Rooftop solar owners will receive 31% less compensation for the excess energy they send to the grid following a final rule by the the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
The decision follows investor-owned utility Idaho Power’s proposal in April to cut net-metering rates by 60%. The export credit rate compensates home solar owners for the excess energy they generate. Idaho Power buys this energy and sells it to customers to power their homes.
The Idaho PUC issued its final order Sept. 30, 2025, saying it had to decided the export credit rate would be about
- 65 cents per kWh for summer on-peak,
- 39 cents per kWh for summer off-peak, and
- 90 cents per kWh for all hours during the non-summer season.
The PUC made its decision following the public comment period, which it received 850 public comments, with 88% opposing the rate decrease, according to the PUC’s final approval. Read some of the public comments below. The rest can be found in the case’s docket.
The new export credit rates are now i neffect. These values are approximate values until a compliance filing is approved, the PUC said.
In January 2024 the rate was cut from 8.8 cents per kWh exported to 6.18 cents per kWh.
The rate cuts come shortly after Idaho Power imposed a $15 fixed monthly fee for electric bill ratepayers this January. The fee applies regardless of the amount of electricity used. This fixed fee is up from $5 per month a few years ago.
“Even though we’re opposed to these solar rate changes, we appreciate the adjustments the PUC made to Idaho Power’s original proposal to help reduce the impact on customer power bills,” Lisa Young, director of the Idaho Chapter of the Sierra Club said in a statement.
The changes apply to solar owners who applied to install their systems after Dec. 20, 2020.
In the final rule, the PUC recognized Idaho Power’s proposed 60% decrease would result in especially sharp bill increases for solar customers and create uncertainty for customers and the solar industry.
The PUC suspended Idaho Power’s requirement to update its export credit rate until 2028, saying that “annual updates to the [export credit rate] that are required by a previous Commission order are difficult for non-legacy customers to adjust to and complicate investment decisions for potential future on-site generation customers.”
The PUC used a widely criticized study to determine the rates.
In 2022, the Idaho PUC directed Idaho Power to conduct an internal study prior to implementing any changes to the net metering program. The order was immediately met with public outcry, with critics saying a neutral third party – not Idaho Power – should conduct the study to determine how much Idaho Power should compensate for the energy it purchases from solar owners.
In response, Sierra Club commissioned an independent study from Crossborder Energy, a California-based firm that provides consulting services for regulatory issues pertaining to the natural gas and electricity sectors.
Idaho Power’s study and the independent study came to different conclusions.
Idaho Power’s internal study said excess energy generated by rooftop solar owners is worth 2.8 to 4 cents per kWh, while the independent study said the excess energy is worth nearly five times that value at 18.3 cents per kWh. At the time, net-metered rooftop solar was paid at the retail rate of energy, about 8 to 10 cents per kWh.
Crossborder said Idaho Power used outdated data and made poor assumptions to arrive at lower compensation rates. Idaho Power neglected to include benefits such as the long-term hedge against natural gas price volatility, rate impacts of carbon emissions, and infrastructure benefits such as avoided line losses and transmission buildout deferral, Crossborder said. It also over-valued the cost of integrating rooftop solar by a factor of five, the study said.
Nearly 1,000 people submitted public comment following the study, most of which criticizing the study’s methodology and data.
During the nearly six hours of in-person testimony against Idaho Power’s study that followed, the Sierra Club urged the PUC “to reject Idaho Power’s flawed study and require a more impartial, complete, accurate, and accessible analysis.”
Kate Bowman, Vote Solar’s Interior West senior regulatory director said, “Allowing Idaho Power to pay solar customers just a small fraction of the value of the energy they send to the grid will stifle investments in rooftop solar and undermine customers who have already committed to generating clean, local energy.”
The PUC said it will consider petitions for reconsideration until Oct. 21. The next formal opportunity to comment on Idaho Power solar rate changes will now be in April 2028, after Idaho Power submits an update and new proposal to the PUC.
“Energy affordability is an increasingly important issue in Idaho, and the PUC has a key role to play in ensuring that our monopoly utilities don’t unfairly raise our bills. We will continue pushing the PUC to listen to Idaho ratepayers and prioritize fair rates moving forward,” Young said.
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