Skip to content
Net Metering Program
← Back to the schedule

The United Illuminating Company net metering in Connecticut

The southern coast, including New Haven, Bridgeport and Milford. Publishes its own program manual for the Residential Renewable Energy Solutions tariffs.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
340K

What they credit you

Netting or Buy-All, chosen once

Published terms

Under the Residential Renewable Energy Solutions program you choose either the Netting Tariff, which credits net excess at your retail rate but charges a $0.0402 Solar Energy Adjustment on every kWh generated for 2026 applications, or the Buy-All Tariff at $0.3289 per kWh, fixed for twenty years.

Month to month
Under Netting, credits carry from month to month and cannot be cashed out until the account closes. Under Buy-All there is nothing to roll over.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-02 · source

Installers serving UI 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 UI 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 UI bill

An average Connecticut 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$169.02
$169.02
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 41732 kilowatt hours. A 695 kilowatt hour month against 889 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 194 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $169.02 to $0.00 at 24.32 cents per kilowatt hour.

Connecticut average household use, 695 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 24.32¢ 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.

UI requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in UI territory.

UI 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 UI 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. Connecticut’s two tariffs reward opposite designs: Buy-All rewards the largest array your roof allows, Netting rewards a system matched to what you use during the day. Decide the tariff before you decide the size. UI sets its own limits. Ask UI 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 UI 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

Have the installer model your own consumption on both tariffs, including the $0.0402 charge on all generation under Netting. The choice cannot be changed once the application is submitted, and it runs for twenty years.

What UI 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
$13.02 a month
How it is set
Residential Rate R sets a Local Delivery Fixed Monthly Charge of $13.02 and a “Minimum Bill: $13.02 per month” (C.P.U.C.A. No. 2525, effective 1 September 2026, Docket No. 26-01-04). Everything else on the sheet is charged per kilowatt hour: distribution at 11.3469 cents, transmission at 4.8722 cents, public benefits of 1.5131 cents (energy assistance 0.8131, energy efficiency 0.6000 and renewable investment 0.1000), and the non-bypassable federally mandated congestion charges, which net to a credit of 2.8278 cents because state-mandated energy purchases are currently credited at 3.4064 cents. Standard Service generation is 11.9865 cents from July to December 2026 unless you buy from a supplier. The charges inside the congestion line are set by adjustment and can move a long way: the credit for state-mandated energy purchases is the largest single item after distribution and generation, and it can be reset, so do not build a payback on it.

The United Illuminating Company, Residential Rate R, C.P.U.C.A. No. 2525 (cancelling No. 2505), effective 1 September 2026 (Decision dated 19 August 2026, Docket No. 26-01-04; Standard Service per Decision dated 20 May 2026, Docket No. 26-01-02); Decoupling Rider, C.P.U.C.A. No. 2524 · checked 2026-10-02 · source

Applying to UI

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

You pick one of two tariffs and keep it for twenty years
Under the Residential Renewable Energy Solutions program, every Eversource and United Illuminating customer chooses the Netting Tariff or the Buy-All Tariff and receives service under it for twenty years. There is no switching later.
Buy-All sells everything and buys everything back
You are paid a fixed rate for all production and pay retail for all consumption. For 2026 applications the rate is $0.3289 per kWh at both Eversource and United Illuminating, locked for the twenty year term, with adders of $0.055 for income-eligible customers and $0.0275 in economically distressed municipalities.
Netting credits retail but charges for every kilowatt hour generated
You consume what you make and net excess is credited at your retail rate, supply and delivery, which moves over time. For 2026 applications, Netting projects pay a Solar Energy Adjustment of $0.0402 on every kilowatt hour generated, including the ones you use yourself, and the REC rate is $0.000.
The two reward opposite designs
Buy-All pays per kilowatt hour generated, so a bigger system earns more regardless of when you are home. Netting pays for offsetting your own use, so storage and load shifting matter. Choose the tariff first, then size the system.
The rates are reset every year
PURA re-evaluates the Buy-All rate and the Netting REC rate each year for new applicants. Your Buy-All rate is fixed for twenty years once you enroll; a Netting customer’s credit follows the retail rate as it changes. Check the year’s figures on your Statement of Qualification.

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

UI net metering questions

Does UI offer one for one net metering?
No. Under the Residential Renewable Energy Solutions program you choose either the Netting Tariff, which credits net excess at your retail rate but charges a $0.0402 Solar Energy Adjustment on every kWh generated for 2026 applications, or the Buy-All Tariff at $0.3289 per kWh, fixed for twenty years.
What does UI pay for power sent back to the grid?
Netting or Buy-All, chosen once. Under Netting, credits carry from month to month and cannot be cashed out until the account closes. Under Buy-All there is nothing to roll over.
Do I need a battery with UI?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because UI 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 UI territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my UI bill?
Sign in at uinet.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 UI?
Have the installer model your own consumption on both tariffs, including the $0.0402 charge on all generation under Netting. The choice cannot be changed once the application is submitted, and it runs for twenty years.