Solar by state
Solar in Montana, by the numbers
Utilities and their rates, adoption, ten years of growth, batteries, ownership, state rules and installer licensing in Montana, from federal 2024 data.
Montana in brief
1.64% of Montana homes had rooftop solar in 2024, the 25th-highest of 51 (3.55% nationally). Power cost 12.66¢/kWh, below the national 16.48¢, and the average system was 7.32 kW. NorthWestern Energy LLC serves 58.9% of homes.
Where does Montana stand out?
The four measures, beyond price and adoption, on which Montana sits furthest from the middle of the ranking.
Montana solar in numbers, 2024
Every Montana figure next to the national one, with its place in the ranking (highest first, out of the jurisdictions reporting it).
| Measure | Montana | United States | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes with a metered rooftop system | 1.64% | 3.55% | 25th-highest of 51 |
| Rooftop systems counted | 9,151 | 5,077,543 | 11th-lowest of 51 |
| Average system size | 7.32 kW | 6.74 kW | 23rd-lowest of 51 |
| Residential price | 12.66¢/kWh | 16.48¢/kWh | 11th-lowest of 51 |
| Average monthly bill | $107.91 | $142.26 | 5th-lowest of 51 |
| Use per home | 10,226 kWh/yr | 10,359 kWh/yr | 23rd-lowest of 51 |
| Systems with a battery | 2.24% | 5.86% | 18th-highest of 47 |
| Leased or on a PPA | Not reported | 29.1% | No figure |
| Growth in systems, five years | 28.0% a year | — | 21st-highest of 51 |
| Minutes without power per customer | 342 | 297 (median state) | 23rd-highest of 51 |
| Homes on a time-varying rate | 17.0% | 11.1% | 9th-highest of 51 |
| Installed rooftop capacity | 67.0 MW | 34,226 MW | — |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861, 2024 final release, retrieved 2 September 2026. The Montana ratios and ranks are HyreSolar calculations from EIA inputs.
Which utility serves Montana, and what does it charge?
The 8 largest utilities selling to Montana homes, by residential customers, with the price full-service customers paid and how many run net-metered solar.
| Utility | Type | Homes served | Price per kWh | Use per home, monthly | Net-metered systems |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NorthWestern Energy LLC | Investor-owned; wires, 100% on its own supply | 328,127 (58.9%) | 14.23¢ | 711 kWh | 8,159 (2.5%) |
| Flathead Electric Co-op | Co-op | 63,317 (11.4%) | 9.67¢ | 1,202 kWh | 225 (0.36%) |
| Yellowstone Valley Electric Co-op | Co-op | 21,182 (3.8%) | 13.35¢ | 904 kWh | 424 (2.0%) |
| Montana-Dakota Utilities Company | Investor-owned | 19,616 (3.5%) | 12.89¢ | 760 kWh | 15 (0.08%) |
| USBIA-Mission Valley Power | Federal | 16,292 (2.9%) | 8.91¢ | 1,313 kWh | 90 (0.55%) |
| Missoula Electric Co-op | Co-op | 14,686 (2.6%) | 10.50¢ | 1,076 kWh | 154 (1.1%) |
| Fergus Electric Co-op | Co-op | 6,682 (1.2%) | 15.52¢ | 801 kWh | 76 (1.1%) |
| Northern Lights | Co-op | 3,985 (0.71%) | 12.52¢ | 1,073 kWh | None reported |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861 2024, Sales to Ultimate Customers and Net Metering, utility level, retrieved 5 October 2026. Shares are of 557,432 Montana residential accounts. Each Montana price is residential revenue divided by sales for full-service customers (HyreSolar calculation); a wires company’s price is its default-service price.
What do the Montana utility figures mean for a solar quote?
EIA-861 lists 14 utilities serving homes in Montana in 2024, across 557,432 residential accounts. The three largest, NorthWestern Energy LLC, Flathead Electric Co-op and Yellowstone Valley Electric Co-op, served 74.0% of those homes. By ownership: investor-owned utilities 62.4%, electric cooperatives 20.6%, small utilities EIA counts as a group 14.1% and federal power agencies 2.9%.
All 557,432 Montana residential accounts bought energy from the utility that delivers it; EIA counted only 2 on a competitive supplier. So a Montana utility’s own tariff sets both the price you avoid and the credit for what you export.
NorthWestern Energy LLC, the largest, served 328,127 Montana homes (58.9%). Its full-service residential customers paid 14.23¢ per kWh, above the Montana average of 12.66¢, and used 711 kWh a month on average. 8,159 of its customers ran net-metered rooftop solar, 2.5% of its homes against 1.64% statewide.
Among the 7 Montana utilities with at least 5,000 residential customers and a full-service price, the price ran from 8.91¢ at USBIA-Mission Valley Power to 15.52¢ at Fergus Electric Co-op. At the Montana average of 10,226 kWh a year, that 6.61¢ gap is worth about $676 a year (our arithmetic), so the same system offsets more money in one territory than the other.
Price a quote on your own utility’s rate, not the 12.66¢ Montana average.
Rooftop solar is concentrated: NorthWestern Energy LLC alone accounts for 8,159 net-metered residential systems, about 89% of the 9,151 counted in Montana, and 9 Montana utilities reported any at all.
What does power cost in Montana, and why does it matter?
Residential electricity in Montana averaged 12.66¢ per kilowatt-hour in 2024, the 11th-lowest of 51 and below the national 16.48¢. Retail power in Montana is cheaper than in 40 of the other 50 jurisdictions. Each kilowatt-hour a system avoids is worth less, which lengthens payback.
The average Montana household bill was $107.91 a month ($1,295 a year), the 5th-lowest of 51, against $142.26 nationally. That $1,295 is the ceiling on what solar could save a typical Montana home, before fixed monthly charges.
In Montana, 17.0% of homes were on a time-varying rate in 2024.
On those rates the hour you use or export power changes its value, so ask for a proposal modeled on your own tariff.
28.4% of Montana residential meters were smart meters (83.8% nationally), and a time-varying rate needs one. How time-of-use changes solar.
How many Montana homes have solar?
Montana had 9,151 rooftop systems on net metering in 2024, across 557,432 residential accounts: 1.64% of homes, the 25th-highest of 51. Adoption in Montana sits in the middle of the 51: neither an early market nor a late one.
The Montana market counted 2,806 more systems in 2024 than in 2023 and has grown 28.0% a year over five years, the 21st-highest of 51. Where growth has turned nationally.
How has Montana solar changed since 2014?
Montana counted 1,109 net-metered rooftop systems in 2014 and 9,151 in 2024, 8.3 times as many. The share of homes with one moved from 0.23% to 1.64%. The biggest one-year addition came in 2024, with 2,806 more systems than the year before.
| Year | Rooftop systems | Share of homes | Average size | Residential price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 1,109 | 0.23% | 3.5 kW | 10.18¢ |
| 2016 | 1,562 | 0.31% | 4.3 kW | 10.94¢ |
| 2018 | 2,206 | 0.43% | 4.4 kW | 10.96¢ |
| 2020 | 2,813 | 0.54% | 5.7 kW | 11.24¢ |
| 2022 | 4,315 | 0.80% | 6.8 kW | 11.33¢ |
| 2024 | 9,151 | 1.64% | 7.3 kW | 12.66¢ |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861 annual files 2014–2024, net-metered residential systems, retrieved 2 September 2026. Montana shares and sizes are HyreSolar calculations.
What does the Montana trend mean for a savings estimate?
Over the same years the Montana residential price went from 10.18¢ to 12.66¢ per kWh, up 24%, and the average system from 3.5 kW to 7.3 kW. With Montana prices up 24% across ten years, a savings estimate that assumes steep yearly rate rises is assuming more than this record shows.
How big is a typical Montana system?
The average Montana system was 7.32 kW in 2024, the 23rd-lowest of 51, against 6.74 kW nationally. Montana homes used 10,226 kilowatt-hours a year each, the 23rd-lowest of 51.
A Montana home using 10,226 kWh is an average, not a design input: size from your own twelve months of bills and usable roof with cost by system size and the system size calculator.
Who owns the systems in Montana?
Form EIA-861 reports no third-party-ownership split for the 9,151 systems counted in Montana in 2024, so we publish none rather than infer one.
Ask any Montana company in writing whether it is selling you the system or a lease or power purchase agreement; the owner of a Montana system is the one who claims any tax credit.
Do Montana homes add batteries?
In Montana, 2.24% of solar systems were paired with a battery in 2024 (205 systems), the 18th-highest of 47. Montana’s share is well under half the national 5.86%.
On reliability, the average Montana customer went 342 minutes without power in 2024 counting major storms, and 152 minutes without them. The median state saw 297. Outages in every state.
Whether a battery pays in Montana turns on your utility’s export credit and your own outage history: what a home battery does.
How do you check a solar company’s license in Montana?
We found no dedicated state register for solar work in Montana, so we publish no company counts. That is not evidence of light regulation: electrical work can be licensed at state or local level even where solar is never named.
With 9,151 systems in Montana, the company quoting you may be based out of state. Ask which license it holds, in which state, and confirm it with that authority. What to do when the search comes back empty.
Which states are closest to Montana on adoption?
The six jurisdictions nearest to Montana’s 1.64% share of homes with rooftop solar.
Where do the Montana numbers come from?
The Montana figures are HyreSolar calculations from the Form EIA-861 annual files: 9,151 net-metered residential systems counted against 557,432 residential accounts, sizes as means, and 14 utility-level rows for the utility table, matched to net-metering records by EIA utility number.
The method and limits cover all 51; the Montana row is in the data as a CSV.
No Montana figure here is an estimate for one home: your roof, usage, utility tariff and tax position decide that.
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Questions
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