Before you add solar, a battery or a charger
Most of Salt Lake County and Utah County is Rocky Mountain Power. Seven cities are not, and in those cities almost every rule you have read about Utah solar is the wrong rule.
Ten-second version
If it says Rocky Mountain Power, the state-regulated rules apply to you: Schedule 137 export credits, the Wattsmart Battery program, the standard interconnection process. If it says the name of your city, none of that is automatic.
Serves roughly three quarters of Utah by area and more than 800,000 customers. It is the only rate-regulated electric utility in the state, which means the Utah Public Service Commission sets what it pays you for exported solar and what it charges you for power. Published rules, published rates, one process.
Municipal utilities are not regulated by the Public Service Commission. Each city sets its own rates, its own net metering or export rules, its own interconnection application and its own inspection requirements. Some are generous. Some do not offer export credit at all. You have to ask the city.
The list that matters locally
Based on the municipal utility list published by the Utah Office of Consumer Services. Everywhere else in Salt Lake County and Utah County, including American Fork, Sandy, Orem, Lehi’s neighbours and the whole Salt Lake valley outside Murray, is Rocky Mountain Power. Service boundaries follow the meter, not the mailing address, so check the bill.
Why it changes the job
Rocky Mountain Power’s export credit is set by the Commission and published: 4.855¢/kWh in summer and 4.03¢/kWh the rest of the year, reset every 1 March. A city utility sets its own, and it may be higher, lower, or nothing at all. Any payback estimate that does not name your utility is a guess.
The Wattsmart Battery program is a Rocky Mountain Power program. If your meter belongs to Provo or Murray, you cannot enrol in it, no matter what a battery salesperson tells you. Ask your city whether it runs anything equivalent before you budget for a rebate.
Interconnection applications, meter swaps and permission to operate run on different forms and different clocks. City utilities are often faster because they are small. They can also have requirements Rocky Mountain Power does not, like a specific disconnect location. We find this out before we quote, not after.
The practical point
It is the fastest way to find out whether the person quoting you works here. A salesperson running a national script will quote you Rocky Mountain Power numbers in Provo without blinking. Panel upgrades, EV chargers and battery installs all touch the utility at some point, so it is worth knowing before anyone runs a wire.
Get a quote
Tell us your city and what you’re planning. We’ll confirm the utility and what it changes about the job before we quote.
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