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Net Metering Program
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Appalachian Power net metering in West Virginia

Southern and central West Virginia, including Charleston, Huntington, Beckley and Bluefield. An American Electric Power company. It also serves Virginia, under different rules, and its West Virginia grandfathering window closed in 2026.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
450K

What they credit you

12.41 cents for every kilowatt hour exported, since the window closed

Published terms

Full retail one for one crediting closed to new applications on 1 March 2026. Outside the grandfathering window, what you draw is billed at the residential rate and every kilowatt hour you export is credited at 12.41 cents.

Month to month
Per the utility’s net metering tariff.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Installers serving Appalachian Power 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 Appalachian Power 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 Appalachian Power bill

An average West Virginia 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$158.67
$158.67
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 41639 kilowatt hours. A 1,027 kilowatt hour month against 1,314 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 287 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $158.67 to $0.00 at 15.45 cents per kilowatt hour.

West Virginia average household use, 1,027 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 15.45¢ 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.

Appalachian Power requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in Appalachian Power territory.

Appalachian Power 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 Appalachian Power 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. West Virginia’s two utility families pay very differently, and Appalachian Power’s better rate closed to new applications in March 2026, so the design question here starts with which company and which application date. Appalachian Power sets its own limits. Ask Appalachian Power 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 Appalachian Power 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

Confirm which arrangement your application falls under. Grandfathered netting stays with the address until 1 March 2051; expanding the system by more than 10% or 1 kW, whichever is greater, loses it.

What Appalachian Power 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
$14.02 a month
How it is set
Schedule R.S. sets a Basic Service Charge of $14.02 a month for service from 1 July 2026, and “a minimum monthly charge equal to the Basic Service Charge.” Energy is 11.100 cents a kilowatt hour for the first 500 and 9.584 cents beyond (6.150 cents above 1,350 in December to February), before the fuel and other riders, and a local tax surcharge where a municipality levies one. For new solar customers, Tariff N.M.S. no longer nets. What you draw is billed at the residential rate, and everything you export is credited at 12.41 cents a kilowatt hour (avoided energy 3.83, capacity 3.52, transmission 4.91 and ancillary services 0.154 cents), and “Rate credits shall not be applied to reduce any fixed monthly minimum bill or customer charge.” One for one netting survives only for customer-generators existing on 1 March 2026, or residential customers who applied by then and were complete by 1 September 2026, for 25 years at that address, to 1 March 2051. The tariff also requires $100,000 of general liability insurance for a system up to 50 kW, and caps residential net metering at 0.5% of the company’s peak load.

Appalachian Power Company, P.S.C. W. Va. Tariff No. 16: Schedule R.S., First Revision of Corrected Original Sheet No. 5-1, effective 1 July 2026 (order of 18 June 2026), and Original Sheet No. 5-1A; Tariff N.M.S. (Net Metering Service), Sheet Nos. 26-1 to 26-6 · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to Appalachian Power

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

The full retail window closed on 1 March 2026
That was the deadline to file a net metering application in order to fall under full retail one for one crediting, with orders of completion required by 1 September 2026 for residential customers. Both dates have now passed.
What new residential systems get instead
No netting. Tariff N.M.S. measures what you draw and what you export separately, bills the first at the residential rate and credits the second at 12.41 cents per kWh: avoided energy, capacity, transmission and ancillary services. Credits cannot reduce the customer charge or minimum bill.
If you applied before the deadline, the date is the asset
Anyone with an application filed and completed inside the window holds a materially better arrangement than anyone applying now. Keep the paperwork.
Do not read the Virginia rules across
The same company serves Virginia under a completely different statutory framework, including an aggregate cap and a standby charge that do not exist here.

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

Appalachian Power net metering questions

Does Appalachian Power offer one for one net metering?
No. Full retail one for one crediting closed to new applications on 1 March 2026. Outside the grandfathering window, what you draw is billed at the residential rate and every kilowatt hour you export is credited at 12.41 cents.
What does Appalachian Power pay for power sent back to the grid?
12.41 cents for every kilowatt hour exported, since the window closed. Per the utility’s net metering tariff.
Do I need a battery with Appalachian Power?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Appalachian Power 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 Appalachian Power territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my Appalachian Power bill?
Sign in at appalachianpower.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 Appalachian Power?
Confirm which arrangement your application falls under. Grandfathered netting stays with the address until 1 March 2051; expanding the system by more than 10% or 1 kW, whichever is greater, loses it.