Montana Solar Estimate

Electric cooperative

Solar with McCone Electric Cooperative

McCone Electric Cooperative members pay 14.5¢ per kWh and no demand charge; a typical home's solar pays back in about 17 years.

See the numbers for your address

At a glance

Energy rate
14.5¢/kWh
tiered by monthly use
Fixed charge
$48/mo
billed every month, solar or not
Demand charge
None
every offset kWh saves the full rate
Net-metering limit
20 kW AC
bank resets in April

Residential schedule effective January 1, 2026; checked November 1, 2026. Sources.

What this means for solar

  • Excess power is banked as kWh at the full retail rate and drawn down in later months. The bank resets in April, and anything left is forfeited to the utility.
  • McCone Electric Cooperative has no residential demand charge, so every kWh solar offsets saves the full energy rate.
  • Systems up to 20 kW AC qualify for net metering; above that, capacity would run without export credit.
  • Net-metered accounts pay $35 a month more in fixed charges, net-metered accounts move to a flat 12.4¢ per kWh schedule.

A typical home: 900 kWh a month, gas heat

Net-zero system
8.2 kW
1321 kWh per kW per year
Installed cost
as low as$20,546
up to $25,112
First-year savings
up to$1,207
at least $1,060
Payback
as low as14.6 yrs
14.6–19.3 yrs at 2.7%/yr

Best-case figures with the range shown; no federal credit for homes in 2026. Production reference: Miles City. Your roof, usage and heating change every number, which is what the estimate is for.

Full schedule and net-metering rules
Fixed charge
$48 per month
Energy
14.53¢ up to 2,000 kWh; 13.44¢ up to 4,000 kWh; 11.89¢ above that
Net metering
Schedule N (Rate Class 998, up to 20 kW): net-metered accounts pay an $82.75 base ($35 above standard) and a flat 12.423c on all kWh; excess banked within the April-March year; disposition of the unused bank at March 31 is not stated (forfeiture assumed). Policy 4-16 (fees, insurance) is not posted.
Effective
January 1, 2026; checked November 1, 2026

Questions members ask

Does McCone Electric Cooperative pay for excess solar power?
Excess power is banked as kWh at the full retail rate and drawn down in later months. The bank resets in April, and anything left is forfeited to the utility.
How big a solar system can I net-meter with McCone Electric Cooperative?
Systems up to 20 kW AC qualify for net metering. Net-metered accounts pay $35 a month more in fixed charges.
Does McCone Electric Cooperative have a demand charge?
McCone Electric Cooperative has no residential demand charge, so every kWh solar offsets saves the full energy rate.
What would solar cost and save for a typical McCone Electric Cooperative home?
For a gas-heated home using about 900 kWh a month, a net-zero system is about 8.2 kW, costs roughly $20,546 to $25,112 installed, saves $1,060 to $1,207 in the first year, and pays back in 14.6 to 19.3 years at 2.7% a year rate growth. Your address gives a real figure in about a minute.
What federal incentives apply in 2026?
The 30% homeowner credit (Section 25D) ended for systems completed after December 31, 2025. Business-owned systems, including ranches, farms and rental property, still qualify for the 30% investment credit (Section 48E) and bonus depreciation when placed in service by the end of 2027; tax-exempt owners receive the 30% as a cash payment. Not tax advice.
Where do these numbers come from?
The rate figures are read from McCone Electric Cooperative's own published schedule and net-metering policy (linked under Sources), last checked November 1, 2026. The worked example runs the same engine as the estimator, using a production reference for Miles City and Montana installed-cost data. If you spot an error, email us and we will correct it.

Service area

NorthWestern EnergyMontana-Dakota UtilitiesLincoln Electric CooperativeLower Yellowstone Rural Electric CooperativeMarias River Electric CooperativeMid-Yellowstone Electric CooperativeMissoula Electric CooperativeNorVal Electric CooperativeBeartooth Electric CooperativePark Electric CooperativeBig Flat Electric CooperativeSheridan Electric CooperativeBig Horn County Electric CooperativeSoutheast Electric CooperativeSun River Electric CooperativeTongue River Electric CooperativeCity of Troy ElectricMission Valley PowerYellowstone Valley Electric CooperativeFergus Electric CooperativeVigilante Electric CooperativeRavalli Electric CooperativeFlathead Electric CooperativeGlacier Electric CooperativeHill County Electric CooperativeMcCone Electric Cooperative
McCone Electric Cooperative's service territory (highlighted). Hover a region to see its utility.

Other Montana co-ops: Flathead Electric Cooperative, Missoula Electric Cooperative, Park Electric Cooperative, Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative, Ravalli Electric Cooperative, Fergus Electric Cooperative. All 26 utilities.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from the documents below. We print the schedule’s effective date and the date we last read it; when a utility publishes nothing, we say so instead of guessing quietly.

  1. Residential rate schedule: fixed charge, energy rate
    McCone Electric Schedule A-1 Single-Phase (Rate Class 101/020: $47.75 base; 14.53c first 2,000 kWh, 13.44c next 2,000, 11.89c over 4,000; effective Jan 1, 2026)
    Effective January 1, 2026 · Checked November 1, 2026 · Read from the primary source
  2. Net-metering / distributed-generation policy
    Schedule N (Rate Class 998, up to 20 kW): net-metered accounts pay an $82.75 base ($35 above standard) and a flat 12.423c on all kWh; excess banked within the April-March year; disposition of the unused bank at March 31 is not stated (forfeiture assumed). Policy 4-16 (fees, insurance) is not posted.
    Checked November 1, 2026 · Read from the primary source
  3. Service territory on the map
    HIFLD Electric Retail Service Territories (U.S. DHS / Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Montana subset, 2020 vintage; boundaries are coarse at town edges
    Checked October 31, 2026 · Read from the primary source
  4. Worked example: production, installed cost, savings and payback
    Montana Solar Estimate engine: PVGIS/NSRDB-based production reference for Miles City (1321 kWh per kW per year after snow and orientation), installed-cost ladder (Montana cash-price range, Oct 2026), 2.7%/yr rate escalation and 0.5%/yr panel degradation
    Checked November 1, 2026 · Read from the primary source

Spot an error or a rate change? Email mtsolarestimate@gmail.com. How the estimate itself is built: methodology.

Your address, your numbers

Roof, usage and heating change everything above. The estimate takes about a minute and asks for no contact details.