How Jamaica's Net Billing Program Works
Jamaica's net billing framework, administered by the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) and implemented through Jamaica Public Service (JPS), allows residential and commercial customers to export surplus solar generation to the grid at a 1:1 credit rate — meaning one kilowatt-hour exported earns one kilowatt-hour of credit on the next bill. The credit carries forward on a rolling 12-month basis, so customers with good sun months effectively bank savings for cloudier periods. The program is available for systems up to 100kW for commercial customers and up to 30kW for residential, with the residential sweet spot being around 5-10kW.
The application process in Jamaica runs through JPS's distributed generation portal and typically takes 30-60 days from submission to interconnection approval. Installers must use JPS-approved equipment lists, and systems require an anti-islanding inverter as standard. The 10MW system-wide cap, initially seen as a limitation, was effectively a safety valve that allowed JPS to manage grid integration risk during the early years of the program. By the time the cap was reached in 2022, JPS had accumulated enough operational data to raise it, and expansion is now underway.
The Economic Impact for Jamaican Solar Owners
The 1:1 net billing credit dramatically changes the economics versus self-consumption only. In a system where you can export surplus generation, a properly sized solar array can reduce a household's net annual electricity bill to near zero rather than merely cutting it in half. For a Jamaican household paying JMD$45/kWh (approximately EC$0.28 at current exchange rates), the savings are meaningful. For Antiguans paying EC$0.45/kWh — significantly more — the value of export credit would be even more substantial. Our model estimates that full net metering at 1:1 credit would reduce the payback period on a 5kW Antigua system from 8.0 years to approximately 6.2 years, assuming 30% of generation is exported.
A critical design feature in Jamaica's program is the definition of the export credit as a bill credit, not a cash payment. This was politically essential: JPS and the OUR could implement the program without creating a direct government expenditure, and the utility retained control over how credits are applied. Antigua's draft net metering regulations appear to follow a similar bill-credit model, which is pragmatically wise for the same reasons. The political economy of solar policy is as important as the engineering.
Why Antigua's Bill Is Stalling
The Antigua Renewable Energy Act has been in various forms of parliamentary consideration since at least 2020. Industry insiders point to two recurring friction points: APUA's concern about revenue erosion as high-consumption customers (who are typically more affluent and more likely to install solar) leave the billing base, and a lack of a dedicated technical working group to translate draft language into implementable grid codes and interconnection standards. Jamaica solved both problems by involving JPS engineers directly in drafting the technical appendices of its regulations and by commissioning an independent revenue impact study that allayed the utility's concerns. Antigua has not yet taken either step in a systematic way.
The good news is that the legislative work is not starting from scratch. The OECS Energy Secretariat has published a model net metering framework specifically for small island developing states, and Antigua's draft bill draws heavily from it. The remaining gap is political will and technical capacity within the regulatory body. Neighboring St. Lucia, working from the same OECS template, moved from draft to enacted regulations in 14 months. Antigua's trajectory has been considerably slower, but the pathway is clear.