Rocky Mountain Power Solar Export Credits in Utah: Why a Fixed Buyback Assumption Can Mislead

A Utah solar proposal can look reassuring when it assigns a steady value to every kilowatt-hour the panels produce. For a Rocky Mountain Power customer on Schedule 137, that shortcut can hide two important questions: how much electricity leaves the house, and what the utility pays for those exports during the applicable billing months. A financing payment can continue even when the assumptions behind projected utility savings change.

Check which Utah program is on your account

Rocky Mountain Power lists Schedule 135 as its grandfathered net-metering program and Schedule 136 as its transition program, both closed to new applicants. Schedule 137 is its net-billing program. This article addresses Utah accounts on Schedule 137. Do not apply it to an older program or a municipal or cooperative utility without checking that account's separate tariff.

Find the program on a recent bill or ask the utility to identify it in writing. Keep that answer with the interconnection record. The phrase net metering in an advertisement is not enough to establish which billing terms your account actually receives. If the account or equipment has changed, request the history rather than assuming the original proposal still describes the current arrangement.

What Schedule 137 currently pays

The Utah PSC approved the current Schedule 137 revision on February 23, 2026, effective March 1, 2026. Export credits are 4.855 cents per kWh for June through September billing months and 4.033 cents for October through May. The approval reduced the previous values of 5.704 and 4.199 cents, respectively. The current utility tariff matches that approval when checked September 10, 2026.

For an illustrative 500 exported kWh in a June-through-September billing month, the calculation is 500 multiplied by $0.04855, or $24.275 before billing rounding. Rounded to cents, that is $24.28. The same exported quantity in an October-through-May billing month calculates to $20.165, or $20.17 rounded. These examples isolate the export component. They are not a total utility bill or a prediction of future credit rates.

A cents-per-kWh rate is not the same as dollars per kWh. When reviewing a spreadsheet, confirm the units and seasonal dates as well as the number. Also confirm that the example uses electricity exported through the utility meter, not the full production shown by the solar monitoring application.

Why the rate can change

The Division of Public Utilities describes an annual update procedure established by the PSC in 2021. Routine filings update specified calculation inputs through a notice and tariff process. The 2026 approval is therefore a concrete reason to question a projection that freezes today's export value for the full term of a long agreement. It does not establish the direction or size of the next change.

Ask the seller which export rate was used, when it was verified, and how later rate changes are handled in the estimate. Request a separate sensitivity comparison showing how a lower export value affects the projected household result. Keep the original dated estimate as well as the revised version. A new calculation should not erase the assumptions you were originally shown.

The PSC docket includes a later public comment dated August 19, 2026. A public comment is not a replacement tariff approval. This article uses the approved March effective rates and the utility's current schedule, rather than treating an objection or request as an adopted change.

Compare exports with your actual bill

Schedule 137 bills purchased electricity under the customer's standard service tariff and credits exported electricity separately. Its minimum monthly amount still applies. Credits are applied against Power and Energy Charges. Those mechanics mean that matching annual production to annual household use does not, on its own, demonstrate a zero utility bill.

Rocky Mountain Power explains that household use consumes production before the remainder flows through the utility meter. Its meter therefore cannot report the system's entire production. Compare the monitoring record, exported kWh, purchased kWh, and billing dates before concluding that missing bill credits represent missing generation.

• Collect the utility bill and monitoring report for matching dates. Calendar-month screenshots may not align with the meter-reading period.
• Separate production used in the home from exported energy. Ask the installer to explain the assumptions if the proposal does not distinguish them.
• Keep the solar financing, lease, or purchase payment separate from utility credits when comparing household cash costs.
• If a charge or credit appears wrong, ask the utility for its calculation and applicable tariff before relying on a sales representative's explanation.

Watch the annual credit expiration

Unused Schedule 137 credits carry forward within the annualized billing period, then expire at its end. For ordinary residential schedules, that period ends at the regularly scheduled March meter reading. Schedule 10 has a separate October cycle. Confirm the actual account and reading date rather than assuming every customer has the same anniversary.

A growing credit balance is not automatically cash available for a loan payment. Ask what the balance can offset, when it expires, and how it is reflected in any savings claim. If the proposal counts every credit as fully realized savings, compare that assumption with what your bills actually used before expiration.

Do not change equipment or household electrical operation based on this article. A proposal involving storage, controls, or system expansion needs its own technical, cost, and tariff review. The relevant homeowner question is whether the proposal accounts for unused credits and current billing rules.

Review the promise and the paperwork

An unexpected bill can involve several issues at once: an outdated rate assumption, consumption different from the estimate, production concerns, or financing that was not explained clearly. Organize those issues separately. That gives a reviewer something more useful than a single statement that the panels did not save money.

Use the Utah document-review guidance to organize your signed agreement, original savings proposal, utility bills, and interconnection approval. Related utility-billing questions and payment and financing issues may require different explanations.

Ask for any written guarantee, the assumptions it uses, its exclusions, and the process for requesting performance under it. A revised export tariff does not by itself determine whether someone breached an agreement or whether a remedy is available. Those questions depend on the documents, representations, timing, and applicable law.

If you want help reviewing what you signed or were promised, request a Solar Exit agreement review. Keep the original records intact and describe the specific mismatch. The Utah FAQs provide additional context. A review does not guarantee cancellation, a refund, or a particular outcome.

General consumer information, not legal, tax, financial, or electrical advice. Exit Your Solar is not a law firm. Current tariffs, utility territory, account history, agreement terms, and individual facts matter. Consult the appropriate qualified professional for advice about your situation.