During the day, most solar customers produce more electricity than they consume. A major hurdle to solar power adoption has been how to store the sun’s energy so you can use it when you need it. Net metering allows you to use your utility company to essentially store your unused energy.
The way this works is Net metering programs give homeowners full retail rate credit for surplus energy they produce with their solar system. This is a one for one credit- For every kilowatt hour of energy your system sends out into the grid, you get a kilowatt hour credit back to be used for your home.
All three of the state’s major utilities — Idaho Power, Rocky Mountain Power and Avista Utilities — offer net metering programs.