Rochester Gas and Electric net metering in New York

Applying to RG&E

What RG&E itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.

Houses can still get the full retail rate, and it holds for twenty years

Phase One net metering remains available to residential customers, crediting exports at the full retail rate, and a system interconnected today locks that arrangement for twenty years.

There is a monthly charge based on the size of your array

The Customer Benefit Contribution has applied since 2022. It is charged per kilowatt of installed capacity per month, so it scales with the panels on the roof rather than with anything you use or export.

It varies by utility, and it is bigger than it sounds

NYSERDA publishes the final rates each year. For 2026, residential net metering customers pay, per kW DC per month: Central Hudson $1.67, RG&E $1.31, Con Edison $1.29, NYSEG $1.19, Orange and Rockland $1.00, National Grid $0.97. On an 8 kW array that is between $93 and $160 a year, every year, for as long as the compensation term runs.

Your credits cannot pay it

This is the part that surprises people. National Grid’s tariff states that the CBC Charge "cannot be offset by any monetary credits on the Customer-Generator’s account". You can net your energy bill to nothing and still owe the CBC in cash. It is a separate line, not something a good production month absorbs.

A battery does not add to it

The CBC is calculated on the nameplate capacity of the generating equipment alone. Where solar is paired with storage, the tariff is explicit that the battery’s nameplate is not included. Adding storage in New York does not increase this charge.

Systems from before 2022 are outside it, unless you replace one

The CBC applies to solar interconnected on or after 1 January 2022. Anything connected before that is exempt, and NYSERDA says later expansions to those systems stay exempt too. But National Grid’s tariff also says a customer who completely replaces a pre-2022 project becomes subject to the charge on the full replaced capacity. Repowering an old array can therefore move it from exempt to paying.

The CBC is not locked in the way the rate is

CBC rates are reset annually and a customer does not fix theirs at interconnection. The net metering rate is locked for twenty years; the fee attached to it is not.

The Value Stack is the other option, and it is not better for most houses

VDER compensates by when and where you export rather than at retail. Its CBC is lower than net metering’s, but for an ordinary rooftop the retail rate usually more than makes up the difference. Ask for both sets of numbers.

New York does not license contractors at state level

Licensing is done by cities and counties, so there is no single state register to check a solar contractor against. NYSERDA’s participating contractor list is the state-run check that does exist, and local consumer affairs offices handle the rest.

From RG&E’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-19 · source