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Net Metering Program
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Jackson EMC net metering in Georgia

Northeast Georgia, including Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Barrow and Banks counties. The largest electric cooperative in Georgia and one of the largest in the country.

Type
Cooperative
Accounts
220K

What they credit you

4.32 cents, plus a $10 monthly solar charge

Published terms

Exports are credited at the 2026 Avoided Energy Cost of $0.0432 per kWh, roughly half the 8.81 cent first block retail rate. Net metering members also pay a $10 a month incremental service cost that other members do not.

Month to month
A credit balance carries to the following month, then is cleared by check each December.
Once a year
The December check is the true up. It pays out at the same avoided cost rate.

Published terms · checked 2026-09-05 · source

Installers serving Jackson 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 Jackson 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 Jackson 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.

Jackson EMC requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in Jackson EMC territory.

Jackson 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 Jackson 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. Jackson EMC sets its own limits. Ask Jackson 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 Jackson 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

The avoided energy cost is recalculated each year. The $31 service charge and the $10 rider are set by the co-op board and can change without a rate case.

What Jackson 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
$31.00 a month, plus $10.00 for net metering members
How it is set
The Residential Service schedule settles the ordinary case in one line — "The minimum monthly charge is the Service Charge" — and that charge is $31.00 a month. The Net Metering Rider then adds a second charge that exists only because you generate: "Incremental Service Costs $10.00 per month". So a solar member’s working floor is $41.00, and $10.00 of it is paid by nobody on the same schedule without panels. One thing cuts the other way and the record should say so: Residential Service offers a $12.50 credit to "qualifying customers certified by the Cooperative", and unlike most credits on this site it is explicitly applied "to the service charge or minimum monthly charge", so for a qualifying household the ordinary floor is $18.50 rather than $31.00. Against the $10.00, Jackson credits exports at avoided energy cost, published as $0.0432 a kilowatt hour for 2026, and a credit balance carries forward month to month — then, unusually, each December the account is cleared by sending the member a check for the balance rather than zeroing it.

Residential Service, Jackson EMC, effective 1 January 2026, read with the Net Metering Rider, effective 1 January 2022; avoided energy cost as published for 2026 · checked 2026-09-30 · source

Applying to Jackson EMC

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

There is a solar only surcharge, and it is $10 a month
The Net Metering Rider charges "Incremental Service Costs $10.00 per month". A Jackson EMC member with solar pays $10 a month that an identical neighbor without solar does not. Over twenty years that is $2,400.
The floor is $31, before the surcharge
The Residential Service schedule effective 1 January 2026 sets a $31.00 monthly Service Charge and says "The minimum monthly charge is the Service Charge." Add the rider and a member whose energy charge nets to zero still pays $41 a month.
What an exported kilowatt hour is worth
The rider credits exports at Avoided Energy Cost and states it plainly: "2026 Avoided Energy Cost = $0.0432 per kWh". That is 4.32 cents, against a retail rate that starts at 8.81 cents.
Credits are cashed out every December, not carried
A credit balance rolls to the next month, but "Each December the account will be cleared of any credit balance by the issuance of a check". You cannot bank a spring surplus against a second summer.
Residential systems are capped at 10 kW
Larger systems are "at the sole discretion of the Cooperative", which means ask in writing before you design around it.
Interconnection costs are yours
The rider makes the member "responsible for ensuring a safe and reliable interconnection with the Cooperative system and all costs incurred therein", and each request is handled individually. Get the figure before signing, not after.

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

Jackson EMC net metering questions

Does Jackson EMC offer one for one net metering?
No. Exports are credited at the 2026 Avoided Energy Cost of $0.0432 per kWh, roughly half the 8.81 cent first block retail rate. Net metering members also pay a $10 a month incremental service cost that other members do not.
What does Jackson EMC pay for power sent back to the grid?
4.32 cents, plus a $10 monthly solar charge. The December check is the true up. It pays out at the same avoided cost rate.
Do I need a battery with Jackson EMC?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Jackson 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 Jackson EMC territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my Jackson EMC bill?
Sign in at jacksonemc.com. Open My Account, then Billing History. Open the latest statement 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 Jackson EMC?
The avoided energy cost is recalculated each year. The $31 service charge and the $10 rider are set by the co-op board and can change without a rate case.