Iowa
Net metering in Iowa, provider by provider.
Every provider in the state, and every figure below read from the published tariff or interconnection document rather than a comparison site. Some credit you the full retail rate for the power you send back. Most do not, and that difference is the whole reason this page exists.
Meter reading falling from 41926 to 41694 kilowatt hours. A 832 kilowatt hour month against 1,064 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 232 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $132.54 to $0.00 at 15.93 cents per kilowatt hour.
Iowa average household use, 832 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 15.93¢ 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.
Solar buyback rates in Iowa, utility by utility
Iowa’s inflow-outflow tariffs credit exports in dollars at the outflow purchase rate, which the statute sets at the retail volumetric rate, riders included, for twenty years from interconnection. Credits carry from month to month and any left at the end of the annual period are forfeited.
Iowa net metering rules
Retail-rate outflow credit, forfeited yearly.
- Who it binds
- Interstate Power and Light and MidAmerican Energy, the two rate-regulated utilities the statute reaches. The cooperatives and municipal systems set their own terms.
- What happens to a surplus
- Dollar credits carry to the next month, against charges billed per kilowatt hour only.
- How big a system you may build
- 1 MW AC, and a system able to produce no more than 110% of your annual usage. Output above that share is bought under the utility’s separate purchase rates instead.
Iowa Code § 476.49 (Senate File 583) — checked 2026-10-03
What actually happens after you pick
Most sites in this business hand your number to a sales team and disappear. We do the preparation first, so the company that turns up already knows your situation.
You see your real terms
Your provider page shows what that specific utility credits you, when it trues up, and where the catch is. Sourced and dated, not a sales page.
You choose the company
Companies serving your territory in Iowa, with the reviews, years trading and BBB grade we found for each. You pick. Not a call center, not an auction.
We set the whole thing up
We call you, go through your bill and your last twelve months of use, work out what your utility owes you, and get the program paperwork in order.
They arrive prepared
The company you chose turns up to a job that is already understood, with your figures in hand. No cold pitch on your doorstep.
Solar installers in Iowa
Every company we list for at least one Iowa utility. Each profile shows the utilities it covers and what each one pays for the power you export.
Net metering in Iowa: the questions people ask
- Does Iowa have net metering?
- Iowa’s inflow-outflow tariffs credit exports in dollars at the outflow purchase rate, which the statute sets at the retail volumetric rate, riders included, for twenty years from interconnection. Credits carry from month to month and any left at the end of the annual period are forfeited.
- What is the solar buyback rate in Iowa?
- It is set utility by utility, not by the state. How the 2 providers we list in Iowa credit the power you export: 2 at the retail rate, with a condition. Each one’s own page gives its figure and the date we read it.
- Is solar worth it in Iowa in 2026?
- It depends mostly on what your utility pays for the power you export, because the 30% federal credit ended for systems completed after 31 December 2025. Iowa homes use about 832 kWh a month at an average of 15.93 cents per kWh, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Where exports are credited at the full retail rate, each kilowatt hour your panels send back is worth about that much; where they are credited below retail, size the system to what you use while the sun is up. Check your own utility on this page before you get a quote for solar panels.
- Is there a solar tax credit in Iowa in 2026?
- Not a federal one. The 30% federal credit, IRC Section 25D, ended for systems completed after 31 December 2025, and a deposit paid in 2025 does not preserve it. Anyone still quoting it is working from an old script. Any incentive left in Iowa comes from the state or your utility, and what your utility pays for exported power is now most of the financial case.
- Which providers does the Iowa rule cover?
- Interstate Power and Light and MidAmerican Energy, the two rate-regulated utilities the statute reaches. The cooperatives and municipal systems set their own terms.
- What happens to credits you do not use in Iowa?
- Dollar credits carry to the next month, against charges billed per kilowatt hour only. Any credit left at the end of the annual period, which you date from January or April at interconnection, is forfeited. It is never paid in cash.
- How big a solar system can you install in Iowa?
- 1 MW AC, and a system able to produce no more than 110% of your annual usage. Output above that share is bought under the utility’s separate purchase rates instead.
- Which electricity providers does this cover in Iowa?
- We have read the published terms of 2 providers in Iowa: MidAmerican Energy, Interstate Power and Light. Each has its own page with the figures taken from its own tariff or from the state’s own order.
Source: Iowa Code § 476.49 (Senate File 583), checked 2026-10-03.
Not sure which one you are on?
It is the name at the top of your bill. Find it on the schedule and we will show you what it pays.
Find my provider