Net Billing 2026: how offsetting works and what changes for you
Net Billing is today the principal self-generation scheme in Greece – and it is systematically confused with the old Net Metering. The difference is not one of terminology: it changes how we design the system.
In short
- Under Net Billing it is offset value in euros, not energy in kWh.
- Every kWh you consume at the moment it is produced is worth more than every kWh you export.
- The right system size comes from the consumption profile, not from total annual consumption.
- A battery is not compulsory, but it significantly improves the financial picture in homes.
Net Metering vs Net Billing: the substantive difference
Under the old Net Metering, the surplus energy your system sent to the grid was credited as energy. A kWh you exported in June could come back as a kWh you consumed in December. The grid effectively worked as a free, seasonal battery.
Under Net Billing, offsetting is done in value. The energy you export is valued at the wholesale market price for that hour and the amount is credited to your bill. The energy you import from the grid is charged at your supplier retail price – which includes network charges, ETMEAR, regulated charges and VAT.
The consequence is simple and it drives the design: 1 kWh exported is typically worth appreciably less than 1 kWh you avoid buying. That is why, under Net Billing, the goal is not maximum production but maximum self-consumption.
How it shows up on your bill
The supplier keeps two readings: the energy you imported and the energy you exported. At each settlement cycle, the value of the export is deducted from the consumption charge. If the credit exceeds the charge, the surplus carries over to the next cycle – but it carries over as euros, not as kWh.
In practice this means the oversized system installed to cover winter no longer performs as it once did: the summer surplus is credited at market prices that are low precisely during the hours when all solar systems are producing.
What the right size means today
In the study we do not look only at annual consumption in kWh. We look at when you consume. Two homes with the same annual consumption of 6,000 kWh can need completely different systems:
- A home with someone in all day (working from home, a heat pump, a water heater, air conditioning at midday): high natural self-consumption, excellent performance without a battery.
- A home that lives in the evening: a large share of production would be exported at midday and bought back expensively in the evening. Here the battery changes the equation.
- A business with daytime hours: the ideal profile for Net Billing – the production curve almost coincides with the consumption curve.
That is why we always ask for 12 months of bills and, where available, a load curve. Without them, any capacity proposal is guesswork. See what the an energy study that we prepare before every quotation.
When Net Billing is not an option
In several parts of the country the distribution network is saturated and applications to export power are rejected or delayed. In those cases there are two routes: a system Zero Feed-In with zero export, or fully off-grid system off-grid. Both are designed so that production is consumed or stored on site.
What we keep
Net Billing remains one of the most stable investments a household or business can make in Greece – provided the system is sized on the real consumption profile rather than on the available roof area. A properly designed 5 kWp system performs better than a poorly sized 10 kWp one.
If you want to see your own numbers, the gives a first impression and the free study gives the definitive ones.
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