Arizona's Export Rates Just Dropped Again — Why Battery Storage Is the Real Solar Payback Now

Arizona doesn’t have true net metering anymore, and it hasn’t for years. When your panels send extra power to the grid, your utility pays a set export rate instead of the full retail price. For APS customers, that rate steps down by up to 10% every year. This fall brings another step.

If you’re pricing out solar right now, the export rate is the number that quietly decides whether a system pays off quickly or slowly. Here’s how it works, what it means for your evenings, and where a battery fits.

What you get paid vs. what you pay

APS’s export credit for 2025 to 2026 was about 6.2 cents per kWh. The step-down proposed for the year starting this September would take it to roughly 5.6 cents, pending regulator approval. Meanwhile, the power you buy from APS averages around 15 cents per kWh, and more during on-peak hours on time-of-use plans. APS has also asked regulators for a rate increase in the mid-teens percent range, which would widen that gap even more.

In plain terms, a solar-only system sells your midday power at a discount and buys your evening power back at full price. SRP has its own export plans, and they tend to pay even less, so the same logic applies there.

A simple example

Say your panels make 10 kWh more than your home needs on a sunny afternoon. Exported at about 5.6 cents, that’s roughly 56 cents of credit. Now say that same evening you use 10 kWh after sunset, when the sun is gone. Bought from the grid at about 15 cents, that’s around $1.50. The credit you earned covers well under half of what you pay to get the same amount of power back.

These are round numbers for illustration, and your actual rates depend on your plan and the time of day. But the gap is the whole story. A kWh you use yourself is worth a lot more than a kWh you export.

Why the rate keeps shrinking

Arizona regulators replaced traditional net metering with a step-down export rate several years ago. Under APS’s structure, customers who go solar generally lock in the export rate that’s current when they connect, and that rate holds for about 10 years. New customers get whatever the rate is on their connection date, and it has been lower each year.

That has two consequences. First, waiting doesn’t help you: the export rate is set to keep stepping down, so a later connection means a lower locked-in rate. Second, the export rate matters less to your savings than it used to, because the smart move is to use more of your own solar and export less of it.

Why storage changes the math

A battery holds the extra solar your home doesn’t use at noon and hands it back after sunset, right when on-peak rates kick in. Every kWh you use yourself instead of exporting is worth the retail rate, not the export rate. On today’s numbers, that’s roughly two and a half times the value.

• Shifts solar into the evening: the hours when Phoenix homes use the most power and pay the most for it.
• Trims on-peak usage: a big deal on time-of-use plans.
• Adds backup power: monsoon storms and summer grid strain happen, and a battery keeps the essentials running.

What to look at on your own bill

Before anyone recommends a system, pull up your last 12 months of usage and look at three things:

1. When you use power. Evening-heavy usage is where a battery helps most.
2. Your rate plan. Time-of-use and demand-based plans value solar and storage differently than a flat plan, so the plan you’re on (or could switch to) belongs in the math.
3. How much you export now, if you already have solar. Your utility bill shows it. A lot of exported energy is a sign a battery could put it to better use.

Already have solar?

You don’t have to start over. Empower installs batteries on existing solar systems, no matter who installed the original. If your panels were sized around older, friendlier export rates, adding storage is worth pricing out.

When solar-only still works

If someone is home running the AC all day, you use most of your solar as it’s made, and export rates matter less. Batteries earn their keep when your house is quiet during the day and busy at night, or when backup power matters to you. The federal homeowner tax credit also ended after 2025, so every system now has to make sense on its own numbers. That’s why we run your actual usage before recommending anything.

Common questions

Does a battery increase what my utility pays for exports? No. Export rates are the same whether the power comes straight from your panels or from your battery. The battery’s value comes from using your own power instead of buying it back.

Will a battery run my whole house? It depends on the size of the battery and what you’re running. Many homeowners back up the essentials: refrigeration, lights, internet, and phone charging. Ask how a system would be designed around your AC, since central air is a heavy load.

Is it too late to go solar in Arizona? For many homes, no. But the answer should come from your usage and your rate plan, not a headline. A free estimate will show you both the solar-only and the solar-plus-battery numbers side by side.

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Get a free solar + battery savings estimate. Explore solar and storage, learn about battery storage, or see our Phoenix team. Call 800-306-6953 or visit empoweryourhome.com.