Residential Service (flat). The default residential classification for NYSEG. Almost every house is on it unless someone deliberately moved you. It carries a $20 monthly basic service charge and an all-in cost of $0.17–$0.25 per kWh once delivery, supply, and surcharges are combined.

Look at the service classification printed on your NYSEG bill — it will name the rate directly. The default residential classification for NYSEG. Almost every house is on it unless someone deliberately moved you.

What is the Customer Benefit Contribution on NYSEG?

$1.12 per kW-DC per month, charged on net-metered systems interconnected on or after January 1, 2022. On a 9 kW system that is about $121 a year, every year, for the life of the array. It is charged on installed capacity rather than on export, which is why oversizing costs you twice.

New York State Electric & Gas · Flat rate

NYSEG SC-1 explained

The default residential classification for NYSEG. Almost every house is on it unless someone deliberately moved you.

The rate

Residential Service (flat)

Basic service charge

$20 / month

$240 a year, charged at zero kWh. No amount of solar removes it.

Filed NYSEG residential rates and tariffs · verified Apr 2026Basic service charge, billed regardless of usage.

All-in cost of energy

$0.17–$0.25 / kWh

Delivery plus supply plus surcharges. Divide your own bill total by your kWh to find your real number.

Filed NYSEG residential rates and tariffs · verified Apr 2026Delivery plus default supply plus surcharges. Divide your own bill total by your kWh to find where you sit in this band.

Customer Benefit Contribution

$1.12 / kW-DC / month

On a 9 kW system that is $121 a year, for the life of the array.

Filed Customer Benefit Contribution (CBC) rates · verified Jan 2026Applies to systems interconnected on or after January 1, 2022. On a 9 kW-DC system that is roughly $10 a month, or about $120 a year, for the life of the system.

VDER / NYISO zone

A (West), C (Central), D (North), E (Mohawk Valley), F (Capital), G (Hudson Valley)

Determines Value Stack pricing where VDER applies instead of net metering.

Solar

What this rate does to solar economics

Retail-rate net metering applies. Exports offset imports one-for-one on the energy component, which is the strongest export value available in the state.

Show the arithmetic

A household using 10,000 kWh a year on SC-1 pays roughly $2,100 for energy at the $0.21/kWh midpoint, plus $240 in basic service charges, plus $121 in CBC once a 9 kW array is interconnected. A 100% offset removes the $2,100 and leaves the $361.

Midpoint arithmetic for illustration. Your all-in rate depends on your supply arrangement and the season.

Storage

What this rate does to battery economics

Flat rate, so no arbitrage value. A battery here is bought for outage coverage. Treat any 'bill savings from storage' line in a quote as a red flag on this rate.

Watch out

Catches on this rate

NYSEG bills separate delivery and supply. The delivery half does not go away with solar, and it is the half that has been rising fastest.
Rural single-phase circuits in this territory hit hosting-capacity limits sooner than urban ones. Check the hosting capacity map before you assume approval is automatic.
The basic service charge continues at full offset.

Interconnection

Getting connected on NYSEG

NYSEG and RG&E share Avangrid's interconnection portal and process, so timelines look similar in both territories.
Long rural single-phase laterals are the defining constraint. On a lightly loaded rural circuit, a cluster of neighbors going solar can push the line into voltage-rise territory and trigger a study.
Check the hosting capacity map for your specific circuit before assuming a large system is approvable.
Restoration after a major storm in rural NYSEG territory is measured in days, not hours. That is the honest input to a backup-power decision here.

Application to Permission to Operate

5–14 weeks

Utility-side only. Permitting and install scheduling are on top.

Observed GridReady quote and bill review sample · verified Apr 2026

Where this applies

Places on NYSEG

34 New York counties have NYSEG customers. These are the ones we have local pages for.

Questions

NYSEG SC-1 FAQ

What is NYSEG SC-1?: Residential Service (flat). The default residential classification for NYSEG. Almost every house is on it unless someone deliberately moved you. It carries a $20 monthly basic service charge and an all-in cost of $0.17–$0.25 per kWh once delivery, supply, and surcharges are combined.
How does SC-1 affect solar payback?: Retail-rate net metering applies. Exports offset imports one-for-one on the energy component, which is the strongest export value available in the state.
Is a home battery worth it on NYSEG SC-1?: Flat rate, so no arbitrage value. A battery here is bought for outage coverage. Treat any 'bill savings from storage' line in a quote as a red flag on this rate.
Am I on SC-1?: Look at the service classification printed on your NYSEG bill — it will name the rate directly. The default residential classification for NYSEG. Almost every house is on it unless someone deliberately moved you.
What is the Customer Benefit Contribution on NYSEG?: $1.12 per kW-DC per month, charged on net-metered systems interconnected on or after January 1, 2022. On a 9 kW system that is about $121 a year, every year, for the life of the array. It is charged on installed capacity rather than on export, which is why oversizing costs you twice.

Next step

Find your own number

The band above is a range for the whole territory. Your all-in rate is one division away.

Official source: Rates and tariffs · Solar and net metering · Outage map

Badge key:Filed — from a tariff, statute, or government datasetModeled — from a published model or datasetDerived — calculated by us from the inputs shownObserved — from proposals and bills readers send us

How this page is built

This is a generated page: the structure is shared across locations, the numbers are not. Every figure comes from the source cited beside it, with the date we last checked it. Nothing here is a quote, an appraisal, or tax advice, and none of it is specific to your roof.

Rates and incentive programs change. We re-verify utility tariffs and NYSERDA program status on a rolling schedule and stamp the date on each number rather than on the page, so you can see which specific figures are fresh. Full methodology · Program status tracker · About the Local Energy Playbook

Page content last reviewed April 2026.

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