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Net Metering Program
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Duke Energy Carolinas net metering in South Carolina

The Upstate and the northwest, including Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson and Rock Hill. A separate South Carolina tariff from the same company’s North Carolina one. Do not carry a North Carolina figure across the state line.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
600K

What they credit you

Netted by time-of-use period; net excess at 4.19 cents

Published terms

Rider RSC puts you on Schedule R-STOU, a solar time-of-use rate, and nets what you take against what you send within each pricing period of the month. Net excess energy in a period is credited at 4.19 cents a kWh under the sheet in force since 1 January 2026, against energy at 9.38 to 20.90 cents a kWh off-peak to on-peak before riders.

Month to month
Credits reduce that month’s bill after the minimum is applied.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-08 · source

Installers serving Duke Carolinas 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 Duke Carolinas 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 Duke Carolinas bill

An average South Carolina 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$163.28
$163.28
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 41633 kilowatt hours. A 1,050 kilowatt hour month against 1,343 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 293 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $163.28 to $0.00 at 15.55 cents per kilowatt hour.

South Carolina average household use, 1,050 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 15.55¢ 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

The credit changes when Duke files a new sheet: 2.62 cents on the 2023 leaf, 4.19 cents since 1 January 2026, so check the leaf in force when you sign. The solar rate also carries a $0.47 per kW monthly non-bypassable charge, a $5.86 per kW grid access fee above 15 kW, and a $30 minimum on the customer and distribution charges that your credits cannot reduce. Systems are limited to 20 kW AC, and the renewable energy certificates go to Duke.

What Duke Carolinas 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
$30.00 a month
How it is set
Rider RSC (SC), Residential Solar Choice, is the document that governs this, and it sets a rule rather than a number: the monthly minimum bill "shall be no less than the Basic Facilities Charge from the Customer’s rate schedule and riders plus, if applicable, any additional minimum bill provisions specified in the Customer’s rate schedule and riders." The figure that rule resolves to is $30.00, which the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff records for the Duke solar choice rates, with Duke Energy Carolinas customers paying an additional $16.91 above the basic facilities charge to reach it. The sentence that matters most is the next one in the rider: "Bill credits for net excess energy are not included in the calculation of the minimum bill charge. Bill credits will reduce a Customer’s total bill after the minimum bill charge has been applied." The minimum is worked out first and your solar credit is spent only on what is left, so no amount of export removes it. Three further conditions come with the rider and none of them are obvious from a quote: going on it moves you to Schedule R-STOU, a time-of-use rate, so the price of a kilowatt hour starts depending on when you use it; your system may not exceed 20 kW AC; and every environmental attribute, the renewable energy certificates included, is conveyed to Duke rather than kept by you. Exported energy is credited at 4.19 cents a kilowatt hour under the Third Revised Leaf No. 136, effective 1 January 2026 (the 2023 sheet said 2.62 cents). Schedule R-STOU, effective 2 October 2026, now words the floor as a Minimum Customer & Distribution Charge: when the Basic Customer Charge of $13.09, the customer and distribution portions of the energy charges and the volumetric riders come to less than $30, the difference is added, and the $0.47 per kW non-bypassable charge sits outside it.

Rider RSC (SC), Residential Solar Choice, South Carolina First Revised Leaf No. 136, effective for service rendered on and after 1 January 2023, PSCSC Docket 2020-264-E, Order 2021-390; the $30.00 figure from the SC Office of Regulatory Staff Solar Choice Rates Overview, as of 1 January 2022 · checked 2026-09-30 · source

Applying to Duke Carolinas

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

Three groups, three deals, and one of them has already ended
The Office of Regulatory Staff sets it out plainly: applications before 16 May 2019 kept the full retail rate "until December 31, 2025"; applications between 16 May 2019 and 31 May 2021 keep it "until May 31, 2029"; from 1 June 2021 solar choice metering applies. The first group’s protection has expired.
Solar choice means a time of use rate on everything you buy
The ORS is blunt about the consequence: "Solar typically produces electricity during off-peak hours ... Consumers with solar may produce enough electricity to cover their usage during on-peak times, but still end up paying a bill because of the higher price to use electricity in the evenings."
The export credit is reset every year in the fuel case
The ORS: "This per kWh credit amount is determined in the company’s annual fuel case." Whatever figure an installer quotes you is this year’s, not the life of the system.
The rates are available for ten years, not forever
The Commission approved these rates for consumers applying on or after 1 June 2021, "available to consumers for the next ten years".
A $30 floor your credits cannot touch
Schedule R-STOU: when the $13.09 Basic Customer Charge, the customer and distribution portions of the energy charges and the volumetric riders come to less than $30, the difference is added as a Minimum Customer & Distribution Charge. Bill credits for net excess energy are not counted toward it.
An exported kilowatt hour is worth 4.19 cents in 2026
Rider RSC (SC), effective 1 January 2026, prints a "Monthly Credit for Net Excess Energy, per kWh $0.0419". ORS recorded 2.70 cents in January 2022 and the rider’s 2023 sheet 2.62 cents, so the figure moves; check the leaf in force when you sign.
Netting happens inside each time-of-use period
Supply and exports are netted within each pricing period of the month, and only the net excess in a period earns the credit. Exports during Critical Peak hours are netted against On-peak use.
Three charges come with the solar rate
Schedule R-STOU adds a Non-bypassable Charge of $0.47 a month per kW of nameplate capacity, a Grid Access Fee of $5.86 a month per kW above 15 kW, and the Distributed Energy Resource Program fixed monthly charge on Leaf 50C.

From Duke Carolinas’s published guidelines · checked 2026-10-08 · source

Duke Carolinas net metering questions

Does Duke Carolinas offer one for one net metering?
Yes. Rider RSC puts you on Schedule R-STOU, a solar time-of-use rate, and nets what you take against what you send within each pricing period of the month. Net excess energy in a period is credited at 4.19 cents a kWh under the sheet in force since 1 January 2026, against energy at 9.38 to 20.90 cents a kWh off-peak to on-peak before riders. Credits reduce that month’s bill after the minimum is applied.
What does Duke Carolinas pay for power sent back to the grid?
Netted by time-of-use period; net excess at 4.19 cents.
Do I need a battery with Duke Carolinas?
Not for the economics. Duke Carolinas 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 Duke Carolinas bill?
Sign in at duke-energy.com. Open My Account, then Billing & Payment. Open View 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 Duke Carolinas?
The credit changes when Duke files a new sheet: 2.62 cents on the 2023 leaf, 4.19 cents since 1 January 2026, so check the leaf in force when you sign. The solar rate also carries a $0.47 per kW monthly non-bypassable charge, a $5.86 per kW grid access fee above 15 kW, and a $30 minimum on the customer and distribution charges that your credits cannot reduce. Systems are limited to 20 kW AC, and the renewable energy certificates go to Duke.