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Net Metering Program
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Xcel Energy net metering in Wisconsin

Western and northern Wisconsin, including Eau Claire, La Crosse and Superior. The strongest arrangement of the three large Wisconsin utilities, by a wide margin.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
270K

What they credit you

Retail up to your annual use, check at year end

Published terms

Excess generation is banked in kilowatt hours through the calendar year and offsets your usage at the retail rate. On the last bill of the year, surplus beyond the year’s unmatched usage is bought at avoided cost, 3.153 to 5.297 cents a kWh plus a transmission credit in 2026, and paid by check. Systems up to 100 kW are eligible.

Month to month
Carried in kilowatt hours through the calendar year.
Once a year
On the last bill of the year; any credit is paid by check.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Installers serving Xcel 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 Xcel 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 Xcel 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.

What your installer should be telling you

Size to your annual use: surplus beyond it is paid at avoided cost, not retail. On a time-of-use rate, on-peak generation offsets only on-peak usage.

What Xcel 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
$16.00 a month
How it is set
Residential Service (Rg-1) sets a Customer Charge of $16.00 a month for single-phase service and $19.50 for three-phase, effective 1 January 2026 after the Commission’s order in Docket 4220-UR-127, and makes the “Monthly Minimum Charge” “the total of the customer charge and any applicable meter charges.” Delivery is 6.550 cents a kilowatt hour and energy 9.790 cents from June to September and 8.540 cents otherwise, before the energy cost adjustment. With solar, Schedule Pg-1 bills on a net energy basis each month and carries excess forward in kilowatt hours through the calendar year. On the last bill of the year it nets the bank against any usage not yet offset in the previous twelve months at the retail rate; what remains is bought at the Pg-2B rates, 3.153 to 5.297 cents a kilowatt hour plus a 0.705 cent transmission credit in 2026, and paid by check. Netting reduces kilowatt hours only, so the monthly minimum still applies, and you keep your renewable energy credits.

Northern States Power Company (Wisconsin), Wisconsin Electric Rate Book Volume No. 7: Schedule Rg-1, Sheet No. E 10, Revision 30, effective 1 January 2026 (Docket No. 4220-UR-127); Schedule Pg-1, Sheet Nos. E 55 and E 55.1; Schedule Pg-2B, Sheet Nos. E 56.6 and E 56.61, effective 1 January 2026 (Docket No. 4220-TE-2026) · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to Xcel

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

Excess is banked at the retail rate through the year
If your system exports more than you use in a month, the excess carries forward in kilowatt hours to later months of the same calendar year and offsets your usage one for one. That is genuine retail crediting and it is unusual in this state.
And a check at the end of the year
On the last bill of the year, banked excess is first netted at the retail rate against any usage it has not yet offset in the previous twelve months. Only what is left beyond that is bought at avoided cost, 3.153 to 5.297 cents a kWh plus a transmission credit in 2026, and the credit is paid by check. Not a balance that expires, an actual payment.
Eligible up to 100 kW
Well beyond anything a house needs, so size here is decided by your roof and your usage rather than by the tariff.
Do not carry this across a territory line
We Energies credits excess at a buyback rate well below what Xcel pays, and Alliant’s terms differ again. Wisconsin has no statewide rate, and a figure from a neighbor on a different utility is not your figure.

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

Xcel net metering questions

Does Xcel offer one for one net metering?
Yes. Excess generation is banked in kilowatt hours through the calendar year and offsets your usage at the retail rate. On the last bill of the year, surplus beyond the year’s unmatched usage is bought at avoided cost, 3.153 to 5.297 cents a kWh plus a transmission credit in 2026, and paid by check. Systems up to 100 kW are eligible. Carried in kilowatt hours through the calendar year.
What does Xcel pay for power sent back to the grid?
Retail up to your annual use, check at year end. On the last bill of the year; any credit is paid by check.
Do I need a battery with Xcel?
Not for the economics. Xcel 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 Xcel bill?
Sign in at xcelenergy.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 Xcel?
Size to your annual use: surplus beyond it is paid at avoided cost, not retail. On a time-of-use rate, on-peak generation offsets only on-peak usage.