El Paso Electric
Southern New Mexico, including Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley. The same company that serves far west Texas, operating here under New Mexico rules. Its crediting is not the same as PNM’s and the difference is not small.
- Type
- Investor owned
- Accounts
- 110K
What they credit you
Bought at a monthly purchased-power rate
Published termsExcess energy is credited at El Paso Electric’s applicable Rate 16 purchased-power rate, which changes monthly and is generally below the retail rate.
- Month to month
- Credited against the bill rather than banked as kilowatt hours.
Published terms · checked 2026-09-05 · source
Battery backup is mandatory
in El Paso Electric territory.
El Paso Electric 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 El Paso Electric 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. New Mexico’s rule gives systems of 10 kW or less their own section, so 10 kW is the line to design against: above it a system is treated as a qualifying facility and paid avoided cost rather than banked as kilowatt hours. El Paso Electric sets its own limits. Ask El Paso Electric 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 El Paso Electric 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 last twelve months of Rate 16 values, not a single month. It moves, and a quote built on a good month is not a forecast.
Applying to El Paso Electric
What El Paso Electric itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.
- Exports are bought, not banked
- Excess electricity sent to the grid is credited at El Paso Electric’s applicable Rate 16 purchased-power rate rather than saved as kilowatt hours.
- That rate changes every month
- Rate 16 can change monthly and is generally lower than the full retail rate, so the value of an exported kilowatt hour here is neither fixed nor equal to what you pay.
- Do not use a PNM figure for an El Paso Electric address
- PNM banks kilowatt hour credits that do not expire. El Paso Electric buys exports at a monthly purchased-power rate. They are different arrangements in the same state.
- Under 10 kW has its own interconnection route
- El Paso Electric publishes a separate process for facilities under 10 kW, which is the one a house normally uses.
From El Paso Electric’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-05 · source
El Paso Electric net metering questions
- Does El Paso Electric offer one for one net metering?
- No. Excess energy is credited at El Paso Electric’s applicable Rate 16 purchased-power rate, which changes monthly and is generally below the retail rate.
- What does El Paso Electric pay for power sent back to the grid?
- Bought at a monthly purchased-power rate. Credited against the bill rather than banked as kilowatt hours.
- Do I need a battery with El Paso Electric?
- Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because El Paso Electric 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 El Paso Electric territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
- How do I find my El Paso Electric bill?
- Sign in at epelectric.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 El Paso Electric?
- Ask for the last twelve months of Rate 16 values, not a single month. It moves, and a quote built on a good month is not a forecast.
Installers serving El Paso Electric customers
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