Mississippi Power net metering in Mississippi
The southeastern counties, including Gulfport, Biloxi, Hattiesburg, Meridian and Laurel. A Southern Company utility, and the second of the two investor owned utilities the Commission’s net metering rule binds.
- Type
- Investor owned
- Accounts
- 192K
What they credit you
Avoided cost plus 2.5 cents: 5.59 to 6.01 cents for solar
Published termsUnder Schedule RENM-3, exports are bought at Mississippi Power’s basic avoided energy cost plus the 2.5 cent distributed generation value, held for 25 years: 6.01 cents a kWh from July to October and 5.59 cents otherwise for solar in 2026, or 8.01 and 7.59 cents with the low to moderate income adder.
- Month to month
- Credits accumulate against the bill; any balance is paid out when the account closes.
Published terms · checked 2026-10-01 · source
Installers serving Mississippi Power customers
Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.
These are real companies operating in Mississippi Power 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.
What this looks like on a Mississippi Power bill
An average Mississippi 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 reading falling from 41926 to 41603 kilowatt hours. A 1,156 kilowatt hour month against 1,479 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 323 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $172.01 to $0.00 at 14.88 cents per kilowatt hour.
Mississippi average household use, 1,156 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 14.88¢ 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.
Battery backup is mandatory
in Mississippi Power territory.
Mississippi Power 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 Mississippi Power 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. Mississippi’s Level 1 interconnection review, the fast path, is available to inverter-based systems of 20 kW or less using certified equipment. Larger systems are still allowed but go through a longer study. Mississippi Power sets its own limits. Ask Mississippi Power 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 Mississippi Power 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
Taking RENM transfers your renewable energy credits to Mississippi Power. With a base charge near $49 a month and energy at 5 to 8.4 cents, model the saving on the energy you displace, not on the whole bill.
What Mississippi Power 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
- $1.60 a day, about $48.67 a month
- How it is set
- Rate R-62 bills its base charge by the day: $1.60 for single-phase service and $2.20 for three-phase, about $48.67 and $66.92 a month, effective 18 June 2026, and “no monthly bill will be rendered in an amount less than the above base charge.” The energy price is correspondingly low: 4.996 cents for the first 650 kilowatt hours, then 6.593 to 8.436 cents depending on the season, before fuel. One adjustment adds a fixed amount, the Regulatory Tax Recovery clause at $0.27 a month for residential customers, taking the floor to about $48.94; the ad valorem, environmental and storm adjustments are per kilowatt hour. Because so much of the bill is fixed, solar saves less here than in most places: the kilowatt hours it displaces are priced at 5 to 8.4 cents. Under RENM-3, exports are bought at the basic avoided energy cost plus the 2.5 cent distributed generation value, 6.01 cents from July to October and 5.59 cents otherwise for solar in 2026, or 8.01 and 7.59 cents with the low to moderate income adder. Credits accumulate against the bill and any balance is paid out when you close the account. Residential systems are limited to the lesser of 20 kW or 110% of annual peak demand.
Mississippi Power Company: Residential Electric Service Rate Schedule R-62 (MPSC Schedule No. 1), effective 18 June 2026; Regulatory Tax Recovery bulletin RTR-2 of 16 October 2025; Ad Valorem, Environmental Compliance and System Restoration bulletins of 2026; Renewable Energy Net Metering Rate Schedule RENM-3 (MPSC Schedule No. 59), effective 27 May 2025, with its Basic Avoided Energy Cost Bulletin of 20 January 2026 · checked 2026-10-01 · source
Applying to Mississippi Power
What Mississippi Power itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.
- The credit is assembled from named parts
- The rule defines Total Benefits of Distributed Generation as the Avoided Cost of Wholesale Power, plus either the Non-Quantifiable Expected Benefits or the Actual Benefits of Distributed Generation, plus the Low-Income Benefits Adder where it applies. Ask which parts are in your number.
- The 2.5 cent adder has an expiry written into the rule
- It is capped at "no more than 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour for no longer than three (3) years after the effective date of this rule", and exists only "as a proxy for the Actual Benefits of Distributed Generation" until those are measured. It was never meant to be permanent, yet Entergy Mississippi’s tariff still includes it for bills from February 2026, so ask whether your utility’s number does.
- There is a lower income adder, and it is worth asking about
- The rule provides a Low-Income Benefits Adder on top of the base credit. The two largest investor owned utilities are required to offer an additional 2 cents per kWh to the first 1,000 qualifying low income customers who net meter.
- Avoided cost means what it says
- The rule defines it as "the marginal cost to produce or purchase one more unit of electrical energy". It is a wholesale figure, and it moves.
- 20 kW is the fast lane, not a ceiling
- Level 1 interconnection review applies where the system is inverter based, 20 kW or less, and uses certified equipment. Beyond that the utility runs longer screens, including a test that aggregated generation on the line section must stay under 15% of its annual peak load.
- Your neighbors can use up the circuit
- That 15% line section screen is shared. On a circuit that already has solar on it, an application can be delayed or studied further because of systems that are not yours. Ask early rather than late.
From Mississippi Power’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-05 · source
Mississippi Power net metering questions
- Does Mississippi Power offer one for one net metering?
- No. Under Schedule RENM-3, exports are bought at Mississippi Power’s basic avoided energy cost plus the 2.5 cent distributed generation value, held for 25 years: 6.01 cents a kWh from July to October and 5.59 cents otherwise for solar in 2026, or 8.01 and 7.59 cents with the low to moderate income adder.
- What does Mississippi Power pay for power sent back to the grid?
- Avoided cost plus 2.5 cents: 5.59 to 6.01 cents for solar. Credits accumulate against the bill; any balance is paid out when the account closes.
- Do I need a battery with Mississippi Power?
- Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Mississippi Power 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 Mississippi Power territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
- How do I find my Mississippi Power bill?
- Sign in at mississippipower.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 Mississippi Power?
- Taking RENM transfers your renewable energy credits to Mississippi Power. With a base charge near $49 a month and energy at 5 to 8.4 cents, model the saving on the energy you displace, not on the whole bill.