State incentives and net metering
Massachusetts net metering
Your net metering class and your utility decide what exported energy earns. Confirm your class and current credit in your utility tariff, alongside any SMART entry for your address.
MassachusettsNet meteringUtility-specificNet metering class
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Full record for this entry
| Program name | Massachusetts net metering |
|---|---|
| State | Massachusetts |
| Program type | Net metering |
| Administering body | Investor-owned utilities in Massachusetts; municipal utilities may offer net metering voluntarily |
| Status as the source states it | Net metering is offered by the state investor-owned utilities, while municipal utilities may offer it voluntarily, per the DSIRE summary for Massachusetts. |
| What it covers | Your net metering class and your utility decide what exported energy earns. Confirm your class and current credit in your utility tariff, alongside any SMART entry for your address. |
| Incentive amount note | No dollar amount is recorded here. Credit value follows your net metering class and tariff. |
| Tags | Massachusetts, Net metering, Utility-specific, Net metering class |
| Official source | Mass.gov, Net Metering Guide (Department of Public Utilities) |
| Checked date | 2026-10-29 |
Source note: DSIRE summary for this state, as recorded on this site from DSIRE on 2026-10-04 and re-checked for this directory on 2026-10-22 against official state, utility and program sources. Profile sections were added on 2026-10-26 from the official source above and the official pages cited in the text; every figure is attributed where it appears. Program terms change. Confirm the current status, eligibility and value for your address in the source above and in your utility tariff before you sign anything.
About this program: how it works
Classes by size
Class drives credit and cap rules. The Mass.gov glossary states Class I is 60 kW or less, private or public. Class II is more than 60 kW but less than or equal to 1 MW, private or public, per the glossary. Class III is more than 1 MW but less than or equal to 2 MW private, and more than 1 MW but less than or equal to 10 MW public, per the glossary.
The DPU guide adds that wind, solar and anaerobic digestion must be 2 MW or less private and 10 MW or less public. Only regulated company customers may net meter: the guide names Eversource, National Grid and Unitil. Municipal utilities may offer it voluntarily, per the DSIRE summary in this entry, so municipal customers must check their own utility.
Caps as a share of peak load, and cap exempt facilities
The general program is capped per company, with separate private and public caps, each a percentage of that company highest historical peak load, per the DPU guide. Mass.gov states the 2016 Act raised the caps to 7 percent private and 8 percent public.
Cap exempt facilities may net meter even if a cap is full, per the guide. They include a Class I renewable facility of 25 kW or less, and a facility serving on site load: a Class I facility above 25 kW, or a Class II or III renewable facility serving on site load, with a post January 1, 2021 interconnection agreement, and not a municipal facility, per the guide.
Credit values by class and ISO-NE zone
Credits come from excess kilowatt hours per billing period and appear as dollars, not kilowatt hours, per the DPU guide. Credits roll forward and never expire, except for an annual cash out for cap exempt on site load facilities, per the guide.
Included charges depend on class. The guide table shows Class I and Class II solar, wind, anaerobic digestion and agricultural facilities, and nameplate cap exempt facilities, credited on basic service, distribution, transmission and transition. A private Class III facility is credited on basic service, transmission and transition only, while a municipal host is credited on all four, per the guide. Basic service is the default service charge in the ISO-NE load zone where the customer is located, so value varies by zone and rate class. The guide example for August 2024, Eversource East, R-1, totals 27.607 cents per kilowatt hour. Market credits for new solar are 60 percent of net excess on those components, or 100 percent for a municipal host, per the guide.
Allocation, single parcel, and other rules
The host customer directs credits with Schedule Z, changeable no more than four times a year per the guide. Credits may go to other accounts, per the guide. Nameplate cap exempt and older non new solar facilities may allocate only in the same company territory and ISO-NE load zone, while new solar and cap exempt on site load facilities may allocate statewide, per the guide.
The glossary defines a facility as capacity on a single parcel, at a single interconnection point, with a single meter, citing D.P.U. 11-11-C. The guide lists five Single Parcel exceptions: government parcel, low or moderate income housing, separate rooftops, separate customers under one rooftop, and an added facility at least one year later.
Also in Massachusetts
- SMART 3.0 (Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target): Tariff-based incentive program
Compare the quotes this program affects
An incentive only counts when it is named, in writing, in a quote. Line up the quotes you collect in the quote comparison worksheet and check each installer in the national installers directory.