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Net Metering Program
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Alliant Energy (Wisconsin Power and Light) net metering in Wisconsin

Southern and central Wisconsin, including Madison, Janesville, Beloit and Wisconsin Rapids. The tightest size limit in the state at 20 kW, and avoided cost crediting on top.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
490K

What they credit you

Netted monthly up to 20 kW; excess at avoided cost

Published terms

For systems of 20 kW or less, production offsets consumption within each billing month at the retail rate. A month’s net excess is bought at Alliant’s avoided cost, 4.254 cents per kWh on average in 2026, against 17.011 cents to buy on the standard rate.

Month to month
A credit balance of $100 or less carries to the next bill.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Installers serving Alliant 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 Alliant 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 Alliant bill

An average Wisconsin 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$126.16
$126.16
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 41746 kilowatt hours. A 645 kilowatt hour month against 825 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 180 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $126.16 to $0.00 at 19.56 cents per kilowatt hour.

Wisconsin average household use, 645 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 19.56¢ 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.

Alliant requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in Alliant territory.

Alliant 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 Alliant 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. Wisconsin sets the eligible system size per utility, not by statute: 20 kW at Alliant, 100 kW at Xcel and 300 kW at We Energies. Check your own utility’s limit before anyone designs to a number they heard elsewhere. Alliant sets its own limits. Ask Alliant 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 Alliant 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

Size to what you use in a month, not in a year: anything beyond a month’s consumption earns about a quarter of the retail rate. Confirm the 20 kW limit, the insurance requirement and, on time of use, the cost of the second meter before you sign.

What Alliant 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
$0.526 a day, about $16.00 a month
How it is set
Wisconsin Power and Light bills its residential Customer Charge by the day: $0.5260 for single-phase service, about $16.00 a month, on the standard rate (Rg-1) and the time-of-use rate (Rg-5) alike, and both make “The minimum monthly bill is the applicable customer charge.” New homes are placed on Rg-5 unless you ask otherwise when service is installed. With solar, PgS-3 says plainly: “The customer charge is due monthly whether or not the customer is a net seller of energy to the company in that billing month.” Up to 20 kW, production offsets consumption within each billing month, by pricing period on time of use, and a month’s net excess is bought at avoided cost: 4.254 cents a kilowatt hour on average in 2026 for standard metering, against 17.011 cents to buy on Rg-1. A credit balance of $100 or less carries to the next bill. Two costs catch people. The tariff requires $300,000 of liability insurance or other proof of financial responsibility, and a time-of-use customer must pay for a second time-of-use meter to record exports, repaid over no more than two years.

Wisconsin Power and Light Company, Volume III: Schedule Rg-1, Sheet Nos. 3.10 and 3.11, and Schedule Rg-5, Sheet No. 3.21, effective 1 January 2026 (Docket 6680-UR-125); Schedule PgS-3, Sheet No. 7.80, Sheet No. 7.81 (20th Revision, effective 1 January 2026) and Sheet No. 7.82 · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to Alliant

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

The size limit is 20 kW, not 100 or 300
Wisconsin Power and Light offers net metering for systems of 20 kW or less. That is the lowest of the three large utilities, and it is a real constraint on a large house or a small farm.
Within the month it is net metering; beyond it, avoided cost
Alliant’s PgS-3 schedule offsets your consumption with your production for each billing month, by pricing period if you are on time of use. Only a month’s net excess is bought at avoided cost: 4.254 cents per kWh on average in 2026 for standard metering, against 17.011 cents to buy on the standard rate.
Two requirements that catch people
The tariff asks for $300,000 of liability insurance or other proof of financial responsibility, and a time-of-use customer must pay for a second time-of-use meter to record exports. New homes go onto the time-of-use rate unless you ask otherwise when service is installed.
There is no statewide rate to appeal to
Wisconsin sets these arrangements per utility. If Alliant’s terms do not work for your roof, no state rule overrides them.

From Alliant’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-05 · source

Alliant net metering questions

Does Alliant offer one for one net metering?
No. For systems of 20 kW or less, production offsets consumption within each billing month at the retail rate. A month’s net excess is bought at Alliant’s avoided cost, 4.254 cents per kWh on average in 2026, against 17.011 cents to buy on the standard rate.
What does Alliant pay for power sent back to the grid?
Netted monthly up to 20 kW; excess at avoided cost. A credit balance of $100 or less carries to the next bill.
Do I need a battery with Alliant?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Alliant 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 Alliant territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my Alliant bill?
Sign in at alliantenergy.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 Alliant?
Size to what you use in a month, not in a year: anything beyond a month’s consumption earns about a quarter of the retail rate. Confirm the 20 kW limit, the insurance requirement and, on time of use, the cost of the second meter before you sign.