Net Metering in Colorado, Utility by Utility

C.R.S. 40-2-124 governs net metering for Colorado’s retail utilities other than small municipal systems. Excess generation is credited against future use and carries forward indefinitely; at year end you can choose a cash payout at the utility’s average hourly incremental cost — well below retail — or donate the credit. The statute allows systems sized up to 200% of the site’s expected annual consumption.

Xcel’s own installer FAQ describes a 120% of prior-12-months limit, which conflicts with the statute’s 200%. We’re confirming against Xcel’s current tariff. In practice most homes size to cover about 100% of use, so the cap matters mainly if you’re adding an EV, a heat pump or a shop and want room for it.

On Xcel, each kWh you export offsets a kWh you use later, one for one. Summer surplus builds a bank that you draw down in winter when production drops and heating loads rise. That’s about as favorable as net metering gets, and it’s why a battery adds more resilience than bill savings for most Xcel customers.

Time-of-use rates add a wrinkle. Since November 2025, Xcel’s default residential rate charges more from 5 to 9 pm on weekdays. How exports and imports net across time periods on your bill is worth looking at once you have a few months of solar data; our Xcel bill guide shows where to find it.

Co-ops like CORE, United Power, Poudre Valley REA and Holy Cross are governed by C.R.S. 40-9.5-118, which requires net metering for systems up to at least 10 kW residential and 25 kW commercial, monthly 1:1 carryforward, and payment for annual excess within 60 days. Beyond that floor, each co-op sets its own terms.

CORE Electric Cooperative, for example, has capped residential systems at 10 kW AC and 200% of use, and reportedly credits annual excess at an avoided-cost rate of about 4.6¢ per kWh from May 2026, with a true-up after April. United Power uses a kWh net-meter bank. Terms at smaller co-ops vary, and we check your co-op’s current tariff for every quote.

Fort Collins Utilities credits exports at the active time-of-day rate, where on-peak is at least three times off-peak. A west-facing array that produces into the late afternoon can earn noticeably more per kWh than a south-facing one there. Owned systems are capped at 12 kW or 200% of use.

Longmont Power & Communications moved systems installed or expanded on or after January 1, 2025 to a value-of-solar credit that’s below retail but above wholesale; pre-2025 systems keep retail credits until January 2040. Expanding an older system moves it to the new credit, so plan the right size the first time. Loveland Water & Power nets monthly and cashes out excess each December at its buyback rate.

Colorado Springs Utilities approved a restructure on September 22, 2026: new solar customers choose either a $1-a-day fee with time-of-use, dollar-valued credits, or a demand charge with 1:1 kWh credits, while more than 11,000 existing customers get about a five-year grace period. The effective date for new installs hadn’t been confirmed when we wrote this.

Where exports are credited 1:1, the goal is simple: size to your annual use and point panels wherever they produce the most. Where exports are worth less than retail — Longmont, Fort Collins, CORE’s annual excess, the new Colorado Springs options — the goal shifts to using your own solar as it’s produced: shifting laundry and EV charging to daytime, favoring west-facing panels for late-day production, or adding a battery.

That’s why we won’t give you a savings number until we know your utility. The same 7 kW system in Denver and in Longmont can produce similar kWh and save meaningfully different dollars.

Net metering starts only after your utility approves the interconnection and installs or reprograms a meter that records both directions. That’s a separate approval from your building permit and can take its own weeks. Don’t turn a system on before the utility says you can; we handle that paperwork and tell you when you’re cleared.