On 1 August, BELCO's rates were restructured. Most of the coverage has been about what it costs solar homes. Less has been said about what it changes in how a system should be designed, and that is the part worth understanding. The new structure rewards a system that covers your whole home, day and evening. A small system that covers part of the bill now carries the same fixed charge as one that covers nearly all of it.
What changed on 1 August
The Regulatory Authority approved a restructure of residential rates, effective 1 August 2026. Three things changed.
The usage charge came down. The per-kWh rate is now split into generation and delivery, and the combined rate fell by about 7.5% in every block.
| Monthly block | Generation and delivery, per kWh |
|---|---|
| First 250 kWh | $0.14520 |
| 251 to 700 kWh | $0.25611 |
| Over 700 kWh | $0.39504 |
On top of these, every kWh carries the fuel adjustment of $0.14226 (unchanged since 1 July and confirmed again for October) and the Regulatory Authority fee.
The fixed charge went up for every household. The facilities charge, the fixed monthly amount you pay to be connected, rose by about 23% in every band, with or without solar. It is set by your average daily use.
| Average daily use | Monthly charge |
|---|---|
| Up to 10 kWh a day | $31.33 |
| 10 to 15 kWh a day | $47.00 |
| 15 to 25 kWh a day | $62.59 |
| 25 to 50 kWh a day | $97.91 |
| Over 50 kWh a day | $148.83 |
| Homes with solar | $148.83, flat |
Solar homes now pay one flat charge. A home with solar pays $148.83 a month, the same as the top band, whatever its size and however much it uses. Power a solar home sends back to the grid is credited at $0.1137 per kWh.
Who it actually changes things for
For a lot of homes, the solar charge changes very little. A household using more than 50 kWh a day was already in the top band, so it pays $148.83 with solar or without. For that home, going solar adds nothing to the fixed charge at all.
For a home in a lower band, solar now adds the difference. A home using 15 to 25 kWh a day pays $62.59 without solar and $148.83 with it. That gap is real, and it is why the design of the system matters more than it did.
The fixed charge is now the same for every solar home
This is the part that changes how a system should be designed. Because the solar charge is flat, it costs the same for a 2 kW system as for a 20 kW one. It is a fixed cost of being a solar home, and a fixed cost is best carried by the largest saving it can be set against.
A system that covers a third of your bill carries the same $148.83 as one that covers nearly all of it.
Before August, a modest system covering part of a home's use could make good sense on its own. Now that same system pays the full solar charge against a much smaller saving. The better answer is a system that covers the whole home, so the charge is spread across the biggest possible reduction in what you buy.
Not every kWh is worth the same
Covering the whole home is not the same as simply putting up more panels. It depends on when the power is used.
| Where it goes | Worth |
|---|---|
| Used in the home, replacing power you would have bought | up to $0.56 |
| Sent back to the grid | $0.11 |
Solar used in your home comes off your most expensive power first. A kWh that replaces power at the top of your bill is worth about five times one sent back to the grid.
The difficulty is timing. Panels produce most in the middle of the day. Homes use most in the evening, when the air conditioning, the cooking and the lights all come on. Without storage, much of a large system's output leaves the house at midday at $0.11, and the evening is still bought from the grid at the full rate.
Covering the whole home means covering the evening, and the evening is covered by a battery.
What we see on real homes
We monitor the systems we install. To test this, we took a year of measured production, use, import and export from 19 AES homes, from October 2025 to September 2026, and priced each home's bill under today's rates.
The solar-only homes sent a large share of what they made back to the grid at $0.11, and the bigger the system, the larger the share: those sized to the whole home used only about a third of their own solar. They still bought their evenings at the full rate. The battery homes kept most of it, and used it in the evening against the most expensive part of the bill.
Medians across 8 solar-only and 11 battery homes, residential systems only. Homes with incomplete data or a misconfigured consumption meter were left out. Bills priced at the rates in force from 1 August 2026.
A worked example
Take a home using 1,000 kWh a month, about 33 kWh a day. Here is what it pays each month under today's rates, before solar and in three designs.
| Design | Fixed charge | Usage charges, less export credit | Usage charges removed |
|---|---|---|---|
| No solar | $97.91 | $417.88 | none |
| Small solar, no battery (makes 40% of what the home uses) | $148.83 | $264.25 | 37% |
| Solar sized to the whole home, no battery | $148.83 | $163.82 | 61% |
| Solar and battery sized to the whole home | $148.83 | $23.31 | 94% |
Every design pays the same $148.83. What changes is how much of the usage charge is left once the system has done its work. The small system pays the full solar charge to remove about a third of it. The large solar-only system removes more, but sends much of its output away at $0.11. Solar and a battery sized to the whole home, day and evening, remove almost all of it, so the fixed charge is set against the largest possible reduction in what the home buys.
How the example is built: the home's solar output is used in the house at the rates we measured on real AES homes of each kind. The small solar-only system uses 63% of its output in the home, the whole-home solar-only system 34%, and the whole-home system with a battery 87%. The rest is exported at $0.1137 per kWh. Monthly averages, at the rates in force from 1 August 2026; actual bills vary month to month with the seasons.
What this means for you
If you are considering solar
Design for the whole home. Size the panels to what your house uses across a full year, read month by month from your bills, not from a single summer bill. Then size the battery to carry the evening. As a guide, about 2 kWh of storage for every 1 kW of solar keeps a typical home using its own power through the evening with little left to export.
If you already have solar
Every kWh you send to the grid is credited at $0.11. Stored and used that evening, the same kWh replaces power at up to $0.56. That gap is the strongest case there has been for adding a battery to an existing system. An Enphase battery can be added to the solar you already have, whoever installed it, and it keeps your home running in an outage as well.
If you use more than 50 kWh a day
You already pay $148.83. Going solar adds nothing to your fixed charge, and every kWh your system covers comes off the top of your bill.
Whichever applies, the starting point is the same: a year of your bills and a look at your roof. We do the analysis on your own numbers and show you exactly what the system removes from your bill.
Frequently asked questions
Did the August changes only affect solar homes?
No. The fixed monthly facilities charge rose by about 23% in every residential band, with or without solar, while the usage charge per kWh came down by about 7.5%. Solar homes now pay one flat facilities charge of $148.83 a month, the same as the top band.
Does going solar raise my fixed charge?
It depends on your use. A home using more than 50 kWh a day already pays $148.83, so going solar adds nothing to its fixed charge. A home in a lower band pays the difference between its band and $148.83. Either way, the charge is the same whatever the size of the system, which is why a system that covers your whole home makes the most of it.
Is solar still worth it after the new rates?
For a system designed around the whole home, yes. The flat charge is a fixed cost, so it weighs most on small systems and least on systems that remove most of the bill. Solar used in the home replaces power at up to $0.56 per kWh, so a system that covers your use through the day and, with a battery, through the evening, removes the most expensive part of your bill.
What is my exported solar worth?
Power a solar home sends back to the grid is credited at $0.1137 per kWh. The same kWh used in the home replaces power at up to $0.56. That difference is why a battery, which stores daytime solar for the evening, matters more under the new structure.
How should a new system be sized?
From a full year of your bills, read month by month, so the system covers the home in every season and not just one summer bill. Then the battery is sized to carry the evening. As a guide, about 2 kWh of storage for every 1 kW of solar keeps a typical home on its own power through the evening with little left to export.
Start with a site visit.
We look at the roof, read a year of your bills and come back with a proposal designed for your home. Flexible payment plans available.