Solar in Washington: how the rules work
How Washington 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 the full retail rate (kWh for kWh), at least within each billing period.
PSE still credits exports 1:1 at retail. State law requires this until June 30, 2029 or the 4% capacity threshold (PSE has passed it), but no successor tariff has been adopted. Customers who enroll at 1:1 are expected to be grandfathered, but no firm expiration date is published.
What changes for a home with solar
A savings estimate that counts exported power at the full retail rate matches how exports are credited here. Where only month-end surplus earns a lower rate, homes that use most of their power themselves come closest to that estimate.
Electricity here costs about 14.4¢ per kWh (2026) and has risen about 3.2% 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 Washington
- 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 Washington home?
Upload it and get a letter-graded report card: price, production, payment changes, value and transfer terms, measured against Washington’s rates and rules.
Grade a solar contractSources
- cascadiasolar.com/whats-happening-to-net-metering-in-washington-state-updates-for-2026/ (2026-07-31)
- www.commerce.wa.gov/energy-policy/electricity-policy/nem/
- Electricity prices: EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B (2026) and EIA state annual averages 2014–2024
- Installed price: EnergySage marketplace, September 2026