Skip to content
Net Metering Program
← Back to the schedule

Rhode Island Energy net metering in Rhode Island

Almost the whole state, including Providence, Warwick, Cranston and Newport. The former National Grid Rhode Island. One distribution company for practically the entire state, so the choice is between programs rather than between utilities.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
510K

What they credit you

About 82% of retail up to your use, or a different program entirely

Published terms

Net metering credits generation up to your own consumption at RI Energy’s published Renewable Net Metering Credit, 21.650 cents for a house in September 2026 against 26.400 cents to buy, and anything beyond your consumption at the wholesale price. Renewable Energy Growth is a separate fixed-rate alternative.

Month to month
Credits carry against the bill.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-02 · source

Installers serving RI Energy customers

Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.

Not sure which to choose?

These are real companies operating in RI Energy 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 RI Energy bill

An average Rhode Island 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 readingkWh
Energy charge$165.73
$165.73
We have read this provider’s own tariff. What it still bills you at zero is set out below, with the sheet it came from. The energy line above uses the statewide average. See what they still bill
DirectionReading…

Meter reading falling from 41926 to 41768 kilowatt hours. A 567 kilowatt hour month against 725 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 158 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $165.73 to $0.00 at 29.23 cents per kilowatt hour.

Rhode Island average household use, 567 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 29.23¢ 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.

RI Energy requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in RI Energy territory.

RI Energy 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 RI Energy 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. Rhode Island credits net metering at about 82% of retail up to your own consumption, and drops anything above that to the wholesale price, so size to your usage. The Renewable Energy Growth program prices generation instead, and rewards the opposite design. RI Energy sets its own limits. Ask RI Energy 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 RI Energy 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 both paths modeled against your own twelve months of usage: net metering with the Renewable Energy Fund grant, and Renewable Energy Growth at its fixed price with no grant. The REG price is set for each program year, so confirm the one on your certificate of eligibility.

What RI Energy 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
$11.63 a month, and it is three charges, not one
How it is set
The Basic Residential Rate (A-16) bills a Customer Charge of $7.47 a month from 1 September 2026, and RI Energy’s summary of delivery rates puts two more fixed monthly amounts on every A-16 account: the Renewable Energy Growth charge of $3.38 and the LIHEAP Enhancement charge of $0.78. That is $11.63 a month before Rhode Island’s gross earnings tax adjustment. The tariff states the floor as “The minimum charge per month is the Customer Charge,” and the net metering provision keeps customer charges in place for solar households while barring any other charge “to offset Net Metering Credits.” Per kilowatt hour, delivery is 15.308 cents and last resort supply 11.092 cents, 26.400 cents in all. Generation up to your own consumption in the billing period is credited at 21.650 cents (September 2026), and production beyond it at the wholesale price. A single-metered system of 25 kW or less is left out of the annual reconciliation that can claw credit back from larger systems.

The Narragansett Electric Company d/b/a Rhode Island Energy: Basic Residential Rate A-16, R.I.P.U.C. No. 2313, effective 1 September 2026; Summary of Retail Delivery Rates, R.I.P.U.C. No. 2095, effective 1 September 2026 (Docket No. 25-45-GE), with its net metering credit addendum for September 2026; Last Resort Service rates, R.I.P.U.C. No. 2096; Net Metering Provision, R.I.P.U.C. No. 2279, effective 12 May 2026 · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to RI Energy

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

The credit is most of the rate, not all of it
Generation up to your own consumption in a billing period earns the Renewable Net Metering Credit: the supply, distribution, transmission and transition charges, but not the renewable energy standard, energy efficiency, net metering or long-term contracting charges. RI Energy posts it every month; for a house in September 2026 it was 21.650 cents against 26.400 cents to buy, about 82%.
The 2023 cut of 20% is not about your roof
The 20% reduction added to the law in 2023 applies to projects counted against the 275 MW cap on remote, ground-mounted net metering. The statute exempts any system interconnected behind the same meter as the customer’s load, so a rooftop system on your own meter is not reduced. A quote that applies it to a house has misread the law.
Producing more than you use earns wholesale
Production beyond 100% of your own consumption in a billing period earns the excess credit, which the statute now sets at the ISO-New England energy clearing price. In September 2026 RI Energy listed that value as to be determined after the change in law, so do not size for it.
The other program pays for every kWh generated
Renewable Energy Growth pays a fixed price on everything the system makes: 31.55 cents a kWh for 15 years at 1 to 15 kW, or 28.65 cents for 20 years at 15 to 25 kW, for projects in the program year running to 31 March 2027. You still pay for all your usage at the normal rates; part of the payment arrives as a bill credit and the rest by check, and RI Energy keeps the renewable energy certificates.
The state grant is for net metering only
The Renewable Energy Fund grant from RI Commerce pays $1.65 a watt up to $14,500 a project, so anything above 8.8 kW gets the maximum, plus $5,000 when a battery is funded alongside it, under rules revised in April 2026. It is only for directly owned, net metered systems and cannot be combined with Renewable Energy Growth, so a quote that counts both has double counted.
Ask to see both programs modeled
The right answer depends on how much of your production you consume yourself. An installer who models only one of the two has not answered the Rhode Island question.

From RI Energy’s published guidelines · checked 2026-10-02 · source

RI Energy net metering questions

Does RI Energy offer one for one net metering?
No. Net metering credits generation up to your own consumption at RI Energy’s published Renewable Net Metering Credit, 21.650 cents for a house in September 2026 against 26.400 cents to buy, and anything beyond your consumption at the wholesale price. Renewable Energy Growth is a separate fixed-rate alternative.
What does RI Energy pay for power sent back to the grid?
About 82% of retail up to your use, or a different program entirely. Credits carry against the bill.
Do I need a battery with RI Energy?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because RI Energy 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 RI Energy territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my RI Energy bill?
Sign in at rienergy.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 RI Energy?
Ask for both paths modeled against your own twelve months of usage: net metering with the Renewable Energy Fund grant, and Renewable Energy Growth at its fixed price with no grant. The REG price is set for each program year, so confirm the one on your certificate of eligibility.