selling it, which after dark means storage and usually a larger array than a one for one utility would need. The other half is backup: panels alone shut off in an outage, so a battery is what keeps the house running in a storm. We do not refer panels-only systems in Chugach territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.

How do I find my Chugach bill?

Sign in at chugachelectric.com. Open My Account, then Billing. Open the latest bill and save the PDF. Or screenshot the summary page. If you cannot get to it, a rough guess at your average monthly amount is enough to start.

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Chugach Electric Association net metering in Alaska

Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula. The largest electric utility in Alaska, member-owned, and part of the Railbelt system.

Type: Cooperative
Accounts: 113K

What they credit you

About 6.8 cents for net excess, under a 5% program cap

Published terms

Within each month, generation offsets your usage at the retail rate. A month’s net excess is credited in dollars at Chugach’s non-firm buyback rate, 6.831 cents a kWh from 1 July 2026, against about 21 to 24 cents to buy. Credits never expire and are paid out when service ends. Chugach’s program is capped at 5.0% of its average retail demand.

Month to month: Dollar credits carry forward without expiring and are paid out if service ends.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Installers serving Chugach customers

Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.

CompanyReviews, years trading, BBB grade

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Let us choose the installer for youIf you are not sure which company to pick, we will recommend a trusted partner installer that serves your address, from the installers available in your area.Choose for me

These are real companies operating in Chugach territory, ordered by reviews, years trading and BBB grade. None of them pays us for placement. Pick the one you want and we will call you to arrange it.

Ordering combines three things we read from primary sources: Google review count and rating, years trading taken from the company’s Better Business Bureau profile rather than its own marketing, and its BBB letter grade. BBB accreditation is shown but never scored, because it is a paid membership rather than a mark of quality.

Check any contractor license yourself at the state register. Do that before you sign anything, with any company, including ours.

What this looks like on a Chugach bill

An average Alaska household, against a system sized to cover its year. The energy charge is the part that goes to zero. The fixed monthly charge underneath it is the part that never does, and it is the number that decides whether a system pays for itself.

Meter readingkWh

Energy charge$163.05

$163.05

We have read this provider’s own tariff. What it still bills you at zero is set out below, with the sheet it came from. The energy line above uses the statewide average. See what they still bill

DirectionReading…

Alaska average household use, 578 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 28.21¢ per kWh. Your utility still bills a fixed monthly customer charge that no system offsets, so this is the energy part of the bill, which is the part that goes away.

Chugach requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in Chugach territory.

Chugach does not credit the power you send back at the rate it charges you to take it.

That does not make solar a bad idea in Chugach territory. It changes what you should build. When exports are worth a fraction of retail the credit stops being the return, and the job becomes using more of your own production inside the house, which usually means a larger array than a one for one utility would need.

Sizing is where that gets decided, so ask about it directly. Alaska’s net metering covers systems of 25 kW or less, and each utility’s program starts with a cap of 1.5% of its average retail demand, which can be raised (Chugach’s is now 5.0%). Ask your utility how close it is to its cap. Chugach sets its own limits. Ask Chugach what it allows before you accept that a bigger system is off the table.

A battery then does two separate jobs. It moves daytime production into the evening so you use it instead of selling it, and it keeps the house running when the grid goes down. That second job is not a bonus. Panels on their own shut off in an outage, by design, so a roof full of them powers nothing during a storm. That is the part we will not refer around.

So we treat it as a requirement, not an upgrade. We will not refer you for a panels-only system in Chugach territory, and you should be skeptical of anyone who quotes you one without raising storage first.

Our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement

What your installer should be telling you

The buyback rate is reset each quarter with fuel costs. At the end of 2025 Chugach had 6,705 kW of net metered systems against a 10,620 kW limit.

What Chugach bills you anyway

In a month when your production covers everything you use, the energy charge can reach zero. This does not. It is the floor under every bill, and it is the number that decides whether a system pays for itself.

The charge: $12.79 a month
How it is set: Residential service carries a Customer Charge of $12.79 a month in both of Chugach’s rate districts, in the rates Chugach lists as in effect from 1 October 2026. Energy adds 24.2488 cents a kilowatt hour in the South District and 21.0338 cents in the North District, the former Anchorage Municipal Light & Power area, where a contributed capital rebate replaces the South’s surcharge. Chugach’s rate case (Tariff Advice TA577-8) is pending at the Regulatory Commission of Alaska: its interim, refundable 4.66% increase applies to energy and demand charges and leaves the customer charge at $12.79, while the proposed permanent customer charge is $14.50. For systems of 25 kW or less, net metering offsets usage within each month at the retail rate, and a month’s net excess is credited at the non-firm buyback rate, 6.831 cents a kilowatt hour from 1 July 2026, as a dollar credit that never expires and is paid out when service ends. The application fee is $270.

Chugach Electric Association, Inc., RCA Tariff No. 8: residential rates for the South and North Districts as listed in effect 1 October 2026; Net Metering Service, Sheet Nos. 89.3 to 89.3.3; Sheet No. 97, 165th Revision, effective 1 July 2026 (TA593-8); Regulatory Commission of Alaska notice of Tariff Advice TA577-8 · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to Chugach

What Chugach itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.

The cap starts at 1.5% of demand, and it can be raised: Alaska set its net metering cap in 2010 at 1.5% of a utility’s average retail demand, and a utility can ask the Regulatory Commission to raise its own. Chugach’s is now 5.0%, with 6,705 kW of its 10,620 kW limit in use at the end of 2025. Ask how close yours is before anything else.
Excess is bought at avoided cost, a fraction of retail: Chugach credits a month’s net excess at 6.831 cents a kWh against 21 to 24 cents to buy; Golden Valley at 13.726 cents against an effective 34.56 cents. Both reset the rate every quarter.
The rules are actively in motion: The Regulatory Commission has been reviewing its net metering rules, and bills on Railbelt net metering have been before the Legislature. Whatever you are quoted, confirm it is current.
Winter is not a detail here: A latitude that gives long summer days gives very short winter ones. An Alaskan system’s annual production is concentrated into a few months, which makes annual rollover terms unusually important. Ask what happens to a summer surplus.

From Chugach’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-05 · source

Chugach net metering questions

Does Chugach offer one for one net metering?: No. Within each month, generation offsets your usage at the retail rate. A month’s net excess is credited in dollars at Chugach’s non-firm buyback rate, 6.831 cents a kWh from 1 July 2026, against about 21 to 24 cents to buy. Credits never expire and are paid out when service ends. Chugach’s program is capped at 5.0% of its average retail demand.
What does Chugach pay for power sent back to the grid?: About 6.8 cents for net excess, under a 5% program cap. Dollar credits carry forward without expiring and are paid out if service ends.
Do I need a battery with Chugach?: Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Chugach does not credit exports one for one, the return has to come from using your own production rather than selling it, which after dark means storage and usually a larger array than a one for one utility would need. The other half is backup: panels alone shut off in an outage, so a battery is what keeps the house running in a storm. We do not refer panels-only systems in Chugach territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my Chugach bill?: Sign in at chugachelectric.com. Open My Account, then Billing. Open the latest bill and save the PDF. Or screenshot the summary page. If you cannot get to it, a rough guess at your average monthly amount is enough to start.
What is the catch with Chugach?: The buyback rate is reset each quarter with fuel costs. At the end of 2025 Chugach had 6,705 kW of net metered systems against a 10,620 kW limit.