Solar in South Carolina: how the rules work
How South Carolina credits the power solar panels send back to the grid, what homes there pay for electricity, and what to check when a home with solar is bought or sold.
How exported power is credited
Power sent to the grid is credited at a set share of the retail rate, below what the home pays for power it buys.
New customers are on 'Solar Choice' metering: time-of-use netting where exports first offset same-period usage, with the net excess credited below retail (avoided-cost based), on a TOU rate with a 10-year rider term. The exact excess rate was not confirmed, so no single percentage is given. Customers who applied before June 1, 2021 keep legacy 1:1 net metering, reportedly through May 31, 2029 (the end date was not confirmed in sources read). Duke Energy's SC territories use a similar Solar Choice design.
What changes for a home with solar
A savings estimate that assumes full retail credit for exported power overstates the value of that power for systems on the current rules. Power used in the home still offsets the full retail rate.
Older systems are often grandfathered on earlier, better terms for a set number of years. Which rules a particular system is on depends on its interconnection date, stated in the note above.
Electricity here costs about 15.9¢ per kWh (2026) and has risen about 1.4% a year over the last decade. A lease or PPA escalator above that pace makes the solar payment rise faster than utility rates have.
When a home with solar is sold in South Carolina
- Owned outright: proof it is paid off, the warranties, and the utility’s interconnection or net-metering agreement, which has to move into the buyer’s name.
- Loan: a payoff letter, and whether the buyer can assume the loan. Many solar loans are secured by a UCC-1 fixture filing that title will find.
- Lease or PPA: the transfer process and how long approval takes, the buyer’s credit check, the current payment or rate and its yearly increase, and a buyout quote.
- Every case: whether the export-credit terms above stay with the home after the sale, and the last 12 months of production from the monitoring app.
Have the solar contract for a South Carolina home?
Upload it and get a letter-graded report card: price, production, payment changes, value and transfer terms, measured against South Carolina’s rates and rules.
Grade a solar contractSources
- mysolarfy.com/dominion-energy-south-carolina-solar/ (2026)
- ors.sc.gov/consumers/electric-natural-gas/solar/south-carolina-energy-freedom-act
- Electricity prices: EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B (2026) and EIA state annual averages 2014–2024
- Installed price: EnergySage marketplace, September 2026