Yes, NV Energy buys back excess solar power. Under Nevada's net-metering program, surplus electricity your panels send to the grid is credited to your account at 75% of the retail rate for new customers, and that rate is locked for 20 years from your interconnection date. The credit offsets the power you pull from the grid at night, so a well-sized system can zero out most of your annual bill.
How the buyback actually works
NV Energy doesn't cut you a check each month. Instead, every kilowatt-hour you export earns a bill credit valued at 75% of retail. When you draw power from the grid — overnight, on cloudy days, during peak summer evenings — those credits are applied against what you owe. The math nets out month to month:
- Export more than you use in a billing period: the surplus credit rolls forward to future months.
- Use more than you export: banked credits are drawn down before you pay cash.
- Basic service charge: a fixed monthly connection fee still applies regardless of net usage.
This is governed by NV Energy Rule 15, the interconnection and net-metering tariff.
Why it's 75% and not 100%
Before 2016, Nevada paid the full retail rate. After the 2015 net-metering controversy and the 2017 AB 405 reset, credits were set on a declining tiered schedule — 95% of retail for the earliest adopters, stepping down to 75% as capacity filled. New Las Vegas customers enroll at the current 75% tier. The credit is still well above the wholesale rate solar customers were briefly cut to in 2016.
The part most people miss: the 20-year lock
The buyback rate is fixed for 20 years at your installation location. Because the credit is pegged to retail rates, the dollar value of your exported power rises automatically every time NV Energy raises rates — and with data centers pushing record demand, residential rates hit 17.45 cents/kWh in early 2026, up 9.5% in a year. Pairing solar with a home battery lets you store rather than export, sidestepping the 25% haircut entirely on the power you self-consume.