Montana Solar Estimate

Electric cooperative

Solar with Sun River Electric Cooperative

Sun River Electric Cooperative members pay 6.72¢ per kWh plus a $7.05 per kW demand charge; a typical home's solar pays back in about 25 years.

See the numbers for your address

At a glance

Energy rate
6.72¢/kWh
flat rate, riders included
Fixed charge
$30/mo
billed every month, solar or not
Demand charge
$7.05/kW
not reduced by solar
Net-metering limit
10 kW AC
bank resets in March

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 March, and anything left is forfeited to the utility.
  • Every member pays a $7.05 per kW demand charge on the monthly peak demand (interval not published). 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.

A typical home: 900 kWh a month, gas heat

Net-zero system
8.4 kW
1284 kWh per kW per year
Installed cost
as low as$20,926
up to $25,576
First-year savings
up to$762
at least $667
Payback
as low as21.7 yrs
21.7–28.2 yrs at 2.7%/yr

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

Full schedule and net-metering rules
Fixed charge
$30 per month
Energy
6.65¢ all kWh; plus 0.07¢ per kWh in riders
Demand
$7.05 per kW, all residential; monthly peak demand (interval not published). Three-part residential rate; the demand charge is the largest in Montana.
Net metering
Up to 10 kW; net kWh banked at retail; the solar year ends with the March billing cycle and unused credits are granted to the co-op; base and demand charges still apply; liability insurance required; no fee printed.
Notes
Electric-heat discount 3c/kWh Oct-Apr for primary electric heat. The 1.10% surcharge is approximated as 0.07c/kWh.
Effective
January 1, 2026; checked November 1, 2026

Questions members ask

Does Sun River 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 March, and anything left is forfeited to the utility.
How big a solar system can I net-meter with Sun River Electric Cooperative?
Systems up to 10 kW AC qualify for net metering.
Does solar reduce the Sun River Electric Cooperative demand charge?
Every member pays a $7.05 per kW demand charge on the monthly peak demand (interval not published). 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 Sun River Electric Cooperative home?
For a gas-heated home using about 900 kWh a month, a net-zero system is about 8.4 kW, costs roughly $20,926 to $25,576 installed, saves $667 to $762 in the first year, and pays back in 21.7 to 28.2 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 Sun River 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 Great Falls 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 CooperativeMcCone Electric CooperativeMid-Yellowstone Electric CooperativeMissoula Electric CooperativeNorVal Electric CooperativeBeartooth Electric CooperativePark Electric CooperativeBig Flat Electric CooperativeSheridan Electric CooperativeBig Horn County Electric CooperativeSoutheast 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 CooperativeSun River Electric Cooperative
Sun River 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, demand charge
    Sun River Electric rates page (Residential: $30 base, 6.65c/kWh, $7.05/kW; 1.10% universal systems benefit surcharge; effective Jan 1, 2026, a 4.75% increase)
    Effective January 1, 2026 · Checked November 1, 2026 · Read from the primary source
  2. Net-metering / distributed-generation policy
    Up to 10 kW; net kWh banked at retail; the solar year ends with the March billing cycle and unused credits are granted to the co-op; base and demand charges still apply; liability insurance required; no fee printed.
    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 Great Falls (1284 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
  • A separate electric-heat rate exists for qualifying heating systems and is not modeled here.

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.