How to Read Your Electric Bill With Solar (2026)

The four numbers on every solar bill

A solar customer's bill includes four kWh metrics, often abbreviated cryptically:

1. Delivered kWh (sometimes "Energy Delivered" or "Imported") — what the utility delivered TO you. Things you used that came from the grid.
2. Received kWh (sometimes "Energy Received" or "Exported") — what your solar sent TO the utility (production beyond what you self-consumed).
3. Net kWh — Delivered minus Received. If positive, you net-imported (you owe the utility). If negative, you net-exported (utility owes you, often as a credit rolling forward).
4. Total Production — what your solar actually produced (your inverter monitoring app reports this). Most utility bills DO NOT show this number directly because the utility doesn't measure it. Why this matters — see below.

Why your inverter says "produced 12 kWh today" but the utility shows "received 4 kWh"

Because you USED 8 kWh of your own production directly, and only EXPORTED the other 4 kWh.

Solar production goes through three paths in real time:

1. Self-consumption — if your refrigerator is running while solar is producing, the panels feed the fridge directly. The utility never sees this energy. Your monitoring app counts it as production; your bill doesn't show it as anything because you didn't import it OR export it.
2. Export to grid — production beyond your real-time use flows out to the utility. This is what shows up as "Received kWh" on your bill.
3. Battery charge — if you have a battery, production goes to charge it before it ever hits the grid. Battery dispatch later reduces grid imports.

So: Production = Self-consumption + Export + Battery charge. Your inverter monitoring shows the production line. Your utility bill only shows the import and export lines. The difference is the self-consumption — which is real energy used, just never metered by the utility.

Math example: a typical sunny day

Say you have an 8 kW system on a clear July day in Minnesota. The system produces 50 kWh that day. Your home uses 30 kWh of it directly during daytime hours (AC running, fridge, dishwasher, EV charging, dryer). The other 20 kWh exports to the grid.

That night, your home uses 15 kWh from the grid (sun is down, no battery). The next day's bill (assuming 24-hour summary):

• Production (your monitoring): 50 kWh
• Imported (utility): 15 kWh
• Exported (utility): 20 kWh
• Net: 5 kWh exported (your bill credits you for 5 kWh)

Production is bigger than (Imported + Exported) because of self-consumption.

Common bill confusions

"I produced way more than I imported — why is my bill not zero?"

You may be on a tariff that bills delivery + supply separately. You can be net-credit on supply (energy commodity) but still pay the delivery (transmission + distribution) and fixed charges. Net metering at retail offsets supply, but a $15/month customer charge is still owed.

"My net metering credits aren't applying"

Most utilities apply net-credit balances against future months' usage, NOT against fixed charges. So even if you have 200 kWh of unused credits, your $12 fixed charge is still due. Some utilities settle credits at year-end at a different (lower) rate than retail.

"My utility says my system isn't producing anything"

If the utility reports zero production, it may mean: (1) your interconnection paperwork (PTO) hasn't been finalized; (2) your bidirectional meter isn't installed yet; (3) your system has tripped offline for a fault. Check your inverter monitoring app to see if the system is actually producing. If yes — this is a utility metering issue, escalate.

"My TOU peak charges look really high"

If you're on TOU but using power-hungry appliances (oven, dryer, AC) during the peak window, you'll see exactly that effect. Solar is most useful at offsetting peak-hour bills if production happens during the peak window (mid-day in many TOU plans). North-facing arrays on west-coast TOU schedules can be a poor match.

"I have a battery; why does my bill show import during a sunny day?"

Battery is probably charging from the grid (TOU import during off-peak hours) and then discharging during peak hours. Some utility programs (Tesla VPP, Sunrun BrightBox, Xcel Battery Bonus) actively dispatch your battery this way to reduce net peak bill. Look at the daily curve, not the totals.

How to read TOU bills

Time-of-Use bills break the kWh into peak / mid-peak / off-peak windows. Common 2026 schedules:

• Xcel TOU MN: Peak 3–8pm weekdays summer; off-peak otherwise.
• APS TOU AZ: Peak 4–7pm summer; off-peak otherwise.
• SCE TOU CA: Peak 4–9pm year-round; mid-peak afternoons; off-peak overnight.
• NEM 3.0 CA: Export rate also varies by hour and season — same hourly schedule but applied to net-exports.

Each TOU period has its own kWh consumed AND its own rate. Your bill shows them separately so you can see how much of your usage falls in each period.

Tools to verify your bill

• Inverter monitoring (free): Compare your monitored production to the utility's export number. Production should equal export plus your self-consumption (use vs sleep night-time imports).
• Bidirectional meter manual read: Many utilities show separate meter registers (delivered vs received). Read the digits manually each month and verify the bill numbers match.
• Utility online dashboard: Most utilities now offer hourly-interval meter data through a customer dashboard (Xcel, ConEd, PG&E, SCE all do this). Useful for spotting unusual consumption.
• Utility Bill Analyzer (this site): Upload your bills and we'll extract everything for you, including TOU split, demand charges, and rate structure.

Frequently asked questions