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Net Metering Program
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Pepco net metering in District of Columbia

The whole District of Columbia. The same company serves suburban Maryland under Maryland law, which is closing its full retail program. The District’s rules are separate and are not closing with it.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
300K

What they credit you

Full retail to your annual use, generation rate beyond it

Published terms

Pepco banks excess generation in kilowatt hours month to month, worth the full retail rate against your use. Each December, generation beyond 100% of annual consumption is paid at the generation rate only, refunded if the credit is over $25.

Month to month
Carried in kilowatt hours month to month.
Once a year
Each December, at the generation rate, for generation beyond 100% of annual consumption.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-02 · source

Installers serving Pepco 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 Pepco territory, 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 Pepco bill

An average District of Columbia 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$155.85
$155.85
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 41748 kilowatt hours. A 639 kilowatt hour month against 817 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 178 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $155.85 to $0.00 at 24.39 cents per kilowatt hour.

District of Columbia average household use, 639 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 24.39¢ 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

If you buy power from a competitive supplier, the rider leaves the generation part of the bill to your contract with that supplier, so ask how it treats exports. Ask separately about solar renewable energy certificate income, which is a different payment with a different risk.

What Pepco 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
$18.09 a month in 2026
How it is set
Schedule R sets a Distribution Service Customer Charge of $18.09 a month for Rate Year 2 of Pepco’s multi-year plan, 1 January to 31 December 2026, up from $17.09 in 2025, and the schedule states no separate minimum. Standard Offer Service adds minimum charges of its own, covering the first 30 kilowatt hours of generation and transmission: between $2.89 and $4.18 a month for generation under the schedule that ran to May 2026. The other riders on the bill, among them the undergrounding charges and the trust fund surcharges, are per kilowatt hour, and the Customer Base Rate Credit is currently $0.00 for Schedule R. With solar, the Net Energy Metering rider says net energy billing “applies only to kilowatt-hour usage charges” and that customer-generators remain “responsible for all other charges applicable to the customer’s rate class”, customer charges included, so the $18.09 is paid every month. Excess generation is banked in kilowatt hours, and each December generation beyond 100% of the year’s consumption is paid at the generation rate only, refunded if the credit is over $25.

Potomac Electric Power Company, Electricity P.S.C. of D.C. No. 1: Schedule R, Twenty-First Revised Page Nos. R-3 and R-3.1 (Rate Year 2, 1 January to 31 December 2026); Rider NEM, Seventh Revised Page No. R-45, effective 8 November 2023; Riders UPC and CBRC and the Underground Rider, Page Nos. R-51, R-53 and R-54; Pepco’s Schedule R rate summary of 14 May 2025 for the Standard Offer Service minimum charges · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to Pepco

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

Within the year, excess is worth the full retail rate
Pepco banks excess generation in kilowatt hours and credits it against later months, so a banked kilowatt hour offsets every per-kilowatt-hour charge on the bill: generation, transmission, distribution and the riders charged by the kilowatt hour. Only the customer charge and other fixed amounts are left to pay.
Each December the surplus is settled, not forfeited
At the end of the calendar year, generation beyond 100% of your annual consumption is paid at the generation rate only. If the credit is more than $25 it is refunded in full; a smaller one carries over until it is used up. Nothing is forfeited.
That still shapes the sizing question
Up to your annual use, every banked kilowatt hour is worth retail. Beyond it, the year-end payment is at the generation rate, well below retail, so size to what you consume in a year.
Do not read Maryland’s changes across
Pepco also serves suburban Maryland, where full retail net metering closes at the earlier of a 3,000 MW cap or 1 July 2027. That is Maryland law and does not apply in the District.
Solar renewable energy certificates are a separate income
Solar renewable energy certificates are sold separately from your net metering credit, and their price is set by a market, not by Pepco’s tariff. Ask whether a quote has counted them, and at what price.

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

Pepco net metering questions

Does Pepco offer one for one net metering?
Yes. Pepco banks excess generation in kilowatt hours month to month, worth the full retail rate against your use. Each December, generation beyond 100% of annual consumption is paid at the generation rate only, refunded if the credit is over $25. Carried in kilowatt hours month to month.
What does Pepco pay for power sent back to the grid?
Full retail to your annual use, generation rate beyond it. Each December, at the generation rate, for generation beyond 100% of annual consumption.
Do I need a battery with Pepco?
Not for the economics. Pepco 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 Pepco bill?
Sign in at pepco.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 Pepco?
If you buy power from a competitive supplier, the rider leaves the generation part of the bill to your contract with that supplier, so ask how it treats exports. Ask separately about solar renewable energy certificate income, which is a different payment with a different risk.