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Net Metering Program
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Interstate Power and Light net metering in Iowa

Eastern and central Iowa, including Dubuque, Waterloo, Marshalltown and Ames. The Alliant Energy company in Iowa, and the other utility named in Senate File 583.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
490K

What they credit you

Outflow credited at retail for 20 years, forfeited yearly

Published terms

Inflow-Outflow DG Billing nets each 15-minute interval. Outflow earns a dollar credit at the Outflow Purchase Rate, which “shall equal the retail volumetric rate, including applicable volumetric rider charges” of your rate schedule, for twenty years of the system’s operation. The credit offsets only charges billed per kilowatt hour, never the daily service charge.

Month to month
Excess credit carries to the next bill and is used before that month’s own credit.
Once a year
Any balance left at the end of the annual period, dated from January or April as you choose at interconnection, or when service ends, is forfeited. IPL is never required to convert credits to cash.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-03 · source

Installers serving Alliant Iowa 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 Alliant Iowa 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 Alliant Iowa bill

An average Iowa 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$132.54
$132.54
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 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.

What your installer should be telling you

If the panels can make more than 110% of your annual usage, measured against your three-year average before the install, only a prorated share of outflow earns the retail credit; IPL buys the rest at its avoided cost rate under Rate CSPP.

What Alliant Iowa 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
$0.5096 a day, about $15.50 a month
How it is set
Electric Residential Service bills a Service Charge of $0.5096 per day per meter, which Interstate Power and Light itself translates as $15.50 for a month of 30.4 days (Substitute Fifteenth Revised Sheet No. 20, effective 1 October 2024). Three-phase service adds $1.4795 a day. The schedule states no separate minimum, and the riders on it are all charged per kilowatt hour. Solar is billed under Inflow-Outflow DG Billing, netted every 15 minutes: what the house draws in an interval is billed at the full rate, and what it exports is credited in dollars at the retail volumetric rate, including the per kilowatt hour riders, a rate the tariff holds for twenty years of the system’s operation. The credit can only offset per kilowatt hour charges, so the daily service charge is paid every month whatever the panels make. Unused credit carries from month to month but is forfeited at the end of each annual period (you choose January or April at interconnection) and when you leave; IPL never pays it out in cash. Energy on the standard rate is 9.992 cents a kilowatt hour in winter and 13.398 cents from June to August, before the energy adjustment and other riders.

Interstate Power and Light Company, Electric Tariff No. 1: Electric Residential Service, Substitute Fifteenth Revised Sheet No. 20 and Substitute Thirty-Sixth Revised Sheet No. 21, effective 1 October 2024; Inflow-Outflow DG Billing (Rate Code IO), Substitute Original Sheet Nos. 42.2 to 42.5; Rider EECR, Thirty-First Revised Sheet No. 60, effective 28 May 2026 · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to Alliant Iowa

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

Inflow and outflow are netted every 15 minutes
Both utilities net each 15-minute interval. What the house draws in an interval is billed at the full rate with every rider; what it exports earns a dollar credit at the outflow purchase rate.
The outflow rate is the retail volumetric rate, fixed for twenty years
Iowa Code § 476.49(3)(b)(5) sets the outflow purchase rate at the applicable retail volumetric rate, including riders, and says it continues for a term of twenty years. A value of solar rate adopted later does not change it for a facility already in that term.
Credits are forfeited at the end of each annual period
Unused credit carries from month to month, but any left at the end of the annual period, dated from January or April as you choose at interconnection, is forfeited, and so is any left when you close the account. Neither utility will convert credit to cash.
The credit cannot touch the fixed charge
Outflow credit offsets only charges billed per kilowatt hour. The monthly or daily service charge is paid whatever the panels make.
110% of your usage, and 1 MW
A facility qualifies only if it can produce no more than 110% of the customer’s annual usage and is no larger than 1 MW AC. Output beyond that share is bought under a separate purchase rate instead: IPL’s avoided cost rate, or MidAmerican’s Rate AEP or Rate QF.
Switching from the old net billing tariff is one way
A customer on an older net billing tariff may move to inflow-outflow, but cannot go back, and cannot carry banked credits across.

From Alliant Iowa’s published guidelines · checked 2026-10-03 · source

Alliant Iowa net metering questions

Does Alliant Iowa offer one for one net metering?
Yes. Inflow-Outflow DG Billing nets each 15-minute interval. Outflow earns a dollar credit at the Outflow Purchase Rate, which “shall equal the retail volumetric rate, including applicable volumetric rider charges” of your rate schedule, for twenty years of the system’s operation. The credit offsets only charges billed per kilowatt hour, never the daily service charge. Excess credit carries to the next bill and is used before that month’s own credit.
What does Alliant Iowa pay for power sent back to the grid?
Outflow credited at retail for 20 years, forfeited yearly. Any balance left at the end of the annual period, dated from January or April as you choose at interconnection, or when service ends, is forfeited. IPL is never required to convert credits to cash.
Do I need a battery with Alliant Iowa?
Not for the economics. Alliant Iowa credits exports at the retail rate, so power you send out during the day comes back at the same value after dark without storage. A battery is still worth considering for outages during hurricane season, but it is an upgrade here rather than a requirement.
How do I find my Alliant Iowa bill?
Sign in at alliantenergy.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 Alliant Iowa?
If the panels can make more than 110% of your annual usage, measured against your three-year average before the install, only a prorated share of outflow earns the retail credit; IPL buys the rest at its avoided cost rate under Rate CSPP.