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Net Metering Program
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Cobb EMC net metering in Georgia

Northwest metro Atlanta, including Cobb, Bartow, Cherokee, Fulton and Paulding counties.

Type
Cooperative
Accounts
200K

What they credit you

5.121 cents, and 6.83 for anyone who got in before 2015

Published terms

Service Schedule DG-1 pays 5.121 cents a kilowatt hour for systems connected on or after 1 July 2015, described as the co-op’s avoided average energy and capacity cost. Systems connected before that date are still paid 6.83 cents. The standard residential rate is 8.30 cents, so exports are worth roughly three fifths of what you buy power for.

Published terms · checked 2026-09-21 · source

Installers serving Cobb EMC 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 Cobb EMC 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 Cobb EMC bill

An average Georgia 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$175.71
$175.71
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 1,074 kilowatt hour month against 1,374 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 300 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $175.71 to $0.00 at 16.36 cents per kilowatt hour.

Georgia average household use, 1,074 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 16.36¢ 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.

Cobb EMC requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in Cobb EMC territory.

Cobb EMC 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 Cobb EMC 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. Georgia’s Distributed Generation Act defines an eligible residential system as 10 kW or less, and Georgia Power applies that limit to the inverter nameplate at the service point. Some cooperatives allow more: Walton EMC sets its residential limit at 50 kW. Cobb EMC sets its own limits. Ask Cobb EMC 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 Cobb EMC 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

Cobb’s board can move this rate every year, with no rate case and no commission review. DG-1 says the purchase rates "may be adjusted annually as approved by the Cobb EMC Board of Directors". Ask separately about the monthly facility charge the schedule allows but does not put a price on.

What Cobb EMC 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
$33.00 a month on the Standard rate, $40.00 on Fixed
How it is set
Cobb sets the service charge by rate plan rather than by customer, and each plan’s own schedule makes that charge the floor. Residential Service Schedule R-12, Rate 10, the default, reads "Service Charge @ $ 33.00 per mo." in both seasons and then "The minimum monthly charge under the above rate shall be $33.00 plus Power Cost Adjustment." The Fixed Rate schedule is the same sentence at $40.00, so choosing one flat 8.25 cent energy rate all year costs $84 a year more in service charges; NiteFlex and Smart Choice are $33.00. Read the "plus Power Cost Adjustment" carefully, because it does not raise the floor for a solar household: the PCA Rider is levied "per kWh for each kWh of energy sold", so it moves with the energy and falls away with it. Above the floor the Standard rate is 8.30 cents for the first 1,000 kWh, then 9.0 cents in winter and 12.50 cents in summer. What Cobb does not put a number on is the one charge that exists only because you installed panels: Schedule DG-1 says "each Member Generator shall pay a monthly facility charge" for interconnection and metering administration, "when applicable", and states no amount anywhere in the schedule — still true on the February 2026 revision. Ask for that figure in writing before you sign. DG-1 does state what Cobb pays you: 5.121 cents a kilowatt hour for excess net energy on a system connected on or after 1 July 2015, its avoided average energy and capacity cost, against 6.83 cents for one connected before that date.

Residential Service Schedule R-12, Rate 10, and the Fixed Rate schedule, Cobb EMC 2026 residential rate schedules; facility charge and purchase rates at Service Schedule DG-1, February 2026 revision; Power Cost Adjustment Rider · checked 2026-09-30 · source

Applying to Cobb EMC

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

The rate is in Schedule DG-1, not on the solar pages
Cobb’s solar pages describe the program and state no price. The number is in Service Schedule DG-1, Distributed Generation Service, effective 1 February 2026, which is linked from the foot of the rate selection tool as "View Distributed Generation Policy". Ask for that document by name.
What an exported kilowatt hour is worth
DG-1: for a system connected on or after 1 July 2015, the purchase rate "shall be based upon the Cooperative’s avoided average energy and capacity cost which is currently $0.05121 per kWh". That is 5.121 cents against a standard rate of 8.30 cents.
Older systems are paid a third more, and it transfers with the house
A facility connected before 1 July 2015 is paid "$0.0683 per kWh until further notice". If you are buying a house in Cobb territory that already has panels, which side of that date it was connected on is worth 1.7 cents on every exported kilowatt hour.
The board can move the rate every year
DG-1: "The above-stated purchase rates may be adjusted annually as approved by the Cobb EMC Board of Directors." There is no rate case and no commission review, so nothing you are quoted is fixed for the life of the system.
The size test is your service equipment, not a round number
DG-1 caps the facility at "the rated capacity of the distribution equipment used by the Cooperative to serve the member’s facility". Cobb’s solar pages also give a 10 kW residential figure; the schedule’s test is the binding one and it is specific to your house.
There may be a monthly facility charge and Cobb does not publish it
DG-1 says a member generator "shall pay a monthly facility charge to recover the direct costs" of interconnecting and administering the metering, when applicable. No amount is given. Get yours in writing.
Do not accept Georgia Power’s number for a Cobb quote
The 7.22 cent figure that circulates online is Georgia Power’s RNR credit, not Cobb’s. Cobb is a separate cooperative with its own board and its own schedule, and its published rate is 5.121 cents.

From Cobb EMC’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-05 · source

Cobb EMC net metering questions

Does Cobb EMC offer one for one net metering?
No. Service Schedule DG-1 pays 5.121 cents a kilowatt hour for systems connected on or after 1 July 2015, described as the co-op’s avoided average energy and capacity cost. Systems connected before that date are still paid 6.83 cents. The standard residential rate is 8.30 cents, so exports are worth roughly three fifths of what you buy power for.
What does Cobb EMC pay for power sent back to the grid?
5.121 cents, and 6.83 for anyone who got in before 2015.
Do I need a battery with Cobb EMC?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Cobb EMC 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 Cobb EMC territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my Cobb EMC bill?
Sign in at cobbemc.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 Cobb EMC?
Cobb’s board can move this rate every year, with no rate case and no commission review. DG-1 says the purchase rates "may be adjusted annually as approved by the Cobb EMC Board of Directors". Ask separately about the monthly facility charge the schedule allows but does not put a price on.