EIA Form 861 · 2025
Commercial solar net metering by state
How many businesses have a system on net metering in each state, how much capacity they have, and which utilities serve the most, as utilities reported to EIA for 2025.
U.S. utilities reported 255,359 commercial net-metered installations with 20,922 MW of capacity at the end of 2025, about 73% of it solar photovoltaic, according to EIA. That is 13.1 for every 1,000 commercial customers. California, New York and Maine have the most capacity.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 net metering data · 2025
By state
Commercial systems are 33% of all net-metered capacity in the U.S.; residential and industrial systems are the rest. Every market reported at least one commercial installation.
| State | Installations | Capacity (MW) | Per 1,000 commercial customers | Average size (kW) | Share of state net-metered capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 255,359 | 20,922 | 13.1 | 82 | 33% |
| California | 49,741 | 4,620 | 28.0 | 93 | 22% |
| New York | 13,350 | 4,368 | 11.4 | 327 | 71% |
| Maine | 71,261 | 1,723 | 636.1 | 24 | 91% |
| Massachusetts | 7,449 | 1,641 | 17.5 | 220 | 52% |
| New Jersey | 9,274 | 1,408 | 17.1 | 152 | 46% |
| Illinois | 20,908 | 1,074 | 32.4 | 51 | 47% |
| Arizona | 5,456 | 698 | 15.5 | 128 | 22% |
| Maryland | 5,057 | 626 | 19.2 | 124 | 37% |
| Connecticut | 3,784 | 503 | 24.2 | 133 | 33% |
| Rhode Island | 674 | 496 | 10.4 | 735 | 79% |
| Pennsylvania | 3,579 | 446 | 4.8 | 125 | 33% |
| Colorado | 6,170 | 268 | 15.2 | 43 | 20% |
| Florida | 4,033 | 235 | 3.1 | 58 | 7% |
| Ohio | 1,572 | 204 | 2.5 | 130 | 37% |
| Iowa | 4,582 | 180 | 18.1 | 39 | 49% |
| Virginia | 1,789 | 169 | 4.0 | 95 | 23% |
| Texas | 2,045 | 158 | 1.3 | 77 | 13% |
| Indiana | 1,307 | 158 | 3.5 | 121 | 57% |
| Arkansas | 1,018 | 143 | 4.9 | 141 | 38% |
| Missouri | 4,509 | 142 | 11.1 | 31 | 29% |
| Hawaii | 4,132 | 134 | 69.1 | 32 | 19% |
| New Hampshire | 1,405 | 133 | 12.4 | 95 | 37% |
| Wisconsin | 2,465 | 128 | 6.7 | 52 | 37% |
| Minnesota | 2,518 | 117 | 8.1 | 46 | 32% |
| Oregon | 3,044 | 116 | 12.2 | 38 | 21% |
| Utah | 1,825 | 102 | 12.2 | 56 | 16% |
| North Carolina | 2,134 | 101 | 2.8 | 47 | 17% |
| New Mexico | 1,921 | 98.9 | 12.9 | 51 | 22% |
| Michigan | 1,872 | 92.0 | 3.3 | 49 | 32% |
| Nevada | 1,223 | 83.5 | 6.8 | 68 | 7% |
| Vermont | 796 | 80.6 | 12.4 | 101 | 40% |
| Washington | 3,227 | 76.4 | 8.0 | 24 | 13% |
| District of Columbia | 1,202 | 70.9 | 43.5 | 59 | 27% |
| Delaware | 842 | 57.2 | 13.8 | 68 | 31% |
| Georgia | 953 | 54.8 | 1.5 | 57 | 25% |
| South Carolina | 906 | 51.8 | 2.2 | 57 | 13% |
| Oklahoma | 2,183 | 41.1 | 7.1 | 19 | 21% |
| Kansas | 564 | 25.6 | 2.3 | 45 | 23% |
| Montana | 950 | 16.0 | 6.7 | 17 | 14% |
| Louisiana | 1,087 | 15.3 | 3.6 | 14 | 6% |
| Kentucky | 652 | 15.0 | 2.0 | 23 | 15% |
| West Virginia | 360 | 13.8 | 2.4 | 38 | 22% |
| Idaho | 493 | 13.2 | 3.9 | 27 | 7% |
| Nebraska | 363 | 12.1 | 2.2 | 33 | 27% |
| Mississippi | 112 | 5.4 | 0.5 | 48 | 31% |
| Alaska | 279 | 3.2 | 4.9 | 12 | 16% |
| Wyoming | 206 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 15 | 11% |
| South Dakota | 59 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 25 | 29% |
| Alabama | 6 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 87 | 36% |
| Tennessee | 12 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 35 | 38% |
| North Dakota | 10 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 38 | 19% |
Download the state table as CSV. State totals include EIA’s state adjustment lines, which estimate for utilities that file a short form, and equal EIA’s own state-level figures.
Utilities with the most commercial net-metered capacity
What net metering does to a commercial bill
On net metering, a business’s kWh charges fall with what its system makes, but demand charges, fixed charges and some riders usually do not, because they are not billed per kWh. A system that trims annual kWh by half can trim the bill by much less on a demand-metered account. The demand charge calculator and the guide to demand charges show why.
Common questions
- What is net metering for a business?
- An arrangement in which a utility credits a customer for electricity its own system, usually solar panels, sends back to the grid, against the electricity it takes. How the credit is valued, and whether the arrangement is still open to new customers, is set state by state and utility by utility.
- Which states have the most commercial solar on net metering?
- By capacity, California (4,620 MW), New York (4,368 MW) and Maine (1,723 MW). Relative to the number of commercial customers, Maine, Hawaii and the District of Columbia lead.
- Does this count all commercial solar?
- No. It counts systems on net metering that utilities reported to EIA. Systems on another compensation scheme, such as a net billing or buy-all tariff that is not reported as net metering, and community solar subscriptions are not all in these figures.
- How big is a typical commercial net-metered system?
- Across the U.S. the average is 82 kW per installation. Commercial systems range from a few kilowatts on a shop to several megawatts on a warehouse.
Whether solar pays depends on which parts of your bill it can reach. A person can read the bill and say. Nobody calls unless you ask.