Consumers Energy
Most of the rest of the Lower Peninsula, including Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo and Flint. Agreed to double its distributed generation cap from 1% to 2% of peak load, which matters if your territory is close to full.
- Type
- Investor owned
- Accounts
- 1.9M
What they credit you
Retail in, outflow rate out
Published termsUnder the distributed generation programme, consumption is billed at the retail rate and exports are credited at a lower outflow rate, counted separately rather than netted.
- Month to month
- Outflow credits applied against the bill.
Published terms · checked 2026-09-05 · source
Battery backup is mandatory
in Consumers territory.
Consumers 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 Consumers 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. Michigan bills what you consume at retail and credits what you export at a lower outflow rate, so the kilowatt hour your panels make and your house uses at the same moment is the one worth most. Sizing and load shifting matter more here than array size. Consumers sets its own limits. Ask Consumers 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 Consumers 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
Get the current outflow rate in cents per kWh in writing, and check how much of this utility’s distributed generation cap remains.
Applying to Consumers
What Consumers itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.
- Inflow and outflow are counted separately, and that is deliberate
- A smart meter sums power flowing to the grid and from the grid. Consumption is billed at the retail rate; exports are credited at the utility’s outflow rate, which is lower. The two are not netted against each other.
- Self consumption never touches either total
- Energy your panels produce and your house uses in the same moment does not flow either way, so it is worth the full retail rate. Under an inflow-outflow arrangement that is the most valuable kilowatt hour you can make.
- Net metering itself ended under PA 342 of 2016
- Existing net metering customers were grandfathered for ten years. New applicants enrol in the distributed generation programme instead.
- The cap has moved, upward
- The programme was capped at 1% of each utility’s peak load. Public Act 235 of 2023 raised the aggregate distributed generation cap to 10% of average in-state peak load, and Consumers agreed to double its own from 1% to 2%.
- Ask for the outflow rate as a number
- The whole economics of a Michigan system sits in the gap between the retail rate you pay and the outflow rate you are paid. A quote that does not state the outflow rate is not a quote you can check.
From Consumers’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-05 · source
Consumers net metering questions
- Does Consumers offer one for one net metering?
- No. Under the distributed generation programme, consumption is billed at the retail rate and exports are credited at a lower outflow rate, counted separately rather than netted.
- What does Consumers pay for power sent back to the grid?
- Retail in, outflow rate out. Outflow credits applied against the bill.
- Do I need a battery with Consumers?
- Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Consumers 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 Consumers territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
- How do I find my Consumers bill?
- Sign in at consumersenergy.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 Consumers?
- Get the current outflow rate in cents per kWh in writing, and check how much of this utility’s distributed generation cap remains.
Installers serving Consumers customers
Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.
These are real companies operating in Consumers territory, 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.