Energy · September 2026
Net metering without the jargon
Export watts by day. Draw credit by night. Here is the part vendors skip.
Net metering is an accounting idea with cables attached. Your system makes more electricity than you use at noon. That surplus flows to the grid. Your meter — or the billing system behind it — records a credit. After sunset you buy power back, ideally against that credit rather than a full tariff.
Zimbabwe’s published path uses grid-tied inverters and bi-directional smart meters. Credits can, under current rules, move between properties in the same name. A cheap off-grid inverter cannot play. That is why “we have solar” and “we are on net metering” are different sentences.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Is the site actually eligible, and who files the paper?
- Are credits allowed to move between your properties?
- What happens to unused credits at year end?
- Does the inverter you were quoted speak the grid code the utility expects?
- Who is liable if export trips a nearby transformer?
A system sized only for export can look heroic on a spreadsheet and disappointing on a bill if the rules shift. We size first for your reliable daytime load, then for export. That order protects you.
Send a twelve-month bill and a roof photo if you want a grown-up answer rather than a peak-watt fantasy.