Electric cooperative
Solar with Missoula Electric Cooperative
Missoula Electric Cooperative members pay 7.12¢ per kWh plus a $3.00 per kW demand charge; a typical home's solar pays back in about 25 years.
See the numbers for your address
At a glance
Residential schedule effective April 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 May, and anything left is paid out at about 3.50¢ per kWh.
- Every member pays a $3.00 per kW demand charge on the highest hourly demand Mon-Fri 7-10am and 6-9pm, holidays excluded. Rooftop solar rarely lowers a home's peak demand, so our estimates do not count it as savings.
- Systems up to 10 kW AC qualify for net metering; above that, capacity would run without export credit.
- There is a $100 interconnection fee.
A typical home: 900 kWh a month, gas heat
Best-case figures with the range shown; no federal credit for homes in 2026. Production reference: Missoula. Your roof, usage and heating change every number, which is what the estimate is for.
Full schedule and net-metering rules
- Fixed charge
- $32 per month
- Energy
- 7.12¢ all kWh
- Demand
- $3.00 per kW, all residential; highest hourly demand Mon-Fri 7-10am and 6-9pm, holidays excluded. Called the peak charge; approved 2022.
- Net metering
- Policy 510 (rev. Feb 2023): generally up to 10 kW AC (10-50 kW with board approval); excess kWh banked; annual true-up after the April billing cycle credited at the BPA Tier-1 average power rate (not printed; 3.5c/kWh assumed); base and peak charges still apply; $100 processing fee.
- Effective
- April 1, 2026; checked November 1, 2026
Questions members ask
- Does Missoula 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 May, and anything left is paid out at about 3.50¢ per kWh.
- How big a solar system can I net-meter with Missoula Electric Cooperative?
- Systems up to 10 kW AC qualify for net metering. The interconnection fee is $100.
- Does solar reduce the Missoula Electric Cooperative demand charge?
- Every member pays a $3.00 per kW demand charge on the highest hourly demand Mon-Fri 7-10am and 6-9pm, holidays excluded. Rooftop solar rarely lowers a home's peak demand, so our estimates do not count it as savings.
- What would solar cost and save for a typical Missoula Electric Cooperative home?
- For a gas-heated home using about 900 kWh a month, a net-zero system is about 9.3 kW, costs roughly $22,591 to $27,611 installed, saves $706 to $807 in the first year, and pays back in 22.1 to 28.6 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 Missoula 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 Missoula and Montana installed-cost data. If you spot an error, email us and we will correct it.
Service area
Other Montana co-ops: Flathead Electric Cooperative, Park Electric Cooperative, Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative, Ravalli Electric Cooperative, Fergus Electric Cooperative, Beartooth 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.
- Residential rate schedule: fixed charge, energy rate, demand chargeEffective April 1, 2026 · Checked November 1, 2026 · Read from the primary source
- Net-metering / distributed-generation policyChecked November 1, 2026 · Read from the primary source
- Service territory on the mapChecked October 31, 2026 · Read from the primary source
- Worked example: production, installed cost, savings and paybackChecked 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.