PSE&G net metering in New Jersey
Northern and central New Jersey, including Newark, Jersey City, Trenton and New Brunswick. Net metering is in Section 15 of its Standard Terms and Conditions and follows N.J.A.C. 14:8-4.3, like the other three. Net metering customers cannot use PSE&G’s Budget Plan.
- Type
- Investor owned
- Accounts
- 2.3M
What they credit you
Full retail, settled once a year at wholesale
Published termsA month’s surplus is credited against the next bill at the full retail rate and accumulates through a twelve-month annualized period. Whatever is left when it ends is paid at the average PJM locational marginal price for the utility’s zone, a wholesale price. A system may not be larger than what you were supplied over a historical twelve months.
- Month to month
- Credits accumulate month to month until your annualized period ends.
- Once a year
- At the end of the annualized period you choose, at the average locational marginal price for the utility’s zone.
Published terms · checked 2026-10-03 · source
Installers serving PSE&G customers
Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.
- Bold EnergyLocal installerBatteryBBB B+, accredited4.948 GoogleMulti-state installer working from a Texas base and publishing 84 licenses across 31 states, with battery storage, repairs and panel removal alongside new installs.All of New JerseySelect this installer
- Trinity SolarLocal installerBattery32 years tradingBBB A+, accredited4.41,682 GoogleFamily owned since 1994 and the largest privately held residential solar installer in the country, working across the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic.All of New JerseySelect this installer
- Solar Energy WorldLocal installerBattery17 years tradingBBB A+, accredited4.6995 GoogleMid-Atlantic installer trading since 2009, ranked fourth largest residential solar contractor in the country for 2026.All of New JerseySelect this installer
- SunrunLocal installerBattery19 years tradingBBB A+, accreditedThe largest residential solar and home battery company in the United States, trading since 2007 and operating in twenty states.All of New JerseySelect this installer
These are real companies operating in PSE&G 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 PSE&G bill
An average New Jersey 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 41741 kilowatt hours. A 662 kilowatt hour month against 847 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 185 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $165.17 to $0.00 at 24.95 cents per kilowatt hour.
New Jersey average household use, 662 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 24.95¢ 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
You get one opportunity to choose the billing month your annualized period starts; if you never choose, it starts when the system is switched on, and switching supplier ends it early. Size to your own use: the Board is studying a successor structure that has not been enacted.
What PSE&G 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
- $6.00 a month
- How it is set
- Rate Schedule RS states it twice over, before and after tax: "Service Charge: $5.63 in each month [$6.00 including New Jersey Sales and Use Tax (SUT)]." Three sheets later the floor is set against it in a single line — "MINIMUM CHARGE: The minimum charge shall be equal to the monthly Service Charge." Six dollars is a low fixed charge by national standards, and in a state with full retail net metering that matters: a well sized system can bring a PSE&G bill close to this figure and it will not be held up by a large standing charge underneath. What your panels do offset is billed per kilowatt hour: distribution runs 4.7989 cents including tax from October through May, rising to 8.2602 cents on the first 600 kilowatt hours and 8.6677 cents above that from June through September, with Basic Generation Service supply, the Societal Benefits Charge, the Non-utility Generation Charge and the Solar Pilot Recovery Charge all charged per kilowatt hour on top.
Rate Schedule RS, Residential Service, B.P.U.N.J. No. 17 Electric, Second Revised Sheet No. 93, effective 8 December 2025, Docket ER23120924; minimum charge at First Revised Sheet No. 95 · checked 2026-09-29 · source
Applying to PSE&G
What PSE&G itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.
- One for one, at retail, month to month
- Exported kilowatt hours offset consumption at the full retail rate, and any surplus rolls forward to the next month rather than being cashed out immediately.
- The annual true up is where the value drops
- Whatever credit is left at the end of your annualized period is paid at the avoided cost of wholesale power, which the rule defines as the average PJM locational marginal price in your utility’s transmission zone. Credits are worth retail while you can use them and wholesale once you cannot, which is the whole argument for sizing to your own usage.
- You choose when your year ends, once
- The twelve-month annualized period starts on a billing month you select, and you get one opportunity to select it. If you never do, it starts with the first full billing period after the system is switched on. Switching electricity supplier ends the period early, as if the year were over.
- There is a statewide trigger, and it is discretionary
- N.J.S.A. 48:3-87 lets the Board of Public Utilities authorize suppliers to stop offering net metering to new customers once statewide net metered capacity reaches 5.8% of total annual kilowatt hours sold. The Board may act at that point; it is not required to.
- A successor is being studied, and nothing is enacted
- The Board has been examining a successor structure including value of solar export rates, possible grid access charges and storage. As of now the current one for one crediting is unchanged. Ask what your contract says happens if it changes.
- Your own past usage is the ceiling
- N.J.A.C. 14:8-4.3 limits a system to the electricity you were supplied over a historical twelve-month period you select, so for a house the limits are that and your roof. Anything exported beyond your own use is settled at a wholesale price once a year.
- The certificates are yours unless a contract says otherwise
- Under the same rule a net metered customer owns the renewable attributes of what the system generates, and can sell them or use them to apply for certificates, unless a contract expressly assigns them. A lease or a power purchase agreement may, so read that clause.
From PSE&G’s published guidelines · checked 2026-10-03 · source
PSE&G net metering questions
- Does PSE&G offer one for one net metering?
- Yes. A month’s surplus is credited against the next bill at the full retail rate and accumulates through a twelve-month annualized period. Whatever is left when it ends is paid at the average PJM locational marginal price for the utility’s zone, a wholesale price. A system may not be larger than what you were supplied over a historical twelve months. Credits accumulate month to month until your annualized period ends.
- What does PSE&G pay for power sent back to the grid?
- Full retail, settled once a year at wholesale. At the end of the annualized period you choose, at the average locational marginal price for the utility’s zone.
- Do I need a battery with PSE&G?
- Not for the economics. PSE&G 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 PSE&G bill?
- Sign in at pseg.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 PSE&G?
- You get one opportunity to choose the billing month your annualized period starts; if you never choose, it starts when the system is switched on, and switching supplier ends it early. Size to your own use: the Board is studying a successor structure that has not been enacted.