As of January 1, 2024, the previous net metering system has been phased out for newly installed solar panels, replaced by gross metering. This is a significant change, as the method of accounting with the electricity grid influences how large a solar panel system is worth installing, and how the energy produced can be utilized most efficiently.
Net vs. Gross Metering – What's the Difference?
Net metering (also known as net billing) allowed household solar panel systems to use the electricity grid as a kind of energy storage. Excess energy produced by the system – for example, in summer – was fed into the grid, and then later, for example, in winter or at night, the same amount could be drawn back from it.
Billing was done on an annual basis: at the end of the year, the electricity provider aggregated the energy fed into the grid and the energy drawn from it, and billed the difference. If the solar panels covered consumption on an annual basis, the electricity bill could even be zero. This system favored consumers, as summer surplus production and winter consumption balanced each other out. However, it was less advantageous for providers, as grid usage fees and other costs were minimally represented in this structure.
In contrast, with gross metering, energy fed into the grid and drawn from it are treated separately, with separate pricing. Energy produced but not immediately consumed is purchased by the electricity provider at a fixed price – currently around 5 HUF/kWh – while the full price must be paid for electricity drawn from the grid. For residential consumption, this can be an average of ~36 HUF/kWh, and in the higher band, it can even be 70 HUF/kWh.
On the bill, the drawn and fed quantities appear on separate lines, and the credit is much smaller than the amount due. Thus, even if the system produces as much energy annually as the house consumes, the bill does not zero out – there is a significant difference between the value of the re-fed and re-purchased electricity.
In summary:
- The net metering system used an annual balance and practically equalized the difference between production and consumption.
- The gross metering system treats production and consumption separately, and no equalization occurs – this fundamentally brings new planning and economic considerations for solar panel systems.
What effect does gross metering have on system sizing?
With the introduction of gross metering, it is necessary to rethink how large a solar panel system is worth installing. Previously, during the net metering period, a general planning principle was that the system's annual production should cover the household's total annual consumption – thus achieving a zero balance. For example, if a household consumed 5000 kWh of energy per year, a solar panel system of approximately 5 kW (with an annual production of ~5000–5500 kWh) was sufficient to zero out the electricity bill. With gross metering, however, such a system may be considered oversized from a financial perspective, because during the summer period it will feed significant energy into the grid, for which it will only receive a minimal fee.
A family house with a solar panel system installed on the roof. Due to gross metering, it is now more important to use the generated energy within the house, rather than feeding it back into the grid.
For an average user – if their solar panel system is sized for their full annual needs – approximately 40% of the generated solar energy can be consumed immediately on-site, while 60% becomes surplus and goes to the grid. In the previous net metering system, this was "returned" for free later; in gross metering, however, this 60% overproduction is sold for only 5 HUF/kWh, and then a similar amount is bought back at a high price later. As a result, the return on investment for an excessively large system significantly deteriorates. For example, even if a 5 kW system produces ~6250 kWh of energy annually (which could cover the consumption of a 4-5 person household), due to gross metering, the household's annual electricity bill still remains significant. With a specific calculation: for a 5 kW system, ~2500 kWh are used directly, and ~3750 kWh are fed into the grid. They receive a credit of approximately 18,750 HUF annually for the fed-in energy, but they have to pay approximately 135,000 HUF for the ~3750 kWh drawn from the grid (at an average price of 36 HUF/kWh). The annual electricity cost thus remains ~116,000 HUF in this example, even though the system produced the total amount of consumption. With this, the annual savings are approximately 235,000 HUF, and an investment of ~2.5 million HUF would pay for itself in ~10.6 years. It can be seen that gross metering results in a longer payback period compared to net metering, especially if the system produces a lot of surplus for the grid.
From all this, it follows that in gross metering, a system with lower power may be sufficient for a good return on investment than what would have been needed during the net metering era. For example, if a household's annual consumption is 5000 kWh, it may only be worth installing a ~3–4 kW solar panel system with the current billing. A system around 4 kW produces ~4000–4500 kWh annually, which covers most of the consumption, but at the same time produces less extra for the grid. Thus, the household can use a larger proportion of the generated electricity immediately, and "waste" less at a price of 5 HUF. The electricity bill will remain somewhat higher (because some grid draw will still be needed), but the investment cost will also be lower, and every kWh produced will represent a higher value within the household. Naturally, the optimal size also depends on individual factors: your consumption habits, the distribution of peak periods, the orientation of the roof, and future expansion plans. In general, however, it is true that with gross metering, it is not advisable to install too large a system merely to produce a summer surplus.
Practical example for an average household
Let's take a specific example of an average Hungarian household with an annual consumption of approximately 4500 kWh. With net metering, installing a solar panel system of approximately 4–5 kW could cover this consumption on an annual basis, so the electricity bill could approach zero. With gross metering, however, if the same size (say, 5 kW) system is installed, due to the reasons mentioned, a significant portion of the production is not utilized immediately. In the summer months, the system can feed up to 700–800 kWh of surplus into the grid monthly, while still relying on the grid in winter. The household consumes ~4500 kWh annually, and the 5 kW system produces ~5500 kWh. The difference (~1000 kWh) is practically sold for 5 HUF (annual revenue of ~5000 HUF), while the missing energy in winter is bought at market price (e.g., 1000 kWh × 36 HUF = 36,000 HUF). In addition to this, due to temporal differences in production and consumption, further draw is needed: the energy fed into the grid in summer is not "stored for free" for winter. As a result, the household's electricity bill decreases from, say, ~0 HUF with net metering to ~100,000 HUF/year with gross metering, but it does not completely disappear.
If the same household installs only a 3 kW system (which produces ~3300 kWh annually), then the summer feed-in will be much smaller, because the system's power will less frequently exceed the house's consumption. Most of the 3300 kWh production can be used, and only a smaller part goes to the grid. In this case, the annual electricity bill will remain higher (approximately 1200 kWh of electricity will still need to be drawn from the grid at full price), but the cost of the solar panel system is also lower, and almost all of the produced electricity substitutes grid consumption at a value of 36 HUF/kWh. Simply put: a smaller system operates more efficiently for self-consumption, while a larger system produces more surplus sold cheaply. The optimal choice is often somewhere in between the two – for example, a system around ~4 kW – which significantly reduces grid draw, but does not produce disproportionately much surplus.
It is important to emphasize that optimal sizing can vary individually. For example, if there are few people at home during the day (meaning consumption is more in the evening and on weekends), it is advisable to choose a smaller system. However, if someone works from home, or operates electric heating (heat pump) and air conditioning during the day, or charges an electric car, then daytime consumption is high, so a larger system can also be well utilized. Ideally, the solar panel system's production curve matches the house's daily consumption curve, so that as little as possible is wasted. This goal can also be served by timing some larger consumers – such as washing machines, dryers, dishwashers – to run during sunny hours. In this way, a larger proportion of the produced energy is utilized immediately, and does not go to the grid.
What to look out for in planning? – Inverter, oversizing, battery
Inverter selection and system oversizing
The solar inverter is the heart of the system, converting the DC power produced by the panels into AC power and feeding it into the household grid. The inverter's power must be carefully selected when sizing the system. As a general rule, the inverter's nominal power should match the total power of the installed solar panels. A certain degree of oversizing is allowed and common: for example, up to 5.5–6 kW of solar panels can be connected to a 5 kW inverter. This allows for maximizing production outside of peak hours, as panels rarely reach their nominal peak power simultaneously (cloudy weather, angle losses, etc.). With gross metering, moderate oversizing can have an additional advantage: if the total capacity of the panels is slightly larger, the inverter can produce close to its maximum for more hours of the day, but may regulate down (clip) during peak moments. However, the few percent of energy "lost" at this time would likely have gone to the grid anyway, at only 5 HUF/kWh. So, reasonable panel oversizing can help increase self-consumption without causing significant loss of value.
However, care must be taken not to significantly oversize the entire system relative to our needs. Gross metering does not prohibit installing larger capacity, but it is not financially worthwhile to produce energy whose predominant part goes cheaply to the provider. Instead, it is worth planning with reserves for future consumption growth: for example, if you plan to charge an electric car or install a heat pump within a few years, you can choose a slightly larger inverter and solar panel capacity in light of this. When choosing an inverter, so-called hybrid inverters are now available, which are suitable for connecting battery energy storage. If you plan to install a battery later, it may be worth choosing such a type to ensure smooth future expansion.
The role of batteries in gross metering
Battery energy storage systems have gained significant importance with the introduction of gross metering. While previously, with net metering, the grid "stored" the surplus produced in summer for free, now it can only be bought back expensively. However, a battery allows you to store energy produced during the day but not used on-site, and then use it in the evening or on cloudy days. This means that a much larger proportion of the produced electricity is directly used in the household, meaning the self-consumption rate can be dramatically increased (up to over 80-90%). With a well-sized battery, it is possible for the house to draw from the surplus energy produced during sunny summer hours at night or the next morning, reducing the amount drawn from the grid. This mitigates the disadvantage of gross metering, as less energy needs to be sold for 5 HUF and bought back for 36-70 HUF.
However, batteries currently have a significant cost. The price of a 10–15 kWh capacity battery suitable for a family home can be several million forints, which can double the investment cost of the solar panel system. This can lead to a long payback period: at current prices, such an investment would only pay for itself in about 20 years, purely from electricity bill savings. Of course, prices are constantly changing, and rising energy prices or new subsidies could shorten this in the future. At present, however, it is worth considering carefully whether investing in a battery is financially worthwhile. From a non-financial perspective, however, it can be attractive: it increases energy independence and security (providing a backup in case of power outages), and also helps optimize the use of renewable energy from an environmental perspective.
If you find batteries too expensive, as an alternative, it's worth re-aligning consumption habits (as much as possible) with production first. As mentioned earlier, schedule flexible, postponable, high-consumption activities for sunny hours. This doesn't cost extra investment but improves system efficiency even with gross metering.
Grid feed-in tariffs and conditions in 2025
The introduction of gross metering also entails some practical changes in the electricity provider's conditions. For every new solar panel system, the installation of a smart meter is mandatory, which can separately measure the amount of energy fed into and drawn from the grid. Billing occurs monthly: the electricity provider aggregates monthly how much electricity it supplied to you (which it bills in the usual way), and how much surplus electricity it took over from your solar panel system (the equivalent value of which it credits or pays out). In practice, owners of household-sized micro power plants must make a one-time declaration to the provider when switching to gross metering, so that the equivalent value of the fed-in energy can be transferred to them. Subsequently, the process is automated, and the fee for the fed-in electricity is typically reimbursed monthly by bank transfer. It is important to note that with gross metering, the system usage fee must be paid for every kilowatt-hour drawn (unlike with net metering, where it was not required for fed-in energy).
The feed-in tariff is currently ~5 HUF/kWh, as mentioned above. The question arises whether an increase in this is expected in the near future. The regulation in 2024 allowed the introduction of so-called market-based sales: from early 2025, in principle, the possibility opens up for household solar producers to sell their surplus energy at market prices, through a trader or aggregator. This means that they would not receive a fixed 5 HUF, but a tariff approximating the current market electricity price. In practice, this requires appropriate IT and contractual background: energy trading companies willing to buy renewable electricity from household producers at a better price. According to reports, the technical conditions for this will soon be in place, but the system will take time to mature. At the same time, it is not excluded that in the coming years, due to market pressure and the advocacy of solar communities, the situation may improve, and solar panel owners may receive a more favorable tariff than 5 HUF for the energy produced. Professional organizations (e.g., the Hungarian Solar Panel and Solar Collector Association) also advocate for the introduction of a fairer, higher purchase price, as this would significantly improve the economic viability of systems and the willingness to invest.
It is also worth paying attention to other network conditions. At the end of 2022, feed-in for new solar panel systems was temporarily restricted in certain areas due to network capacity problems. However, from autumn 2023, the government gradually lifted the feed-in stop where network capacity allows. In 2025, in most parts of Hungary, newly installed solar panels will be allowed to feed surplus into the grid, but it is always advisable to inquire about local conditions with the specific provider beforehand. The grid connection approval process for gross metering is similar to the previous one, with the difference that the billing method will be recorded as gross in the contract, and a two-way (smart) meter will need to be installed during commissioning.
Summary
Is it still worth installing solar panels with gross metering? The answer is a definite yes – but the system needs to be planned more carefully than during the net metering era. Solar investment still reduces utility costs and protects against future energy price increases, only the payback mechanism has changed. The introduction of gross metering somewhat increases the payback period, as the amount received for kilowatt-hours fed into the grid is significantly less than what has to be paid for those drawn. However, this can be offset if our system is cleverly sized and operated: maximizing self-consumption has become the key. It may be worth installing a smaller capacity or expanding consumption (for example, electric heating, hot water storage, electric car) so that you use as much of the produced energy as possible. If necessary, expanding the system later with a battery can further increase the self-sufficiency rate. Also, do not forget that regulation is not static: more favorable feed-in prices or new subsidies may appear in the future, which could make solar systems even more attractive.
