Net metering guide: monthly for homes, hourly for businesses

Electricity your roof produces beyond your consumption flows to the grid; in the hours it falls short, you draw from it. Net metering settles the two. An amendment published in the Official Gazette on 2 April 2026 split how that settlement works by subscription type.

Residential subscribers: monthly netting continues

Residential accounts were left out of the new rules. On a home rooftop system netting is still monthly: at the end of the month, what you exported is deducted from what you imported. The surplus you produce at noon offsets what you use in the evening.

Businesses: hourly since 1 May 2026

For non-residential accounts such as commercial, industrial and agricultural irrigation, plants that became entitled to a call letter after 12 May 2019 have been netted hourly since 1 May 2026. Each hour is settled on its own: a midday export no longer offsets an evening import. That is why, for a business, the right system size is set by the daily load profile rather than the size of the roof. The details are in our article on hourly versus monthly net metering.

The amendment brought two more rules for businesses. Energy exported in a year may not exceed twice the facility's annual consumption; anything above that is not paid for. And storage (a battery) up to the plant's installed capacity may now be added.

How the process works

You apply to the distribution company; if approved, a call letter is issued. After project approval and acceptance, a bidirectional meter is installed and netting begins. With a properly prepared file the process is predictable, and we follow it from application to meter.

In a well-sized system the goal is not a zero bill but the highest total return on the investment. At home, monthly totals decide that; in a business, hourly coincidence does.