Electric cooperative
Solar with Ravalli Electric Cooperative
Ravalli Electric Cooperative members pay 8.49¢ per kWh plus a $3.80 per kW demand charge; a typical home's solar pays back in about 27 years.
See the numbers for your address
At a glance
Residential schedule effective March 1, 2026; checked November 1, 2026. Sources.
What this means for solar
- Power you use on site saves the full retail rate; power you export is credited at about 4.69¢ per kWh, well below retail, and credits offset energy charges only with any balance deleted each April.
- Every member pays a $3.80 per kW demand charge on the single highest hourly demand 6-9am and 5-8pm in the billing period. 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 $175 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: Hamilton. Your roof, usage and heating change every number, which is what the estimate is for.
Full schedule and net-metering rules
- Fixed charge
- $39 per month
- Energy
- 7.73¢ up to 600 kWh; 8.49¢ above that
- Demand
- $3.80 per kW, all residential; single highest hourly demand 6-9am and 5-8pm in the billing period
- Net metering
- Interconnection policy (rev. Sept 2025): 10 kW cap; delivered kWh billed at retail, reverse kWh credited monthly at the wholesale rate (the published Co-Generation Rate, 4.693c/kWh, is the only such rate: inferred mapping); credits offset kWh charges only, never fixed or demand charges; bank deleted annually in April without compensation; $175 non-refundable processing fee.
- Effective
- March 1, 2026; checked November 1, 2026
Questions members ask
- Does Ravalli Electric Cooperative pay for excess solar power?
- Power you use on site saves the full retail rate; power you export is credited at about 4.69¢ per kWh, well below retail, and credits offset energy charges only with any balance deleted each April.
- How big a solar system can I net-meter with Ravalli Electric Cooperative?
- Systems up to 10 kW AC qualify for net metering. The interconnection fee is $175.
- Does solar reduce the Ravalli Electric Cooperative demand charge?
- Every member pays a $3.80 per kW demand charge on the single highest hourly demand 6-9am and 5-8pm in the billing period. 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 Ravalli Electric Cooperative home?
- For a gas-heated home using about 900 kWh a month, a net-zero system is about 8.6 kW, costs roughly $21,300 to $26,034 installed, saves $596 to $683 in the first year, and pays back in 24 to 31 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 Ravalli 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 Hamilton 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, Missoula Electric Cooperative, Park Electric Cooperative, Yellowstone Valley 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 March 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.