Net metering rules vary dramatically across US states and have changed materially in the last 24 months. California NEM 3.0 cuts residential solar export credits to roughly 25 percent of retail value. Massachusetts uses time-of-export pricing tied to wholesale market prices. Ohio still pays 1:1 retail rate for exported kWh. The state-by-state landscape determines whether residential solar payback runs 6 years or 12. Here is the 2026 net-metering map.
NEM 3.0 in California — the new floor
California adopted NEM 3.0 effective April 2023. Existing solar customers were grandfathered into NEM 2.0 for 20 years from interconnection. New residential solar installs after April 2023 are on NEM 3.0.
Under NEM 3.0, exported kWh credits at the Avoided Cost Calculator (ACC) rate — roughly 25 percent of retail. Residential solar payback in California stretched from 6 to 8 years under NEM 2.0 out to 9 to 12 years under NEM 3.0. Battery storage is now effectively required to recover the payback.
States still on 1:1 retail net metering
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, North Carolina, Indiana, and several smaller states still credit exported kWh at the full retail rate (1:1). Residential solar payback in these states runs 7 to 9 years without battery storage.
Texas net metering is split: deregulated REPs set their own buyback rates ranging from $0.04 to $0.18 per kWh. Some REPs offer time-of-export pricing similar to Massachusetts.
Massachusetts and the time-of-export pricing structure
Massachusetts moved to a time-of-export pricing structure in 2024. Exported kWh credits at the wholesale market price for the hour exported, not the retail rate.
The math favors solar systems sized to maximize daytime self-consumption rather than export. Battery storage to shift export to high-price hours (typically 4 to 8 pm) improves payback by 18 to 28 percent vs no battery.
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