Net metering in Kenya: what factories should check before sizing solar

A factory solar proposal needs two separate answers: how much generation the site can use, and what happens to any surplus. A single annual savings figure can hide a poor match between the plant and the working week.

Start with the published rules

EPRA publishes Kenya's Energy (Net-Metering) Regulations, 2024. Regulation 6 ties commercial and industrial capacity to recent maximum demand, or contracted demand where the bill has no demand reading. Regulation 5 says below 1 MW; regulation 6 says not above 1 MW. Ask the licensee to confirm eligibility at that boundary. Regulation 10 credits half the exported kWh; unused credits expire at the licensee's financial year end.

That is an energy credit, not a promise that every bill component falls by the same percentage. Confirm the current tariff, agreement and any subsequent notices with the licensee before relying on a financial model.

Compare the right capacity figures

A proposal may quote module capacity in kWp, inverter output in kW and a connection limit separately. Put all three beside the recorded demand and ask the responsible local engineer to reconcile them with the capacity accepted for the application. A comparison of headline numbers alone does not establish compliance.

A simple export example

Consider an illustrative Sunday with 5,000 kWh generated, 1,000 kWh used on site and 4,000 kWh exported. Applying the published half-unit credit gives 2,000 kWh of credit. Whether the site uses that credit before expiry is a separate question. This is an energy illustration, not a bill estimate or a prediction for a real factory.

Ask for a model you can check

• Use twelve months of bills and interval demand data where available.
• Separate production days, weekends, shutdowns and seasonal loads.
• Show generation, self-consumption, exports, credit use and remaining credit separately.
• Compare no-export, approved net-metering and storage cases with the same load assumptions.
• Identify which tariff components can change and which remain payable.
• Record equipment degradation, operating costs, curtailment and financing assumptions.

Resolve approval before procurement

Have the local engineer and licensee confirm the application route, study requirements, connection arrangement and permitted operating mode. A project outside net-metering eligibility needs its own route confirmed; do not assume that open access or an export payment is automatically available. Keep the agreed documents with the proposal.

We provide scoped remote document review from India. Applications, certification and local engineering responsibility remain with the authorised local team. See our solar proposal review, the fictional sample report and the East Africa comparison checklist.

Primary source: EPRA: Energy (Net-Metering) Regulations, 2024, regulations 5, 6 and 10. Source checked 1 November 2026; confirm the current project terms with EPRA and your licensee.