Is my solar working? Making sense of your bill
Short answer
Your bill going up doesn't mean your solar has stopped working. The two are only loosely connected, and the fastest way to tell them apart is to check production in your app rather than the dollar figure on the bill.
If your app shows normal production for the season, your panels are fine and the bill has a different explanation. This covers both halves.
First: is the solar actually producing?
Open the Enphase app or mySolarEdge and compare last month against the same month a year ago — not against last month, which will always look different because of the season.
- Within 10–15% of last year — normal. The panels aren't the problem; keep reading.
- Down 25% or more — worth investigating. See My production looks low — is something wrong?
- No data at all — a monitoring problem, not necessarily a production one. See My system stopped reporting — start here.
Why your bill can rise while your panels work perfectly
| Cause | What's going on |
|---|---|
| Delivery charges | Solar offsets the electricity you buy, but you stay connected to the grid and keep paying to be connected. Delivery, basic service and surcharges appear whatever your panels do. |
| You're using more | An EV, a heat pump, a hot tub, working from home, a brutal August. Higher usage means a higher bill even with unchanged production. |
| Rates went up | Your panels produce the same kilowatt-hours; those kilowatt-hours are simply worth more or less than they were. |
| It's winter | December and January are the weakest solar months here and usually the highest-usage ones. That combination is normal. |
| Your credits ran out | Credits banked over summer get drawn down over winter. Once they're gone you pay cash again until spring rebuilds the balance. |
| An estimated read | If the utility estimated rather than read your meter, the bill can be wrong either way and corrects itself next cycle. |
What a normal solar bill looks like
You're not aiming for a zero bill every month — you're aiming for a low annual total. A healthy year is credits building through spring and summer, drawn down through autumn and winter, and a modest net cost across twelve months.
Two numbers are worth finding: how much you delivered to the grid and your credit balance. If both look reasonable, the system is doing its job.
When to call us
- Production is genuinely down against the same month last year
- Your bill jumped with no change in usage, rates or season
- The utility doesn't appear to be crediting your exports at all — that can mean the account isn't set up for net metering, which is worth fixing quickly
- You've just bought the house and the first bills look wrong — a common sign the account was opened without solar on it
Send us a photo of the bill with the account number covered and we'll walk you through it.
Ready for us to take a look?
This is the fastest way to reach our service team. It goes straight into the queue with your system details attached, so nothing gets lost in a voicemail. You'll get a confirmation, and you can reply to it with photos or updates as things develop.
Include your Site ID if you have it. It lets us pull up your system and check your monitoring data before we get back to you, which often saves a visit entirely.
Prefer to talk it through? Call (518) 478-8365.
How soon will someone come out? When a visit is needed, we're typically scheduling about two weeks out. That's a typical case rather than a promise — how far you are from us, how full the schedule is that month, and whether a part has to come from Enphase or SolarEdge all move it. If something is urgent or unsafe, say so in your request and we'll treat it differently.
Last verified: August 2026