Tired of Cornelius Electric bills? Here are your solar and backup options

Who runs Cornelius's electric system

The Town of Cornelius owns its electric utility, and the Town Board governs it and approves its budget each year. Local reporting puts the system at about 4,000 customers, mostly east of I-77. West of the interstate, most homes are served by EnergyUnited or Duke Energy. Day to day operation and maintenance have been handled under contract with ElectriCities.

Rates and the new substation

In June 2025 the town announced a 5 percent rate increase for its electric customers, driven mainly by a new substation plus smaller capital projects, with increases phased in over several years. A 2019 system study had found the system near capacity. Those are the kinds of verifiable reasons rates move, and they are worth knowing when you weigh solar or a battery.

Wholesale power for Cornelius comes through North Carolina Municipal Power Agency Number 1, which 19 towns formed to buy into the Catawba Nuclear Station. The agency owns 75 percent of Catawba Unit 2. That ownership, and the debt and contracts tied to it, shape what Cornelius pays for power and how it sets rates for local customers.

Solar on the Cornelius system

We could not find Cornelius's current solar rider posted online, so treat this as a list of questions for the electric department. Many ElectriCities member towns credit rooftop solar through a renewable energy credit rider rather than retail net metering. Shelby, for example, uses a buy-all, sell-all rider that pays an avoided cost rate. Ask Cornelius whether it offers net metering, net billing or buy-all, sell-all, what the export credit is, whether there is a monthly fee for solar accounts, and what the interconnection steps are.

Backup power

Solar alone shuts off when the grid goes down. That is a safety rule, so line crews are not hurt by power feeding back into the lines. To keep lights, a fridge and a well pump running during an outage you need a battery, a generator or both. Under a buy-all, sell-all setup the panels often feed their own meter, so how a battery fits depends on Cornelius Electric's metering rules. A good contractor designs around them.

Get a straight answer with a $349 evaluation

The honest answer to whether solar makes sense on a Cornelius Electric account depends on your roof, your usage and the town's current credit rules. A paid home energy evaluation on HomeBackupPros covers all three for $349: an electric audit, a review of how you use energy and a written system quote. If you go ahead with that contractor, the $349 comes off the purchase price.

It also gets a contractor to Cornelius on a real schedule instead of someday. Every contractor on HomeBackupPros is approved by our team after we check their NC electrical contractor license. They are independent businesses, and HomeBackupPros does not install anything. Your address goes only to contractors you choose to share it with. If you prefer, a contractor can offer a free site visit or a mailed estimate instead.