Electricity companies, in some countries, pay for electrical power that is injected into the electricity utility grid. Payment is arranged in several ways.
With net metering the electricity company pays for the net power injected into the grid, as recorded by a meter in the customer’s premises. For example, a customer may consume 400 kilowatt-hours over a month and may return 500 kilowatt-hours to the grid in the same month. In this case the electricity company would pay for the 100 kilowatt hours balance of power fed back into the grid. In the US, net metering policies vary by jurisdiction.
Feed-in tariff, based on a contract with a distribution company or other power authority, is where the customer is paid for electrical power injected into the grid.
In the United States, grid-interactive power systems are specified in the National Electric Code (NEC), which also mandates requirements for grid-interactive inverters.