A service available from many utility providers in which homeowners get full retail value for most, if not all, of the electricity produced by their own generating system. A utility meter keeps track of the “net” difference between the electricity used from the utility provider and the electricity produced by the homeowner’s system.

If the homeowner uses more electricity than their system feeds into the grid during a given month, they pay the power provider only for the difference between what they used and what they produced.

Some power providers will let homeowners carry over the balance of any net extra electricity their system generates from month to month, which can be an advantage if the resource they are using to generate their electricity is seasonal. If, at the end of the year, they have produced more electricity than they’ve used, they forfeit the excess generation to the power provider.

When connecting their renewable energy system to the grid, the homeowner will probably be required to sign an Interconnection Agreement with their local power provider.