SEC Net Billing and Rooftop Solar in Saudi Arabia: The Application Guide

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Key Takeaways

• Saudi Arabia's rooftop solar scheme is net billing, not net metering — exports earn a low fixed credit instead of offsetting imports one-to-one.
• SEC (now branding itself "Saudi Energy") runs an official online application service for small-scale solar installations, gated behind an SEC digital account.
• The scheme's legal basis, cited on SEC's own solar page, is the framework approved by the Saudi Electricity Regulatory Authority under Administrative Decision No. 2/47/41 dated 29/04/1441H.
• The export-versus-import rate gap means self-consumption, not export, drives payback in Saudi Arabia — size your system to your daytime load.

What is the SEC small-scale solar service?

Saudi Electricity Company — which now brands itself "Saudi Energy" across its website — operates a dedicated service for submitting requests to install small-scale solar energy systems, and states that it has begun accepting initial customer applications for installation. This is the official on-ramp for a grid-connected rooftop system in Saudi Arabia: the application runs through SEC, not through a separate agency.

The service's own page cites its regulatory basis: the framework approved and amended by the Board of the Saudi Electricity Regulatory Authority (SERA) under Administrative Decision No. 2/47/41 dated 29/04/1441H. In other words, the homeowner-facing process is SEC's, while the rules underneath it come from the sector regulator (whose regulatory functions now sit with the Water and Electricity Regulatory Authority, WERA — its framework page exists but was not directly accessible when this article was researched).

What is net billing, and how is it different from net metering?

The single most important fact about the Saudi scheme — the one that changes every payback calculation — is that it is net billing, not net metering.

Under net metering, every kilowatt-hour you export offsets a kilowatt-hour you import: the grid effectively pays you the retail rate for your surplus. Under net billing, imports and exports are valued separately. You pay the normal tariff for what you draw from the grid, and you are credited at a separate fixed rate — typically much lower — for what you export.

Figures as of August 2026.

Calling the Saudi scheme "net metering" is not a harmless simplification — it leads to payback estimates that can be badly wrong.

What export credit do you receive under the Saudi scheme?

Multiple independent secondary sources — including pv magazine's coverage of the framework and HAALA Energy's 2026 review of the Saudi regulatory landscape — consistently report the export credit at 7 halalas per kWh (SAR 0.07) for residential customers and 5 halalas per kWh for non-residential customers.

An honesty note this site owes its readers: those figures are consistently reported across secondary sources, but the regulator's own framework text could not be accessed directly when this article was researched, so they are presented as well-corroborated secondary figures rather than primary-verified ones. Likewise, the residential import tariff slabs commonly cited alongside them (18 halalas per kWh up to 6,000 kWh per month, 30 halalas above) are widely reported but were not primary-verified here — confirm them on your own SEC bill before running numbers.

What is not in doubt is the direction: the export credit sits far below the import tariff, and secondary sources also report that surplus credits roll over between billing periods, with a long-stop settlement mechanism defined in the framework.

How do you apply for a rooftop solar connection?

The application is an online e-service on SEC's website, and it is login-gated: you need an SEC digital account (personal or business) before you can submit a solar request. The verified sequence is therefore: create or sign into your SEC account, then open the New Solar Request service and submit the application for your premises.

Because the portal sits behind a login, the full form and its document requirements are not publicly visible, and this guide will not guess at them. Your installer should know the current requirements in detail — and an installer's familiarity with the SEC application process is itself a useful screening test, covered in this series' guide to choosing a qualified Saudi installer.

What system sizes does the framework cover?

Secondary sources consistently describe the framework's scope as grid-connected PV systems from 1 kW up to 2 MW — "small-scale" in the regulation's language — across consumer classes. That range comfortably covers everything from a small villa array to a substantial commercial rooftop.

For larger or commercial systems, HAALA Energy's review reports additional grid-connection limits, including caps tied to transformer ratings and distribution-area demand. Those constraints mostly matter to commercial and industrial buyers; a typical residential system sits well inside them. As with the tariff figures, these details come from secondary reporting on the framework rather than the framework text itself, so treat them as a map, not the territory.

How does net billing change the payback maths?

Qualitatively, the arithmetic works like this. Every kilowatt-hour of solar generation you consume yourself avoids buying that unit at the import tariff — full retail value. Every kilowatt-hour you export earns only the fixed export credit. When the export credit is a small fraction of the import rate, exported energy is worth several times less than self-consumed energy.

Three design consequences follow. First, size the system to your daytime consumption rather than your roof area — over-building to export does not pay the way it does in net-metering markets. Second, shift what load you can into daylight hours, since that converts low-value exports into full-value self-consumption. Third, batteries earn their keep: storing surplus for evening use captures the import rate instead of the export credit, which is why the battery section of this series treats storage as core equipment in Saudi Arabia rather than a luxury.

Which official sources should you check before committing?

Three, in order. First, SEC's solar PV pages, which describe the service and cite the governing decision. Second, the regulator's framework for small-scale solar PV systems — the WERA page exists, though it was not reachable when this article was researched, so quote its clauses only after reading them yourself or via your installer. Third, your own SEC bill, which is the only authoritative statement of the import tariff you actually pay.

If a salesperson quotes you a payback period, ask which export rate and which import tariff the calculation assumes, and check both against those sources. A quote built on net-metering assumptions in a net-billing market is the single most predictable way for a Saudi solar payback estimate to be wrong.

Does Saudi Arabia have net metering for rooftop solar?

No — the scheme is net billing, not net metering. Exported electricity is credited at a fixed rate that is lower than the import tariff, rather than offsetting imports one-to-one.

How do I apply for rooftop solar with SEC?

SEC (now branding itself Saudi Energy) runs a dedicated online service for small-scale solar installation requests. It is a login-gated e-service, so you first need an SEC digital account, then submit the solar request through the portal.

What is the export credit rate for solar in Saudi Arabia?

Multiple secondary sources report a residential export credit of 7 halalas per kWh, with 5 halalas per kWh for non-residential customers. These figures are consistently reported but were not confirmed against the regulator's own framework text for this article.

What is the legal basis for the Saudi small-scale solar scheme?

SEC's official solar PV page cites the regulatory framework approved and amended by the Saudi Electricity Regulatory Authority under Administrative Decision No. 2/47/41 dated 29/04/1441H.

References

• SEC (Saudi Energy) — Solar PV service page
• SEC — New Solar Request e-service
• pv magazine — Saudi rooftop PV provisions
• HAALA Energy — Saudi C&I solar regulations
• WERA — Regulatory Framework for Small-Scale Solar PV Systems