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Net Metering Program
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Kauai Island Utility Cooperative net metering in Hawaii

The island of Kauai. The only member-owned electric cooperative in Hawaii, and entirely separate from Hawaiian Electric’s programs.

Type
Cooperative
Accounts
38K

What they credit you

Exports paid at an oil-linked avoided cost, about 24 cents in October 2026

Published terms

KIUC’s rooftop solar pages point to Schedule Q: you buy your net load at the residential rate, 47.25 cents a kWh in October 2026, and are paid for each kWh exported at an avoided cost rate that moves monthly with the price of oil, 24.13 cents on the October 2026 rate data sheet against an annual base of 14.57 cents.

Month to month
Exports earn an energy credit or payment each month.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-02 · source

Installers serving KIUC 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 KIUC 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 KIUC 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.

KIUC requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in KIUC territory.

KIUC 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 KIUC 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. KIUC sets its own limits. Ask KIUC 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 KIUC 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

A system larger than KIUC’s right-sizing chart allows (3.5 kW for a home using 900 to 1,000 kWh a month, for example) needs a second meter that lets KIUC curtail it when the island has more solar than demand, and while curtailed it supplies neither the grid nor the house. KIUC expects the Schedule Q rate to fall as it burns less oil.

What KIUC 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
$13.50 a month minimum ($11.42 customer charge)
How it is set
Schedule D, Residential Service, sets a Customer Charge of $11.42 a month and a minimum monthly charge of $13.50, effective 9 May 2025 (Decision and Order No. 41688), so a month of zero use costs $13.50. Energy is billed on top at 40.892 cents a kilowatt hour in base rates (20.704 cents non-fuel, 20.188 cents fuel and purchased power), and the energy rate adjustment clause added 6.362 cents from 1 October 2026, for 47.254 cents in all; the resource cost surcharge is zero for residential customers in 2026. Under Schedule Q, which KIUC’s rooftop solar pages describe as the way it pays for excess generation, you buy your net load at those rates and each kilowatt hour exported earns an avoided cost rate tied to the price of oil: an annual base of 14.57 cents for 2026, adjusted every month, and 24.13 cents on the October 2026 rate data sheet. The older Rule 17 net energy metering credits exports against the energy charge but never the customer or minimum charge, is capped at 1% of system peak, and forfeits credit left at each 31 December.

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, KIUC Tariff No. 1: Schedule D, Third Revised Sheet 63 (effective 9 May 2025) and Sheets 65 and 66; Resource Cost Adjustment Surcharge, Twenty-sixth Revised Sheets 110 to 113, effective 1 February 2026; Schedule Q Modified, Sheets 95 to 99; Rule No. 17, Net Energy Metering; Rate Data Sheet, file 2026-10, effective 1 October 2026 · checked 2026-10-02 · source

KIUC net metering questions

Does KIUC offer one for one net metering?
No. KIUC’s rooftop solar pages point to Schedule Q: you buy your net load at the residential rate, 47.25 cents a kWh in October 2026, and are paid for each kWh exported at an avoided cost rate that moves monthly with the price of oil, 24.13 cents on the October 2026 rate data sheet against an annual base of 14.57 cents.
What does KIUC pay for power sent back to the grid?
Exports paid at an oil-linked avoided cost, about 24 cents in October 2026. Exports earn an energy credit or payment each month.
Do I need a battery with KIUC?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because KIUC 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 KIUC territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my KIUC bill?
Sign in at kiuc.coop. 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 KIUC?
A system larger than KIUC’s right-sizing chart allows (3.5 kW for a home using 900 to 1,000 kWh a month, for example) needs a second meter that lets KIUC curtail it when the island has more solar than demand, and while curtailed it supplies neither the grid nor the house. KIUC expects the Schedule Q rate to fall as it burns less oil.