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Net Metering Program
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SWEPCO net metering in Arkansas

Western Arkansas, including Fort Smith and Texarkana. An American Electric Power company operating in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas under three different frameworks.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
130K

What they credit you

Avoided cost, since Act 278

Published terms

Exports are credited under net energy billing at a rate the utility sets from avoided costs rather than the retail rate. Systems whose interconnection agreement was submitted before 30 September 2024 keep one-to-one crediting to 1 June 2040.

Month to month
Per the utility’s net energy billing tariff.

Published terms · checked 2026-09-05 · source

Installers serving SWEPCO customers

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

Not sure which to choose?

These are real companies operating in SWEPCO territory. Bold Energy is listed first because it is the company we introduce first. That order is our choice, not a score. The other companies are 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 SWEPCO bill

An average Arkansas 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$147.98
$147.98
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…

Meter reading falling from 41926 to 41634 kilowatt hours. A 1,048 kilowatt hour month against 1,340 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 292 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $147.98 to $0.00 at 14.12 cents per kilowatt hour.

Arkansas average household use, 1,048 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 14.12¢ 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.

SWEPCO requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in SWEPCO territory.

SWEPCO 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 SWEPCO 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. Arkansas now sets the export credit from avoided costs rather than the retail rate, so a system built past your own daytime usage is selling at wholesale. The exception is a system grandfathered before October 2024, which is credited one for one until 2040. SWEPCO sets its own limits. Ask SWEPCO 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 SWEPCO 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 for the current avoided cost credit in cents per kWh, and confirm in writing which side of the 30 September 2024 line your application falls on.

What SWEPCO 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
$17.97 a month
How it is set
Residential Service (Rate Schedule No. 2) sets a Customer Charge of $17.97 per meter, approved on 4 February 2026 in Docket 25-003-U. The schedule’s adjustments are the per kilowatt hour energy cost recovery and tax riders, so the fixed charge is the $17.97. Energy is 11.5085 cents a kilowatt hour for the first 1,500 and 13.7144 cents beyond from May to September, and 9.2319 cents from October to April. Under Non-Legacy Net-Metering, what you draw and what you feed back are metered separately. Every kilowatt hour fed back is credited at avoided cost, 3.656 cents for March 2026 to February 2027 bills, and the credit is applied to the bill “excluding the customer charge and any applicable demand charge or minimum bill provision that the Net-Metering Customer shall pay each month.” Unused dollar credit carries to the next bill, and you keep your renewable energy credits.

Southwestern Electric Power Company, Arkansas Rate Book (as of 15 September 2026): Rate Schedule No. 2, Residential Service, Original Sheet Nos. R-2.1 and R-2.2, approved 4 February 2026 (Docket 25-003-U, Order No. 18); Non-Legacy Net-Metering, Sections 58.2 to 58.5 · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to SWEPCO

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

30 September 2024 was the line
Systems whose interconnection agreement was submitted before that date keep one-to-one net metering until 1 June 2040. Everyone after it is on net energy billing at avoided cost.
That grandfathering runs to June 2040
If you are buying an Arkansas house with solar already on it, ask for the interconnection date in writing, and ask the utility whether the grandfathered terms carry over to you. A system that qualified before 30 September 2024 is worth substantially more than one connected today.
Net energy billing means the utility sets the credit
Act 278 lets utilities set bill credits from avoided costs, the expense they would incur generating or buying the power themselves, rather than from what they charge you.
Ask for the number, not the name of the program
"Net energy billing" tells you the mechanism, not the value. Get the current avoided cost figure in cents per kWh in writing before you sign.

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

SWEPCO net metering questions

Does SWEPCO offer one for one net metering?
No. Exports are credited under net energy billing at a rate the utility sets from avoided costs rather than the retail rate. Systems whose interconnection agreement was submitted before 30 September 2024 keep one-to-one crediting to 1 June 2040.
What does SWEPCO pay for power sent back to the grid?
Avoided cost, since Act 278. Per the utility’s net energy billing tariff.
Do I need a battery with SWEPCO?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because SWEPCO 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 SWEPCO territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my SWEPCO bill?
Sign in at swepco.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 SWEPCO?
Ask for the current avoided cost credit in cents per kWh, and confirm in writing which side of the 30 September 2024 line your application falls on.