Incentivizes green energy production by allowing families and institutions to run their electric meter backwards, selling excess power they generate back to the utility at the retail price they pay, rather than the lower rate paid to wholesale producers.

Policy Support:

Policies that mandate net metering; expansion of existing net metering beyond just institutions to households.

Build Capacity?

In itself, net metering does not really build power, but it can facilitate or enable further regulatory developments that might. It does help displace corporate energy generation in favor of decentralized production of renewable power.

Risk & Drawbacks?

Without complementary policies and institutions designed around inclusion, access to capital and economic privilege will determine who participates in and benefits from the solar economy. Political opposition to net metering from existing utility interests is likely to continue. Hypothetically, the savings realized by consumers able to invest in solar generation could mean lower income communities pay a higher share of the costs of grid maintenance.

Inspiring Examples:

Only a handful of states lack net metering laws, although there is significant variation on the technical details in the various state policies. Net metering has been a key driver of the over one million solar rooftops in the U.S.