All 60 utilities / Alabama Power
Alabama Power solar interconnection: what it requires before you energize
How does Alabama Power detect unpermitted backfeed?
Being verified being verified
What happens if they catch you?
Being verified being verified
Small and DIY interconnection requirements
Their own wording: ensure your interconnection application is approved before purchasing or installing. Process follows the Southern Company interconnection policy plus Alabama Power's technical guidebook, with a utility-accessible external disconnect. documented
The famous one: Rate Rider RGB adds $5.41 per kW of nameplate capacity per month to every interconnected self-generator, about $27 a month on a 5 kW system, charged regardless of how much backup power you actually use. Challenged for a decade, upheld in federal court in March 2026. documented
No net metering in Alabama: excess is credited at avoided cost, far below retail. The fee plus the credit structure is why the state ranks last in the country for residential solar. documented
Northern Alabama is TVA co-op and muni territory instead, where none of the above applies. Check your bill before planning anything. documented
sources: Alabama Power solar page · Rate Rider RGB (PDF)
Gear for a territory where exports earn little
In Alabama Power territory, exported power earns well below retail, which is why zero-export and self-consumption builds dominate here.
Craftstrom export controller · AP Systems EZ-1 — caps export in hardware
EG4 6000xp / 12000xp — the community-standard inverter for self-consumption builds, mind bypass-mode leakage
Clamp meter · energy monitor — verify zero on your own meter before Alabama Power does
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Related: Xcel Energy (MN)
Planning a zero-export or plug-in setup here? See the zero-export reality check and equipment notes.
Every claim above is evidence-graded: documented means it traces to the tariff or the utility's own filings, reported means a dated community report. The full table covers 60 utilities: see all of Gridrules.