How is system size measured for interconnection in Utah?

The published limits are stated in kilowatts without saying whether that is the inverter alternating current rating or the array direct current rating.

How will you measure generation capacity for this system? Utah defines it as the nameplate of the power generating device excluding conversion inefficiencies, which reads as the array DC rating rather than the inverter. On a system near 25 kW this decides the review level.

Only the utility holds this figure. Ask before you quote the job.

For a cooperative, what fees has your board set? The Commission fee schedule does not bind a utility outside its ratemaking authority.

Only the utility holds this figure. Ask before you quote the job.

Utah solar interconnection rules, tiers and fees

How the size is measured: not published

The published limits here are stated in kilowatts without saying whether that is the inverter rating in alternating current or the array rating in direct current. On a system near a threshold that decides which band it lands in, so the checker asks the question rather than choosing an answer.

Size bands and what each one obliges

Level 1 Size 0 to 25 kW	An inverter based facility with a capacity of 25 kilowatts or less. A Commission regulated utility may not charge any application or other fee for a Level 1 review. Utah publishes no insurance requirement at any level. Inverter based equipment No application fee at a Commission regulated utility
Level 2 Size 25.001 to 2000 kW	A capacity of two megawatts or less that does not qualify for Level 1. Fees may reach $50 plus $1 per kilowatt plus the reasonable cost of minor modifications, with engineering work capped at $100 per hour. Up to $50 plus $1 per kilowatt in fees Engineering at no more than $100 per hour
Level 3 Size 2000.001 to 20000 kW	Greater than two megawatts and up to twenty megawatts, or any uncertified facility, or one that failed the lower levels. Fees may reach $100 plus $2 per kilowatt plus study time at up to $100 per hour, with a study deposit of the lesser of 50 percent of the good faith estimate or $1,000. Up to $100 plus $2 per kilowatt in fees Study deposit of the lesser of half the estimate or $1,000

Level 1 Size 0 to 25 kW

An inverter based facility with a capacity of 25 kilowatts or less. A Commission regulated utility may not charge any application or other fee for a Level 1 review. Utah publishes no insurance requirement at any level.

Inverter based equipment
No application fee at a Commission regulated utility

Level 2 Size 25.001 to 2000 kW

A capacity of two megawatts or less that does not qualify for Level 1. Fees may reach $50 plus $1 per kilowatt plus the reasonable cost of minor modifications, with engineering work capped at $100 per hour.

Up to $50 plus $1 per kilowatt in fees
Engineering at no more than $100 per hour

Level 3 Size 2000.001 to 20000 kW

Greater than two megawatts and up to twenty megawatts, or any uncertified facility, or one that failed the lower levels. Fees may reach $100 plus $2 per kilowatt plus study time at up to $100 per hour, with a study deposit of the lesser of 50 percent of the good faith estimate or $1,000.

Up to $100 plus $2 per kilowatt in fees
Study deposit of the lesser of half the estimate or $1,000

The screens that decide it

Within the 20 MW ceiling Limit 20000 kW.
Level 3 stops at twenty megawatts.
Aggregate generation on a shared secondary under 20 kW Limit 20 kW.
Utah caps aggregate capacity on a shared secondary at 20 kilowatts.
Aggregate generation under 15 percent of circuit peak load 15 percent of line section peak load, a figure only the utility holds.
Utah measures against the whole distribution circuit rather than a line section, uses the highest annual peak over the previous sixty months, and measures at the nearest substation. That is a materially more permissive denominator than the line section test used elsewhere.

Ask the utility this, before you sell it

How will you measure generation capacity for this system? Utah defines it as the nameplate of the power generating device excluding conversion inefficiencies, which reads as the array DC rating rather than the inverter. On a system near 25 kW this decides the review level.
For a cooperative, what fees has your board set? The Commission fee schedule does not bind a utility outside its ratemaking authority.
Is retail net metering still open to this customer, and what is the current export credit? The retail program was closed to new customers and replaced by a transition export credit.

Worth knowing before you quote

Utah publishes no insurance requirement at any level, verified by reading the sections rather than inferred. It publishes a deemed approval clause that is commercially valuable: if the utility does not notify a Level 1 customer in writing within 25 business days of receiving an application, the request is considered approved. Final authorization must follow within ten business days of the required documentation, making Utah one of only two states read that publishes an effective days to permission to operate. Net metering has a 1,200 watt minimum, the only floor found in any state, and caps at 25 kilowatts residential and two megawatts non residential. R746-312 predates energy storage and contains no storage, export limiting or power control provisions at all.

Utility programs we have read in Utah

Source

Utah Administrative Code R746-312, Electrical Interconnection, with Utah Code Title 54 Chapter 15 net metering

Read and recorded 2026-09-12. The procedures bind public utilities generally, but the fee provisions do not apply to utilities outside Commission ratemaking authority. For a distribution cooperative the governing authority is its own board of directors, which therefore sets the fees rather than the Commission. Municipal utilities are outside it.

Solar and battery interconnection rules in Utah

Size bands and what each one obliges

The screens that decide it

Ask the utility this, before you sell it

Worth knowing before you quote

Utility programs we have read in Utah

What to do with this