If you live in New Bern, North Carolina, going solar just got a whole lot better!
Starting October 1, 2025, new solar customers with the City of New Bern will be interconnected on a modified net metering policy.
'Net metering' refers to how you receive credit for the electricity you push back to the grid, according to the scheduling agreement you have with your utility.
Solar panels generate more energy than your home can immediately consume and send the excess to either an integrated battery or back to the grid. Homeowners then can exchange these credits to pull power from the grid during cloudy days, when the panels aren't producing as much energy, or at night. Any overproduction is then credited at the retail rate for net metering policies and at the wholesale rate for modified net metering.
The City of New Bern has elected to adopt a modified net metering schedule, where homeowners will be credited at the wholesale rate for any overproduction.
This is a major improvement from the old schedule, which had what is referred to as a 'buy-all, sell-all' policy.
Under a buy-all, sell-all policy, homeowners had two meters: one to measure how much power they pulled from the grid and one for how much they pushed back to the grid. Their homes were not allowed any immediate consumption of their solar power, instead being required to sell it to their utility at the wholesale rate and then purchase all of the energy they consumed at the higher retail value.
Under the old, buy-all, sell-all policy, solar did not make financial sense. In fact, if you lived in New Bern and reached out to us for a quote, we probably did everything possible to convince you not to go solar.
It is important to note that the City of New Bern's new schedule is limited to the first 100 customers. While we are optimistic that this cap will be renewed annually and may even be expanded, nothing is certain.
So, if you live in New Bern and have ever considered going solar, now is the time to do so.
Be one of the first 100 to:
Save money on your utility costs,
Protect yourself from power outages,
And, achieve energy independence.
It's about time to put your power back into your hands.