Solar in Wisconsin: how the rules work
How Wisconsin 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.
Wisconsin has no net metering statute; the PSC approves each utility's tariff. We Energies' CGS-NM rate (systems under 300 kW, effective Jan 1, 2026, Docket 6630-TE-2026) nets consumption and generation over the monthly billing period at retail. The Rg1 energy charge is $0.19342/kWh plus a small fuel adjustment, with a $0.49315/day facilities charge. Net excess in a month is bought at $0.03636/kWh on the flat residential rate, about 0.19 of retail; on TOU the excess rate is $0.0329-$0.04906 by period. A third-party blog cites about 4.2 cents, which conflicts with the tariff. The 1.0 share applies to same-month offsets; monthly excess earns about 0.19. In 2023 the PSC rejected utility proposals (e.g. Alliant hourly netting) to cut net metering. MGE changed rates for new applicants from Apr 1, 2024, grandfathering existing customers. In Aug 2025 the PSC dropped a Wisconsin value-of-solar study but continued a generic net-metering investigation, so statewide changes remain possible. No We Energies grandfathering tiers exist yet.
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 19.0¢ per kWh (2026) and has risen about 2.3% 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 Wisconsin
- 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 Wisconsin home?
Upload it and get a letter-graded report card: price, production, payment changes, value and transfer terms, measured against Wisconsin’s rates and rules.
Grade a solar contractSources
- www.we-energies.com/pdfs/etariffs/wisconsin/cgs-nm.pdf (2026-01-01)
- www.we-energies.com/olb/26/2026-01-we-electric-rates.pdf (2026-01-01)
- www.renewwisconsin.org/category/net-metering/ (2025-08-01)
- www.wpr.org/economy/2-wisconsin-utilities-propose-changing-reimbursement-rates-solar-energ (2023)
- Electricity prices: EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B (2026) and EIA state annual averages 2014–2024
- Installed price: EnergySage marketplace, September 2026