Written for owners used to German, Austrian, Dutch or British rules. Updated September 2026.
Short answer: Croatia does not pay you a feed in tariff for solar, and it does not run net metering. It runs net billing. Electricity you consume at the moment you produce it is worth the full retail price you would otherwise have paid, roughly 0.13 to 0.18 EUR per kWh. Electricity you export is credited at a much lower rate, in the order of 0.04 to 0.07 EUR per kWh. Everything about how you should size and operate a system in Croatia follows from that gap.
Three systems people confuse
| Scheme | How it works | Where you have met it |
|---|---|---|
| Feed in tariff | A fixed price per kWh paid for everything you generate, guaranteed for years, regardless of what you consume. | Germany and Austria historically, and the reason many owners arrive with unrealistic expectations. |
| Net metering | The meter effectively runs backwards. Exported kWh offset imported kWh one for one, at full retail value. The grid acts as a free battery. | Parts of the United States, and some earlier European schemes. |
| Net billing (Croatia) | Import and export are measured separately and valued differently. Export is credited against your bill, but at a considerably lower unit value than the electricity you buy. | Croatia today, and increasingly the European norm. |
What actually happens on your bill
Once your two way meter is fitted, every settlement period produces two numbers: how much you took from the grid, and how much you pushed into it. The energy you produced and used inside the house never appears at all, because it never crossed the meter. That invisible quantity is the most valuable electricity you own.
The exported quantity is credited against what you owe. If you exported more than you imported over the period, the surplus is carried forward rather than paid out in cash, which matters for a holiday property that generates all spring and consumes in August. Standing charges, network fees and taxes continue to apply regardless: a solar system reduces the energy component of your bill, not the whole bill.
The one rule that follows from all of this
In Croatia, a kilowatt hour you use yourself is worth roughly three times a kilowatt hour you export. Design and operate accordingly.
Three practical consequences, in order of how much money they are worth:
- Do not oversize. A system larger than your daytime consumption sends the excess out at the low rate. On a house with a big roof and a small bill, the last few kWp earn a third of what the first few earn. We size against a metered consumption profile, not against available roof area.
- Move loads into the middle of the day. The water heater, the washing machine, the dishwasher, the pool pump. This costs nothing and can move several hundred euros a year on a well used property. A pool pump switched from a night tariff to a ten to four schedule is the single highest return change we make at commissioning.
- Judge a battery against the gap, not against the bill. A battery earns the difference between the retail price and the export credit on each stored kilowatt hour, roughly 0.08 to 0.13 EUR. At 400 to 600 EUR per usable kWh of storage, it needs near daily cycling to make financial sense.
What this means for different owners
| Situation | Consequence under net billing |
|---|---|
| Permanently occupied house | Good. Consumption spread across the year, self consumption typically 35 to 50 per cent without a battery, higher with load shifting. |
| Rental villa or apartments | Best case on this coast. Consumption peaks in July and August, exactly when production peaks. Self consumption often above 55 per cent. |
| Holiday home used a few weeks | Weakest case. Most production is exported at the low rate, which is why we often recommend a smaller system than the roof could hold. |
| Business with daytime load | Excellent. A workshop, shop or office consumes in daylight by definition. Self consumption can exceed 70 per cent. |
Two questions worth asking your installer
If you are comparing quotations, these two will tell you a great deal about who you are dealing with.
- What self consumption share have you assumed, and what did you base it on? An installer who has not asked for your consumption data cannot answer this, and their savings figure is decoration.
- What export credit value did you use in the payback calculation? A payback figure that quietly values exported electricity at the retail price will look far better than reality. This is the most common way a Croatian solar quotation is made to look attractive.
Thinking about solar on your Croatian property?
Send photos of the roof and the fuse board and we will tell you what fits, what it produces and what it costs. In English, within 24 hours.
Ask SOENSOFrequently asked questions
Does Croatia have a feed in tariff for solar?
Not for ordinary household and small commercial systems. Croatia uses net billing, where exported electricity is credited against your bill at a lower rate than the retail price rather than paid as a guaranteed tariff.
What is the difference between net metering and net billing?
Under net metering, exported and imported kilowatt hours offset each other one for one at full retail value. Under net billing, as used in Croatia, they are measured and valued separately, and export is worth considerably less than import.
How much is exported solar electricity worth in Croatia?
In the order of 0.04 to 0.07 EUR per kWh, compared with a retail price of roughly 0.13 to 0.18 EUR per kWh for electricity you buy. Self consumption is therefore worth about three times more than export.
Do I get paid cash for surplus electricity?
Surplus is normally carried forward as a credit against future consumption rather than paid out. A property that produces in spring and consumes in summer still benefits from this.
Will solar remove my electricity bill completely?
No. Standing charges, network fees and taxes remain. Solar reduces the energy component of the bill, which for a well matched system on an occupied property is still the largest part of it.
