Alabama Power net metering in Alabama
The southern two thirds of the state, including Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile and Tuscaloosa. A Southern Company utility, and the only investor owned electric utility of scale in Alabama. Its Rate PAE terms are the closest thing the state has to a net metering policy.
- Type
- Investor owned
- Accounts
- 1.5M
What they credit you
3.45 to 5.47 cents for exports, less $5.41 a month per kW
Published termsAlabama Power buys exported energy under Rate PAE at prices set by season and hour, not at the retail rate: between 3.45 and 5.47 cents a kWh across its three options on the sheet effective with April 2026 billings; the top price, 5.47 cents, is paid under the Time Advantage option on June to September weekdays from 1 pm to 7 pm. Rate Rider RGB adds a Capacity Reservation Charge of $5.41 a month per kW of a residential system’s nameplate capacity, and Rate PAE a monthly base charge of $0.91 for single phase service.
- Month to month
- If the energy credits exceed the charges, the account is credited and the credit may be carried forward; Alabama Power pays by check on request or when service under the rate ends.
Published terms · checked 2026-10-08 · source
Installers serving Alabama Power customers
Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.
These are real companies operating in Alabama Power 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 Alabama Power bill
An average Alabama 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 reading falling from 41926 to 41607 kilowatt hours. A 1,143 kilowatt hour month against 1,462 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 319 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $187.45 to $0.00 at 16.40 cents per kilowatt hour.
Alabama average household use, 1,143 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 16.40¢ 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.
Battery backup is mandatory
in Alabama Power territory.
Alabama Power 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 Alabama Power 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. Alabama Power sets its own limits. Ask Alabama Power 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 Alabama Power 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
Ask Alabama Power which Rate PAE option your rate qualifies you for: Time of Day, Time Advantage or Residential Demand. Then do the arithmetic on the Capacity Reservation Charge: $5.41 times the system’s kW, every month, for as long as the panels are connected, set against exports paid at 3.45 to 5.47 cents. Service under Rate PAE runs for terms of up to a year and renews automatically.
What Alabama Power 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
- $14.50 a month, plus $5.41 per kW of solar under Rider RGB
- How it is set
- Rate FD states both halves plainly. The monthly rate opens "Base Charge: $14.50 per customer", and the schedule sets the floor against it in one line — "No monthly bill shall be less than $14.50 plus applicable provisions of Rate T." So $14.50 is the floor for an ordinary household before Rate T, and Rate T is not a dollar figure but a percentage: it adjusts every bill for changes in the composite income tax rate, and its general provisions add or remove "the applicable proportionate part of any taxes, assessments, licenses, franchise fees, or rentals" that a government authority assesses — expressly including those assessed "on the basis of meters, customers", not just energy. A per customer or per meter levy reaches the fixed charge itself, and a further clause covers local privilege, license and occupational taxes imposed by local act, so the exact floor varies by where you live and sits a little above $14.50 rather than on it. The energy charge above it is what your panels reach: 12.4384 cents a kilowatt hour on the first 1,000 in June through September and 12.6913 cents above that, against 12.4384 cents on the first 750 and 11.2384 cents above it from October through May. Two things stop that being the whole answer for a solar household. Rate PAE adds a Monthly Base Charge of its own, $0.91 for single phase service, “to cover the cost of meter configuration, meter reading, data processing and miscellaneous expenses”; the Special Rules say the extra metering is installed "at the expense of the Customer" and that "this expense is included in the base charge portion of the rate". And once you generate, Rate Rider RGB adds “The Capacity Reservation Charge of $5.41/kW (secondary service)”, applied to the nameplate capacity of your system, and states that “The monthly bill minimum shall be adjusted to include the Capacity Reservation Charge plus the Minimum Bill provisions of the applicable rate schedule.” On a 7 kW array that is $37.87 a month, so the floor becomes about $52.37 before Rate T. You may ask Alabama Power to charge it on your actual capacity requirement instead of nameplate, or, if you qualify, take Rate RTA instead, where energy from 3 pm to 5 pm on summer weekdays costs 71 cents a kilowatt hour.
Rate FD, Family Dwelling — Residential Service, Revision Fourteenth, read with Rate T, Tax Adjustment, Revision First, effective October 2011 billings, APSC Docket 18148; by order of the Alabama Public Service Commission dated 20 October 2008 in Docket 24860; kWh charges as adjusted under Rates RSE and CNP for June 2023 billings; minimum bill on page 1 of 2. Capacity Reservation Charge: Rate Rider RGB, Seventh Revision, April 2022 billings, Informal Docket U-4226, Back-up Power I.B.1, page 3 of 6; 7 kW × $5.41 = $37.87 · checked 2026-09-29 · source
Applying to Alabama Power
What Alabama Power itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.
- The program is called Rate PAE, not net metering
- Purchase of Alternate Energy, under Special Rules ordered by the Public Service Commission on 7 May 2013 in Docket 18005. If an installer says "Alabama net metering", ask them to name the tariff.
- Alabama Power’s own solar page does not mention what it pays you
- Its public Solar Energy page covers solar plants, a Smart Neighborhood microgrid and battery research. It does not state the rooftop export rate, the capacity reservation charge, or that net metering is unavailable. The charge is in Rate Rider RGB, on the Rate Riders and Rules page instead.
- The two way meter is paid for through a base charge
- The Special Rules: all metering needed to measure two way flow "in excess of metering necessary for a similar consumer who does not operate electric generating equipment" is installed by the Company "at the expense of the Customer", and "this expense is included in the base charge portion of the rate". Rate PAE itself carries a Monthly Base Charge of $0.91 for single phase service and $1.39 for three phase, “to cover the cost of meter configuration, meter reading, data processing and miscellaneous expenses” (Rate PAE, Forty-Seventh Revision, page 1, read 8 October 2026).
- So is any change to their system that your system causes
- "Any modification of or additions to the Company’s electric system made necessary at any time as a result of the Customer’s electric generating equipment operating in parallel ... shall be at the expense of the Customer."
- And any testing they decide to do
- The Company may test your generating equipment "at any time the Company deems necessary", and any resulting installation or modification is again at your expense.
- Paying for equipment does not make it yours
- "Any charges to and payments by the Customer for any equipment provided by the Company ... shall not convey title to the Customer for such facilities."
- $5.41 a month for every kW of panel
- Rate Rider RGB is required for any customer whose own generation runs in parallel with the grid. On the residential rate it adds a Capacity Reservation Charge of $5.41 per kW of nameplate capacity each month, and the monthly minimum bill rises by the same amount. You may ask Alabama Power to calculate your actual capacity requirement instead.
- Or a 71 cent summer afternoon, instead
- In place of the Capacity Reservation Charge, a qualifying customer may take Rate RTA, where energy from 3 pm to 5 pm on weekdays from June to September costs 71 cents a kilowatt hour.
- What Rate PAE pays, by option
- Rate PAE, effective with April 2026 billings, has three options, and which one you can take depends on the rate you are billed under. Time of Day: 5.17 cents a kWh in the June to September billing months on weekdays from 10 am to 9 pm and 3.85 cents at other times; 3.84 cents in the October to May billing months on weekdays from 7 am to 9 pm and 3.66 cents at other times. Time Advantage: 5.47 cents on June to September weekdays from 1 pm to 7 pm and 4.02 cents otherwise; 4.37 cents on November to March weekdays from 5 am to 9 am and 3.84 cents otherwise; 3.45 cents at all hours in October, April and May. Residential Demand: 4.64 cents on April to October weekdays from 1 pm to 5 pm and 3.83 cents otherwise; 4.38 cents on November to March weekdays from 6 am to 9 am and 3.86 cents otherwise. Each option also carries a monthly base charge of $0.91 for single phase service (Rate PAE, Forty-Seventh Revision, pages 2 to 4, read 8 October 2026).
- Credits may be carried forward, and a check is on request
- If what Alabama Power owes you for energy exceeds its charges, “the Customer’s account will be credited and such credits may be carried forward”. It pays by check “upon the request of the Customer or upon termination of service under this Rate”. There is no interconnection study fee up to 25 kW; above that, to 100 kW, it is $500 (Rate PAE, Forty-Seventh Revision, page 5, read 8 October 2026).
From Alabama Power’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-05 · source
Alabama Power net metering questions
- Does Alabama Power offer one for one net metering?
- No. Alabama Power buys exported energy under Rate PAE at prices set by season and hour, not at the retail rate: between 3.45 and 5.47 cents a kWh across its three options on the sheet effective with April 2026 billings; the top price, 5.47 cents, is paid under the Time Advantage option on June to September weekdays from 1 pm to 7 pm. Rate Rider RGB adds a Capacity Reservation Charge of $5.41 a month per kW of a residential system’s nameplate capacity, and Rate PAE a monthly base charge of $0.91 for single phase service.
- What does Alabama Power pay for power sent back to the grid?
- 3.45 to 5.47 cents for exports, less $5.41 a month per kW. If the energy credits exceed the charges, the account is credited and the credit may be carried forward; Alabama Power pays by check on request or when service under the rate ends.
- Do I need a battery with Alabama Power?
- Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Alabama Power 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 Alabama Power territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
- How do I find my Alabama Power bill?
- Sign in at alabamapower.com. Open My Account, then Billing & Payments. 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 Alabama Power?
- Ask Alabama Power which Rate PAE option your rate qualifies you for: Time of Day, Time Advantage or Residential Demand. Then do the arithmetic on the Capacity Reservation Charge: $5.41 times the system’s kW, every month, for as long as the panels are connected, set against exports paid at 3.45 to 5.47 cents. Service under Rate PAE runs for terms of up to a year and renews automatically.