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Net Metering Program
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Black Hills Energy net metering in Colorado

Southern Colorado, including Pueblo, Cañon City and Rocky Ford. The smaller of Colorado’s two investor owned utilities. Energy you bank is settled at the end of each calendar year at 3.489 cents a kilowatt hour on the sheet in force for 2026, unless you elect to carry it forward instead.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
100K

What they credit you

Banked energy; leftovers paid at 3.489¢ a kWh

Published terms

On-site net metering nets what you send out against what you use at the service meter. In a month when the panels make more than the house uses, Black Hills pays nothing for the difference; the surplus becomes banked energy that offsets your use in later months. A system may be sized to supply up to 200% of the expected annual use at all the properties you own or lease in Black Hills territory.

Month to month
Banked as energy from month to month through the calendar year.
Once a year
Banked energy left at the end of a calendar year is paid within sixty days at Black Hills’ average hourly incremental cost of supply, which the tariff publishes on Sheet No. R36: $0.03489 a kilowatt hour on the sheet effective 1 January 2026, with a new rate filed for each 1 January. You may instead elect once, in writing, to carry the bank forward indefinitely; nothing is paid for what remains when you end service.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-02 · source

Installers serving Black Hills 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 Black Hills 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 Black Hills bill

An average Colorado 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$115.46
$115.46
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 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.

What your installer should be telling you

At 3.489 cents, energy that survives to the year end is worth less than a third of the 12.159 and 15.807 cent energy charges it offsets during the year (before adjustments), so size close to what you will use.

What Black Hills 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
$8.77 a month, about $9.60 with the energy assistance charge
How it is set
Residential Service RS-1 sets a Customer Charge of $8.77 a month (Second Revised Sheet No. 6, effective 19 May 2025), and “The monthly minimum charge shall be the customer charge.” The general rate schedule adjustment is currently 0.0%. On top sits the Energy Assistance System Benefit Charge, $0.83 a month on Black Hills’ latest published sheet (from 1 October 2025; the statute resets it every 1 October), which any customer may opt out of by email and from which bill-assistance recipients are exempt. Energy is priced in inclining blocks, 12.159 cents for the first 500 kilowatt hours and 15.807 cents above that, before the energy cost and other adjustments. Black Hills has filed a 2026 rate review (Advice Letter No. 912), so these base rates may change.

Black Hills Colorado Electric, LLC, Colo. PUC No. 11: Residential Service RS-1, Second Revised Sheet No. 6 (effective 19 May 2025) and Amended First Revised Sheet No. 7; General Rate Schedule Adjustment, Sheet No. 78; Energy Assistance System Benefit Charge, Third Revised Sheet No. 108 (effective 1 October 2025) · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to Black Hills

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

200% of your expected usage is the ceiling
Colorado law lets a system be sized to supply up to 200% of your reasonably expected average annual consumption, and an investor owned utility may not limit the size based solely on your past usage. Bring twelve months of bills anyway, with any planned additions such as an electric car, because together they set a realistic size.
The monthly credit is at the retail rate
Within the year, exported kilowatt hours offset what you use at retail and carry forward month to month.
The annual true up is at wholesale
Black Hills settles at the end of the calendar year and pays for leftover banked energy within sixty days at its average hourly incremental cost of supply. Its tariff publishes that figure: $0.03489 a kilowatt hour on Sheet No. R36, effective 1 January 2026. Surplus is bought back at wholesale, so building far past your own use rarely pays.
Carrying the bank forward is a one-way choice
You may instead elect once, in writing, to carry banked energy forward from month to month indefinitely. Nothing is paid for what remains when you end service.
Cooperatives are a different statute
Colorado’s cooperatives net meter under § 40-9.5-118 rather than § 40-2-124, and each sets its own terms underneath it. If your bill comes from a co-op, ask for its own tariff.
Colorado does not license contractors at state level
There is no statewide general contractor license. Electricians are licensed by the state, and general contracting is licensed by cities and counties, so check both.

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

Black Hills net metering questions

Does Black Hills offer one for one net metering?
Yes. On-site net metering nets what you send out against what you use at the service meter. In a month when the panels make more than the house uses, Black Hills pays nothing for the difference; the surplus becomes banked energy that offsets your use in later months. A system may be sized to supply up to 200% of the expected annual use at all the properties you own or lease in Black Hills territory. Banked as energy from month to month through the calendar year.
What does Black Hills pay for power sent back to the grid?
Banked energy; leftovers paid at 3.489¢ a kWh. Banked energy left at the end of a calendar year is paid within sixty days at Black Hills’ average hourly incremental cost of supply, which the tariff publishes on Sheet No. R36: $0.03489 a kilowatt hour on the sheet effective 1 January 2026, with a new rate filed for each 1 January. You may instead elect once, in writing, to carry the bank forward indefinitely; nothing is paid for what remains when you end service.
Do I need a battery with Black Hills?
Not for the economics. Black Hills credits exports at the retail rate, so power you send out during the day comes back at the same value after dark without storage. A battery is still worth considering for outages during hurricane season, but it is an upgrade here rather than a requirement.
How do I find my Black Hills bill?
Sign in at blackhillsenergy.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 Black Hills?
At 3.489 cents, energy that survives to the year end is worth less than a third of the 12.159 and 15.807 cent energy charges it offsets during the year (before adjustments), so size close to what you will use.