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Net Metering Program
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Memphis Light, Gas and Water net metering in Tennessee

Memphis and Shelby County. A TVA distributor serving electricity, gas and water. Exports earn nothing from MLGW itself; payment comes only through a TVA contract.

Type
Municipal
Accounts
440K

What they credit you

Nothing from MLGW; TVA’s monthly avoided cost by contract

Published terms

MLGW’s distributed generation overview gives three options. Self-generation sends any instantaneous excess to the grid “without financial benefit”. To be paid, you sign a five-year Dispersed Power Production agreement with TVA, selling either all of the output or only the instantaneous excess at TVA’s avoided cost, which varies monthly: 3.112 cents a kWh under the flat Part A for October 2026. TVA pays by direct deposit, not on the MLGW bill.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-07 · source

Installers serving MLGW 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 MLGW territory, 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 MLGW bill

An average Tennessee 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$162.37
$162.37
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 41604 kilowatt hours. A 1,154 kilowatt hour month against 1,476 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 322 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $162.37 to $0.00 at 14.07 cents per kilowatt hour.

Tennessee average household use, 1,154 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 14.07¢ 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.

MLGW requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in MLGW territory.

MLGW 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 MLGW 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. Tennessee sets no statutory system size limit, because it has no net metering statute. Size is governed by TVA’s interconnection requirements and by your local power company’s own rules. MLGW sets its own limits. Ask MLGW 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 MLGW 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

Every option needs a separate generation meter, and the self-generation options carry a monthly MLGW Electric Service Availability charge on top of the $15.10 floor. Ask MLGW for that charge in writing before you size anything.

What MLGW 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
$15.10 a month
How it is set
Schedule RS sets a Service Charge of $16.64 a month less a Hydro Allocation Credit of $1.54, so $15.10 net, and the tariff makes that net figure the floor: the base service charge as reduced by the hydro allocation credit constitutes the minimum monthly bill. Energy is 10.154 cents for the first 500 kWh in summer and 10.035 cents above it, falling to 9.494 and 9.377 cents in the transition months, plus the TVA fuel cost adjustment. These rates took effect on 1 January 2026 as the last instalment of a 12 percent multi-year increase the City Council approved in 2023.

Schedule RS, effective 1 January 2026 · checked 2026-09-29 · source

Applying to MLGW

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

There is no net metering to sign up for
Tennessee has no net metering statute, and none of the utilities read here credits exports at the retail rate. A quote that promises Tennessee net metering should name the document it comes from.
What TVA pays changes every month
TVA buys power under its Dispersed Power Production Guidelines at a price it revises monthly to track its projected avoided cost. Dispersed Power Price Schedule CSPP for October 2026 prints 3.112 cents a kWh under its flat Part A, and 2.913 to 3.221 cents by time of day under Part B.
Your local power company is the whole question
Each local power company sets its own interconnection terms and decides what, if anything, it pays. MLGW pays nothing for exports unless you sign TVA’s contract; NES buys exports itself under NESolar Savings.
You need an interconnection agreement either way
Every installation requires an interconnection agreement with the local power company, whether or not you are paid anything for exports.
Green Connect is a contractor program, not a rate
TVA’s Green Connect connects homeowners with installers in its Quality Contractor Network. It does not pay you for power and it is not net metering.
Self consumption is the entire return here
Where an exported kilowatt hour earns about three cents or nothing at all, the value of a system is what you use inside the house. That makes storage and load shifting central rather than optional.

From MLGW’s published guidelines · checked 2026-10-07 · source

MLGW net metering questions

Does MLGW offer one for one net metering?
No. MLGW’s distributed generation overview gives three options. Self-generation sends any instantaneous excess to the grid “without financial benefit”. To be paid, you sign a five-year Dispersed Power Production agreement with TVA, selling either all of the output or only the instantaneous excess at TVA’s avoided cost, which varies monthly: 3.112 cents a kWh under the flat Part A for October 2026. TVA pays by direct deposit, not on the MLGW bill.
What does MLGW pay for power sent back to the grid?
Nothing from MLGW; TVA’s monthly avoided cost by contract.
Do I need a battery with MLGW?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because MLGW 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 MLGW territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my MLGW bill?
Sign in at mlgw.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 MLGW?
Every option needs a separate generation meter, and the self-generation options carry a monthly MLGW Electric Service Availability charge on top of the $15.10 floor. Ask MLGW for that charge in writing before you size anything.