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Net Metering Program
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Tucson Electric Power net metering in Arizona

Tucson and surrounding Pima County.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
450K

What they credit you

4.62 cents, locked ten years

Published terms

TEP buys exported power under Rider-14 at the Resource Comparison Proxy rate in force when you apply, $0.0462 per kWh from 1 October 2026, held for ten years. Exports are metered instantaneously, not netted against later use. The 2018 rate was $0.0964.

Month to month
Excess export credit carries to the next bill; a balance above $10 is paid with the October bill each year, and any balance is refunded on the final bill.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-02 · source

Installers serving TEP 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 TEP 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 TEP bill

An average Arizona 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$163.19
$163.19
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 41626 kilowatt hours. A 1,075 kilowatt hour month against 1,375 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 300 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $163.19 to $0.00 at 15.18 cents per kilowatt hour.

Arizona average household use, 1,075 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 15.18¢ 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.

TEP requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in TEP territory.

TEP 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 TEP 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. Arizona sets no simple kilowatt limit: APS’s own rider requires only that the system be on site, behind the billing meter, and serving the customer’s load, with any size then subject to the state interconnection requirements. TEP sets its own limits. Ask TEP 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 TEP 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 rate can fall by up to 10% each October, and only the export rate is locked, not the retail price. Solar homes must take a time-of-use plan and pay a flat $8.44 renewable surcharge.

What TEP 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
$20.44 a month for a solar home: $12.00 basic service charge plus an $8.44 flat renewable energy surcharge
How it is set
TEP’s RCP export rider requires solar customers to “take electric service on one of the Company’s current residential or small general service time-of-use rate tariffs.” On Residential Service Time-of-Use (TRREST) the Basic Service Charge is $12.00 a month single-phase or $17.00 three-phase (effective 1 September 2023, Decision No. 79065), $3.00 less than the $15.00 on the Basic plan. The Renewable Energy Standard surcharge is 1.89 cents a kilowatt hour capped at $10.37 for most homes, but a home that connected solar on or after 1 February 2013 pays the residential class average instead, a flat $8.44 a month, which takes the floor to $20.44. Energy on TRREST is 9.36 to 11.36 cents a kilowatt hour in delivery tiers plus a power supply charge of 9.92 cents on summer weekdays from 3 to 7 p.m. and 2.83 to 3.97 cents at other times, before the fuel and other adjustors. Exports earn the RCP rate in force when you apply, 4.62 cents a kilowatt hour from 1 October 2026, held for ten years. TEP’s rate case is pending; its proposal adds $5.00 to the residential basic service charge, with new rates possible before the end of 2026.

Tucson Electric Power Company: Rate TRREST, Sheet No. 102, and Rate TRRES, Sheet No. 101, effective 1 September 2023 (Decision No. 79065); Rider-14 RCP, Sheet No. 714; Rider-6 REST-TS1, Sheet No. 706; TEP Statement of Charges, Sheet Nos. 801 to 801-3 (REST average rate effective 1 June 2024, Decision No. 79355; RCP $0.0462 from 1 October 2026, Decision No. 82172) · checked 2026-10-02 · source

Applying to TEP

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

What a new system is paid
TEP’s Statement of Charges and its RCP page both give $0.0462 per kWh from 1 October 2026 through 30 September 2027 (Decision No. 82172). The same sheet lists every year since 2018: $0.0964, $0.0868, $0.0868, $0.0781, $0.0703, $0.0633, $0.0570, $0.0513 and now $0.0462.
Solar means a time-of-use plan
The RCP rider requires solar customers to take one of TEP’s time-of-use rates. Exports are metered instantaneously, so power sent out at noon earns 4.62 cents and power drawn back in the evening is billed at the full rate.
The structure, which TEP does state clearly
The Commission approved the Resource Comparison Proxy for residential customers who requested interconnection from 20 September 2018. The rate is based on average market costs for solar over a recent five year period.
Ten years, then whatever is current
Customers are compensated at the RCP in place when they requested interconnection for up to ten years. TEP notes that because prices have fallen, this has let earlier customers keep better rates than new ones get.
It can fall 10% a year
TEP states the rate is usually adjusted annually and "will not be allowed to fall more than 10 percent annually". A floor on the speed of the decline is not a floor on the decline.
Where it appears on the bill
Under "Excess Generation Credit" in the Power Supply Charges section.

From TEP’s published guidelines · checked 2026-10-02 · source

TEP net metering questions

Does TEP offer one for one net metering?
No. TEP buys exported power under Rider-14 at the Resource Comparison Proxy rate in force when you apply, $0.0462 per kWh from 1 October 2026, held for ten years. Exports are metered instantaneously, not netted against later use. The 2018 rate was $0.0964.
What does TEP pay for power sent back to the grid?
4.62 cents, locked ten years. Excess export credit carries to the next bill; a balance above $10 is paid with the October bill each year, and any balance is refunded on the final bill.
Do I need a battery with TEP?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because TEP 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 TEP territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my TEP bill?
Sign in at tep.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 TEP?
The rate can fall by up to 10% each October, and only the export rate is locked, not the retail price. Solar homes must take a time-of-use plan and pay a flat $8.44 renewable surcharge.