Maryland net metering lets customers who generate their own electricity, almost always from rooftop or community solar, run their meter backward and offset their utility bill with what they send to the grid. The program is run by the Public Service Commission under Public Utilities Article §7-306 and COMAR 20.50.10, and it is approaching a turning point: the statewide 3,000-megawatt cap is projected to fill within about two years, and 2026 legislation set a July 1, 2027 end date for the current program along with the design of a successor.
How the Credits Work on Your Bill
Your system is connected to the utility through a bidirectional meter. When you produce more than you use, the extra flows to the grid; when you need more than you produce, you pull from the grid like any other customer. At the end of each billing period, you pay only for the net electricity you drew.
If you generated more than you used over a month, the surplus kilowatt-hours carry forward as credits on the next month’s bill at the full retail rate. That full retail credit is the valuable one, because it includes transmission and distribution charges along with the generation portion. Heavy summer production can therefore offset heavier winter consumption at full value.
Once a year, after the April billing cycle, any credits still unused are cashed out and paid to you. The cash-out rate is lower: it is the average generation (commodity) rate over the prior 12 months, not the full retail rate.1Maryland Public Service Commission. 2025 Net Metering Report For a system that consistently overproduces, a meaningful share of value is lost at that annual settlement because delivery charges aren’t paid back.
Choosing Indefinite Credit Rollover Instead of the April Cash-Out
Since October 2023, customers of Maryland’s investor-owned utilities have had a second option created by Senate Bill 143, the Net Metering Flexibility Act. You can elect to let credits roll forward indefinitely at full retail value instead of taking the April payout.2Maryland Public Service Commission. Net Metering Alert to Customers
The tradeoff is simple. You give up the annual check, but your banked credits keep their full retail value until you use them. If you close the account, any banked credits are forfeited. You can switch between the two options once per calendar year, and to skip the next April payout you have to request the switch by December 31 of the current year.3FirstEnergy Corp. Net Excess Generation Credit Options Doing nothing leaves you on the traditional annual cash-out.
One boundary worth knowing: this option is only available if your utility is BGE, Pepco, Delmarva Power, or Potomac Edison. Customers of cooperatives and municipal utilities aren’t covered by the indefinite accrual provisions.2Maryland Public Service Commission. Net Metering Alert to Customers
What Systems Qualify
The program accepts a range of technologies, though solar dominates in practice: solar photovoltaics, wind of any size, biomass, fuel cells (renewable or non-renewable fuel), small closed-conduit hydroelectric, anaerobic digestion, and micro-combined heat and power up to 30 kW.4DSIRE. Maryland Net Metering
Individual systems are capped at 2 megawatts. Community solar projects and systems using meter aggregation can go up to 5 megawatts. Whatever the technology, a system has to be sized to produce no more than 200 percent of your baseline annual electricity use.4DSIRE. Maryland Net Metering Third-party ownership is allowed, so solar leases and power purchase agreements are on the table.5Maryland Energy Administration. A Maryland Consumer’s Guide to Solar
Meter aggregation, which combines usage across multiple meters under a single net metering arrangement, is open to a defined list: agricultural customers, nonprofits, municipal and county governments, state government units, and public senior higher education institutions. A farm, for instance, can run one array against meters serving a barn, a residence, and outbuildings. Aggregation can be done through a single physical interconnection or by virtually summing usage across accounts.6Maryland Secretary of State. COMAR 20.50.10 – Net Energy Metering
Getting the System Connected
Interconnection is governed by COMAR 20.50.09 and runs through your utility, usually via an online application portal. Small residential systems of 20 kW or less with inverters are Level 1 and typically carry no application fee. Larger systems fall into Levels 2 through 4, with fees starting at $50 plus per-kilowatt charges.7FirstEnergy Corp. Maryland Interconnection
Once your installer submits the signed interconnection agreement, certificate of completion, and inspection certificate, the utility has 20 business days to issue permission to operate. State law requires utilities to hit that deadline for at least 90 percent of completed installations each year.8New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. MD Code, Public Utilities, Section 7-306.1 As of January 2024, any new installation using an inverter has to use a smart inverter meeting IEEE 1547-2018 and UL 1741-SB, set to Maryland’s statewide default settings.9Maryland Public Service Commission. Small Generator Interconnection
If You Can’t Install Your Own: Community Solar
Renters, people with shaded roofs, and anyone who doesn’t want panels on their own property can subscribe to a share of an off-site project under Maryland’s community solar program and receive bill credits through virtual net metering. The program began as a 2015 pilot and was made permanent by House Bill 908, effective July 1, 2023.
Permanent-program projects have to deliver at least 40 percent of their output to low- and moderate-income subscribers, who cannot be charged more than 90 percent of the value of their bill credit. That translates to a guaranteed minimum 10 percent savings for those subscribers.10Maryland General Assembly. HB 908, Chapter 652 Projects are limited to 5 megawatts, individual subscriptions to 200 kW, and no single subscriber can hold 60 percent or more of a project.4DSIRE. Maryland Net Metering
Where the Program Stands Against Its Cap
The statewide net metering capacity limit is 3,000 megawatts, doubled from 1,500 MW by legislation in 2021. As of June 30, 2025, installed capacity sat at 1,537 megawatts — about 51 percent of the cap — split between 1,321 MW of standard net metering and 216 MW of community solar. Capacity grew roughly 110 MW, or 9.1 percent, in the preceding 12 months, and utilities paid about $8.9 million in excess generation credits to residential and commercial customers in the year ending April 30, 2025.11Maryland Public Service Commission. 2025 Net Metering Report
The pipeline behind that installed number is what’s driving the policy changes. About 2,911 megawatts of proposed community solar projects are in development stages, including roughly 1,728 MW in utility interconnection queues. Added to the installed base, committed capacity approaches 4,500 MW, well over the 3,000 MW cap. In November 2025 the PSC projected the cap would be reached within about two years.11Maryland Public Service Commission. 2025 Net Metering Report
What’s Changing in 2026 and 2027
The 2026 General Assembly passed two bills that together end today’s framework and start a replacement.
HB 1476: Successor Program and a Larger Cap
House Bill 1476, an emergency measure, directs the PSC to run a formal proceeding to design a successor to the current program and submit recommendations to the Governor and General Assembly by December 15, 2026. The successor program must incentivize distributed generation, hold down short- and long-term ratepayer costs, and balance fair compensation for exports against grid needs and energy equity.
The bill also raises the capacity limit from 3,000 to 6,000 megawatts. That increase takes effect at whichever comes first: the PSC’s report being submitted, or the existing 3,000 MW cap being reached. If neither happens by October 1, 2031, the bill’s additional provisions expire.12Maryland General Assembly. HB 1476 Fiscal Note
HB 1532: The Utility RELIEF Act
House Bill 1532, the Utility RELIEF Act (Reducing Energy Load Inflation for Everyday Families), was signed by the Governor on May 12, 2026.13Maryland General Assembly. HB 1532 – Legislation Details According to reporting on its provisions, the Act schedules the existing net metering program to terminate on July 1, 2027, unless the 3,000 MW cap is reached first. After that date, the PSC is to run a replacement program that compensates distributed solar projects under 5 MW based on the value they provide to the grid, rather than at the current full retail credit.14CCAN Action Fund. Every Single Thing in the Utility RELIEF Act
Grandfathering matters here. Existing projects, and those that have secured a position in the interconnection queue with paid deposits for grid upgrades by July 1, 2027, stay on the current program even if they come online later. For small utility service areas, the Act sets regional caps at 150 percent of the net-metered solar capacity installed as of April 1, 2026; larger utility territories have no regional cap.14CCAN Action Fund. Every Single Thing in the Utility RELIEF Act
What This Means If You’re Thinking About a System
If you install and interconnect under the current program, you get full retail credits per month and either the April cash-out at the generation rate or indefinite rollover at full retail value, depending on which option you elect. If your project is in service, or has a queue position with paid upgrade deposits, by July 1, 2027, you remain under those rules even if the broader program closes.
Customers who come in after the switchover will be compensated under the value-based framework the PSC is designing, which is expected to pay less for exports than today’s full retail credit. The December 15, 2026 PSC report is where the specifics of that successor program will take shape. Until then, the practical window is defined by two moving targets: the statewide 3,000 MW cap, which the Commission expects to fill within roughly two years of its 2025 report, and the July 1, 2027 statutory end date.