Hada News
Saudi draft rules would let homes and businesses generate up to 50 MW of renewable power on site; comments close 3 November
The Saudi Electricity Regulatory Authority has put a draft Renewable Energy for Self-Consumption Regulation out for comment on Istitlaa. According to Al Yaum's account of the draft, power sent back to the grid would earn bill credits of 5 to 7 halalas per kWh that lapse after 12 months.
The Saudi Electricity Regulatory Authority (SERA) is taking public comments until 3 November 2026 on a draft regulation covering renewable systems that consumers install to meet their own electricity needs. The draft sits on Istitlaa, the government's public consultation platform, and was listed in a Saudi Press Agency (SPA) round-up of Istitlaa projects on 8 October.
What SERA says it is for: according to SPA, the draft aims to bring self-consumption systems under a single regulatory reference, set requirements and procedures by a system's size and its effect on the grid, and base decisions on hosting capacity and technical studies instead of fixed limits.
What the draft contains, as reported by Al Yaum on 12 October. Size: four categories, running from 1 kW up to 50 MW, with generation and consumption on the same premises. Net billing: surplus power exported to the grid is booked as a money credit on the bill and carried into the next billing cycle, at 7 halalas per kWh for residential customers in categories 1 and 2 and 5 halalas for all other categories; unused credit is wiped after 12 months. Fees: systems of up to 11 kW pay no application or connection charge, while fees for the larger categories range from SAR 700 to SAR 35,000 for the top category. On storage and technology, batteries may be paired with a system provided their megawatt capacity is no greater than the generation they serve, and the draft covers solar, wind, biofuels and waste-to-energy. Applicants would have two years from preliminary approval to use the connection capacity allocated to them, and installation must be carried out by a qualified contractor or consultant. Service providers would have to handle connection requests on equal terms and offer a resolution to complaints within 7 days; a consumer unhappy with that resolution could take the matter to SERA.
Hada has not been able to open the draft file itself; the figures above are Al Yaum's account of it, not SPA's.
Why it matters: for households, factories and other premises weighing on-site solar, the credit rate and the 12-month expiry decide how much an oversized system can earn back, and the hosting-capacity approach means approval would turn on local grid studies rather than one national cap. Installers and consultants are also directly affected by the qualification rule. Comments go through Istitlaa until 3 November.
Sources: Saudi Press Agency, 8 Oct 2026; Al Yaum (Jaafar Al-Saffar, Dammam), 12 Oct 2026.
Watch next: the final text after 3 November, whether the 50 MW ceiling and the credit rates survive the consultation, and how systems already connected would move onto the new rules.