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Net Metering Program
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MidAmerican Energy net metering in Iowa

Much of Iowa, including Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Iowa City and Sioux City. The largest utility in the state, and one of the two named in the statute.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
790K

What they credit you

Outflow credited at retail for 20 years, forfeited yearly

Published terms

Rate IO nets each 15-minute interval. Outflow earns a dollar credit at “the applicable retail volumetric rate for which the Customer is eligible, including applicable kWh based adjustment clauses and riders”, and that rate continues for twenty years whatever value of solar rate is adopted later. The credit offsets only charges billed per kilowatt hour, never the $8.50 Basic Service Charge.

Month to month
Dollar credits carry to later bills until used, or until the end of the annual period.
Once a year
Any outflow credit remaining at the end of the annual period, dated from January or April as you choose at interconnection, is forfeited, as is any left when you end service. MidAmerican is never required to pay it in cash.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-03 · source

Installers serving MidAmerican 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 MidAmerican 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 MidAmerican 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, only a prorated share of each interval’s outflow earns the retail credit; MidAmerican buys the rest under Rate AEP or Rate QF. Moving from the old Rate NB is permanent and forfeits any credits banked there.

What MidAmerican 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
$8.50 a month
How it is set
Rate RS sets a “Basic Service Charge: $8.50” per meter and makes it the floor in its own clause — “MINIMUM CHARGE: The minimum charge shall be the total of the Basic Service Charge.” Note what that sentence does not say: it fixes the minimum at the service charge alone, even though the rates above it are subject to seven separate adjustment clauses and riders, the Electric Tax Adjustment, Transmission Cost Adjustment, Energy Adjustment Clause, Energy Efficiency Cost Recovery, Equalization, Phase-In and the Tax Expense Revision Mechanism. Energy above the floor is 10.575 cents a kilowatt hour through June to September, and 8.044 cents for the first 1,000 kilowatt hours then 4.536 cents above that from October to May — a winter tail that makes a large Iowa house cheap to heat and gives solar less to displace in the months it generates least. Iowa no longer net meters new systems. A facility filing a complete interconnection application on or after 1 December 2020 goes on Rate IO, Inflow/Outflow Billing of Eligible Distributed Generation Facilities, under Iowa Code 476.49, which nets each 15-minute interval and bills what flows in separately from what flows out, rather than netting the month. Outflow splits in two: an “outflow purchase” portion credited against your bill and carried forward to the next month until the end of the annual period, and a “QF purchase” portion that MidAmerican buys under Rate AEP or Rate QF instead. If you are already on the old Rate NB, read the switch terms before taking Rate IO: it is a one-way door. You “cannot return to Rate NB or Rate PG Pilot at a later date”, and any Net Metering credits built up on Rate NB “will be forfeited when switching”.

Rate RS, Residential Service, MidAmerican Energy Electric Tariff No. 2, 2nd Revised Sheet No. 201, filed with the Iowa Utilities Board, effective 1 May 2018; distributed generation terms at Rate IO, Substitute 3rd Revised Sheet No. 374, effective 24 November 2020 · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to MidAmerican

What MidAmerican 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 MidAmerican’s published guidelines · checked 2026-10-03 · source

MidAmerican net metering questions

Does MidAmerican offer one for one net metering?
Yes. Rate IO nets each 15-minute interval. Outflow earns a dollar credit at “the applicable retail volumetric rate for which the Customer is eligible, including applicable kWh based adjustment clauses and riders”, and that rate continues for twenty years whatever value of solar rate is adopted later. The credit offsets only charges billed per kilowatt hour, never the $8.50 Basic Service Charge. Dollar credits carry to later bills until used, or until the end of the annual period.
What does MidAmerican pay for power sent back to the grid?
Outflow credited at retail for 20 years, forfeited yearly. Any outflow credit remaining at the end of the annual period, dated from January or April as you choose at interconnection, is forfeited, as is any left when you end service. MidAmerican is never required to pay it in cash.
Do I need a battery with MidAmerican?
Not for the economics. MidAmerican 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 MidAmerican bill?
Sign in at midamericanenergy.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 MidAmerican?
If the panels can make more than 110% of your annual usage, only a prorated share of each interval’s outflow earns the retail credit; MidAmerican buys the rest under Rate AEP or Rate QF. Moving from the old Rate NB is permanent and forfeits any credits banked there.