Colorado
Net metering in Colorado, provider by provider.
Every provider in the state, and every figure below read from the published tariff or interconnection document rather than a comparison site. Some credit you the full retail rate for the power you send back. Most do not, and that difference is the whole reason this page exists.
Meter reading falling from 41926 to 41738 kilowatt hours. A 674 kilowatt hour month against 862 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 188 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $115.46 to $0.00 at 17.13 cents per kilowatt hour.
Colorado average household use, 674 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 17.13¢ 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.
Solar buyback rates in Colorado, utility by utility
Colorado requires net metering at the investor owned utilities, with the system sized to supply up to 200% of the customer’s expected annual consumption and leftover credit bought at avoided cost at the annual true up.
Colorado net metering rules
Retail rate credit, up to 200% of your usage.
- Who it binds
- Xcel Energy and Black Hills Energy under § 40-2-124. Cooperatives are covered separately by § 40-9.5-118, and municipal systems are outside both.
- What happens to a surplus
- Credits carry month to month at the retail rate.
- How big a system you may build
- A system may be sized to supply up to 200% of the customer’s reasonably expected average annual consumption.
C.R.S. § 40-2-124 (and § 40-9.5-118 for cooperatives) — checked 2026-10-02
What actually happens after you pick
Most sites in this business hand your number to a sales team and disappear. We do the preparation first, so the company that turns up already knows your situation.
You see your real terms
Your provider page shows what that specific utility credits you, when it trues up, and where the catch is. Sourced and dated, not a sales page.
You choose the company
Companies serving your territory in Colorado, with the reviews, years trading and BBB grade we found for each. You pick. Not a call center, not an auction.
We set the whole thing up
We call you, go through your bill and your last twelve months of use, work out what your utility owes you, and get the program paperwork in order.
They arrive prepared
The company you chose turns up to a job that is already understood, with your figures in hand. No cold pitch on your doorstep.
Solar installers in Colorado
Every company we list for at least one Colorado utility. Each profile shows the utilities it covers and what each one pays for the power you export.
Net metering in Colorado: the questions people ask
- Does Colorado have net metering?
- Colorado requires net metering at the investor owned utilities, with the system sized to supply up to 200% of the customer’s expected annual consumption and leftover credit bought at avoided cost at the annual true up.
- What is the solar buyback rate in Colorado?
- It is set utility by utility, not by the state. How the 2 providers we list in Colorado credit the power you export: 2 at the full retail rate. Each one’s own page gives its figure and the date we read it.
- Is solar worth it in Colorado in 2026?
- It depends mostly on what your utility pays for the power you export, because the 30% federal credit ended for systems completed after 31 December 2025. Colorado homes use about 674 kWh a month at an average of 17.13 cents per kWh, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Where exports are credited at the full retail rate, each kilowatt hour your panels send back is worth about that much; where they are credited below retail, size the system to what you use while the sun is up. Check your own utility on this page before you get a quote for solar panels.
- Is there a solar tax credit in Colorado in 2026?
- Not a federal one. The 30% federal credit, IRC Section 25D, ended for systems completed after 31 December 2025, and a deposit paid in 2025 does not preserve it. Anyone still quoting it is working from an old script. Any incentive left in Colorado comes from the state or your utility, and what your utility pays for exported power is now most of the financial case.
- Which providers does the Colorado rule cover?
- Xcel Energy and Black Hills Energy under § 40-2-124. Cooperatives are covered separately by § 40-9.5-118, and municipal systems are outside both.
- What happens to credits you do not use in Colorado?
- Credits carry month to month at the retail rate. Both utilities settle at the end of the calendar year and pay within sixty days at their average hourly incremental cost of supply, a wholesale value: Xcel’s tariff prints no figure, and Black Hills’ Sheet No. R36 prints 3.489 cents a kilowatt hour from 1 January 2026. Either utility lets you elect once, in writing, to carry excess forward indefinitely instead, and what remains is forfeited when you leave.
- How big a solar system can you install in Colorado?
- A system may be sized to supply up to 200% of the customer’s reasonably expected average annual consumption.
- Which electricity providers does this cover in Colorado?
- We have read the published terms of 2 providers in Colorado: Xcel Energy, Black Hills Energy. Each has its own page with the figures taken from its own tariff or from the state’s own order.
Source: C.R.S. § 40-2-124 (and § 40-9.5-118 for cooperatives), checked 2026-10-02.
Not sure which one you are on?
It is the name at the top of your bill. Find it on the schedule and we will show you what it pays.
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