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Net Metering Program
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Hawaiian Electric net metering in Hawaii

Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Hawaii Island. One company across five islands, with different rates on each. Kauai is not part of it.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
470K

What they credit you

6.6 to 40.8 cents by island and time of day, against 43 to 56 cents to buy

Published terms

New rooftop customers enrol in Smart Renewable Energy Export, crediting exports at 6.6 to 40.8 cents per kWh by island and time of day, locked for seven years on a new agreement. Net energy metering has been closed since 2015.

Month to month
Export credits carry against the bill within the program year.
Once a year
Annual; credit left at the end of the year expires, except credit earned under Bring Your Own Device Plus.

Published terms · checked 2026-09-05 · source

Installers serving Hawaiian Electric 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 Hawaiian Electric 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 Hawaiian Electric bill

An average Hawaii 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$260.96
$260.96
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 41788 kilowatt hours. A 495 kilowatt hour month against 633 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 138 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $260.96 to $0.00 at 52.72 cents per kilowatt hour.

Hawaii average household use, 495 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 52.72¢ 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.

Hawaiian Electric requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in Hawaiian Electric territory.

Hawaiian Electric 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 Hawaiian Electric 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. On Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Island, Hawaiian Electric pays 6.6 to 13.5 cents for a kilowatt hour exported in the daytime against energy charges of about 43 to 52 cents, so every unit you keep and use is worth more than three times one you sell. Nowhere else in the country is the case for storage this arithmetic-driven. Hawaiian Electric sets its own limits. Ask Hawaiian Electric 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 Hawaiian Electric 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

Ask which program a quote assumes, and ask about your own circuit’s capacity. On island grids the interconnection constraint is often the street rather than the state.

What Hawaiian Electric 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
$25.00 minimum a month before adjustments, $28.56 to $30.22 as billed
How it is set
Schedule R carries a Customer Charge of $11.50 a month, but the number that sets the floor is the Minimum Charge of $25.00 per customer per month for single-phase service, the same on every island Hawaiian Electric serves. Each company then adds its Revenue Balancing Account adjustment to all charges except fuel, and the effective rate summary for September 2026 shows the minimum as billed: $30.22 on Oahu, $29.44 in Maui County (Maui, Lanai and Molokai) and $28.56 on Hawaii Island. A Green Infrastructure Fee is added to every bill on top, $1.16 before adjustments and $1.33 to $1.40 as billed. Three-phase service has a $29.50 minimum before adjustments. Under Smart Renewable Energy Export, exports are credited at 6.6 to 40.8 cents a kilowatt hour by island and time of day, and the credit expires at the annual true up, so a solar home with low grid use pays the minimum charge and the fee every month. Effective energy charges on Schedule R in September 2026 ran from 43.1 cents a kilowatt hour (Oahu, first 350) to 56.1 cents (Molokai, over 750).

Hawaiian Electric Company, Hawai‘i Electric Light Company and Maui Electric Company (Maui, Lana‘i and Moloka‘i Divisions), Schedule R, Effective Rate Summaries effective 1 September 2026, filed with the Public Utilities Commission on 31 August 2026; Smart Renewable Energy Export rates for 2024 to 2026 · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to Hawaiian Electric

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

Net energy metering closed in October 2015
Hawaii was the first state to shut it, a decade before most of the country began debating the question. NEM Plus exists only for customers who already hold a net energy metering agreement.
What a new customer actually joins
Smart Renewable Energy Export is the route for new rooftop systems, crediting exports by island and time of day: on Oahu 18.9 cents overnight, 13.5 cents in the daytime and 32.9 cents in the evening peak, from 6.6 cents in the Maui daytime to 40.8 cents in the Lanai evening. New agreements lock those rates for seven years, and credit left at the annual true up expires. Existing Customer Grid-Supply, Customer Grid-Supply Plus and Smart Export customers move onto it seven years after their contract date.
The retail rate is what makes the arithmetic work
Hawaiian Electric’s effective residential energy charges in September 2026 ran from about 43 cents per kWh on Oahu to 52 cents on Hawaii Island and 56 cents on Molokai, several times the mainland average. A kilowatt hour you generate and use yourself is worth that, not the export credit.
Battery Bonus is closed; Bring Your Own Device Plus replaced it
Battery Bonus, which paid $850 per committed kW, closed to new participants on 1 July 2024. Bring Your Own Device Plus replaced it, paying $400 per kW of committed battery capacity upfront, with another $400 per kW for qualifying lower and moderate income households.
Circuit limits are real here in a way they are not elsewhere
Island grids are small and some circuits are saturated. Interconnection can be constrained by your street rather than by any state cap, so ask about your specific circuit before you sign.
Which island you are on changes the answer
Hawaiian Electric serves Oahu, Maui County and Hawaii Island under one company with different rates by island, and Kauai is a separate member-owned cooperative entirely.

From Hawaiian Electric’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-05 · source

Hawaiian Electric net metering questions

Does Hawaiian Electric offer one for one net metering?
No. New rooftop customers enrol in Smart Renewable Energy Export, crediting exports at 6.6 to 40.8 cents per kWh by island and time of day, locked for seven years on a new agreement. Net energy metering has been closed since 2015.
What does Hawaiian Electric pay for power sent back to the grid?
6.6 to 40.8 cents by island and time of day, against 43 to 56 cents to buy. Annual; credit left at the end of the year expires, except credit earned under Bring Your Own Device Plus.
Do I need a battery with Hawaiian Electric?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Hawaiian Electric 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 Hawaiian Electric territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my Hawaiian Electric bill?
Sign in at hawaiianelectric.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 Hawaiian Electric?
Ask which program a quote assumes, and ask about your own circuit’s capacity. On island grids the interconnection constraint is often the street rather than the state.