Skip to content
Net Metering Program
← Back to the schedule

Cleco Power net metering in Louisiana

Central and southwestern Louisiana, including Alexandria, Pineville and parts of Acadiana. The second largest investor owned utility in the state.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
290K

What they credit you

Under four cents, netted instantaneously

Published terms

Exports are compensated at avoided cost, under four cents per kWh at the utilities we have read, measured on an instantaneous basis rather than netted across the billing period.

Month to month
Very little, because netting is instantaneous.

Published terms · checked 2026-09-05 · source

Installers serving Cleco 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 Cleco 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 Cleco bill

An average Louisiana 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$162.15
$162.15
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 41591 kilowatt hours. A 1,202 kilowatt hour month against 1,537 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 335 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $162.15 to $0.00 at 13.49 cents per kilowatt hour.

Louisiana average household use, 1,202 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 13.49¢ 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.

Cleco requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in Cleco territory.

Cleco 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 Cleco 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. Louisiana measures exports instantaneously and pays avoided cost, so power sent out at noon is sold at under four cents and power drawn back at eight in the evening is bought at retail. Only what the house uses as it is produced is worth full value. Cleco sets its own limits. Ask Cleco 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 Cleco 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 for the current avoided cost figure in writing, and be skeptical of any savings model that treats exports as worth the retail rate.

What Cleco 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
$16.00 a month: $12.00 plus two $2.00 securitization charges
How it is set
Rate Schedule RS sets a Customer Charge of $12.00 (Sixth Revision, effective 1 June 2026), and two securitization adjustments add fixed amounts per customer on top: the Storm Recovery Charge, $2.00 a month plus 0.316 cents a kilowatt hour, and the Energy Transition Charge, $2.00 a month plus 0.189 cents. Both are owned by special purpose entities and must be paid by every customer taking distribution service, so the fixed part of a residential bill is $16.00 a month before any energy is used. The schedule’s “minimum charge” does not set a separate floor: it is defined as the customer charge plus the energy, fuel and every other adjustment, which is simply the bill. Energy is 8.230 cents a kilowatt hour, rising to 9.875 and 11.851 cents above 1,000 and 1,500 kilowatt hours from May to October, plus fuel, environmental and the other riders. Solar households on Schedule DG installed since 1 January 2020 pay the full rate for what they draw, nothing for what they use as it is produced, and are credited 3.854 cents a kilowatt hour for what they export, an avoided cost reset each year; any credit left when service ends is paid by check. Residential systems are limited to 25 kW.

Cleco Power LLC, LPSC Electric Tariff No. 1, Rate Schedule RS, Sixth Revision, Pages 1.1 and 1.2, effective 1 June 2026 (Authority U-36923); Adjustment Clauses SRCA (effective 1 September 2026) and ETCA (effective 1 June 2026); Rate Schedule DG, Ninth Revision, Pages 22.1 and 22.2, effective 1 March 2026 (Authority R-33929) · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to Cleco

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

The change was a single Commission vote, on 11 September 2019
It ended the one for one net metering program the state had run since 2007, and replaced it with avoided cost compensation effective 1 January 2020.
Exports are measured instantaneously
Not netted across the month. Power that leaves the meter at noon is sold at avoided cost; power that comes back in the evening is bought at retail. They are two separate transactions.
Avoided cost here is under four cents
SWEPCO pays 3.656 cents and Cleco 3.854 cents per kWh in 2026, against Louisiana retail rates several times that. Each utility resets its figure every year, so confirm yours.
Anyone who got in by 31 December 2019 is grandfathered for fifteen years
Customers who submitted a completed interconnection request and completed installation by that date receive credit at full retail rates for fifteen years, running to around 2034 and 2035. If you are buying a Louisiana house with solar, ask for that date.
This is a self consumption state now
With instantaneous netting and a three cent export price, what makes a Louisiana system pay is the load that runs while the sun is up. Air conditioning helps here more than in most places.

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

Cleco net metering questions

Does Cleco offer one for one net metering?
No. Exports are compensated at avoided cost, under four cents per kWh at the utilities we have read, measured on an instantaneous basis rather than netted across the billing period.
What does Cleco pay for power sent back to the grid?
Under four cents, netted instantaneously. Very little, because netting is instantaneous.
Do I need a battery with Cleco?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Cleco 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 Cleco territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my Cleco bill?
Sign in at cleco.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 Cleco?
Ask for the current avoided cost figure in writing, and be skeptical of any savings model that treats exports as worth the retail rate.