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Net Metering Program
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SWEPCO net metering in Louisiana

Northwestern Louisiana, including Shreveport and Bossier City. An American Electric Power company operating across Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas under three different sets of rules.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
230K

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 SWEPCO 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 SWEPCO 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 SWEPCO 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.

SWEPCO requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in SWEPCO territory.

SWEPCO 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 SWEPCO 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. SWEPCO sets its own limits. Ask SWEPCO 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 SWEPCO 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 SWEPCO 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
$7.43 a month as filed, about $12.40 with its riders and meter fee
How it is set
Residential Service sets a Customer Charge of $7.43 per meter (Revision 1, effective 31 January 2023). Three things sit on top of it. The Formula Rate Plan adds 16.7858% to the rates on the bill for August 2026 to July 2027; the Storm Cost Recovery rider adds 5.8546% of base rate revenue; and an Advanced Metering System cost recovery fee of $3.24 a month applies to residential customers from October 2023 to September 2027, falling to $2.75 after that. Together they take the fixed part of the bill to about $12.40 a month before any energy is used. Energy is 8.08 cents a kilowatt hour from May to October, and 6.73 cents for the first 500 and 5.84 cents beyond in other months, before fuel and the other riders. Solar households on the Distributed Generation Rider since 1 January 2020 are billed for every kilowatt hour drawn and credited 3.656 cents for every kilowatt hour exported (April 2026 to March 2027 billing), and “The base service charge and/or minimum bill of the retail rate schedule under which the Customer takes service shall be billed by SWEPCO regardless of the Customer’s measured inflow and outflow of energy.” A one-time $175 application fee applies.

Southwestern Electric Power Company, LPSC Electric Tariff (book as of 30 July 2026): Residential Service, Pages 1.1 and 1.2, Revision 1, effective 31 January 2023 (Docket U-35441); Formula Rate Plan Rider, Page 43.6, Revision 4, effective 30 July 2026 (Docket U-37502); Storm Cost Recovery Rider, Page 67.1, Revision 6, effective 30 April 2026; Advanced Metering System Cost Recovery Fee Rider, Page 59.1; Distributed Generation Rider, Pages 33.1 to 33.9 · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to SWEPCO

What SWEPCO 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 SWEPCO’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-05 · source

SWEPCO net metering questions

Does SWEPCO 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 SWEPCO 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 SWEPCO?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because SWEPCO 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 SWEPCO territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my SWEPCO bill?
Sign in at swepco.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 SWEPCO?
Ask for the current avoided cost figure in writing, and be skeptical of any savings model that treats exports as worth the retail rate.