TVA territory, not Alabama Power
Huntsville, Decatur, Florence and Athens sit in TVA territory. TVA generates wholesale power and local distributors, such as Huntsville Utilities, handle retail delivery.
The Capacity Reservation Charge, Rider RGB, is an Alabama Power tariff. It is not a state rule and it does not follow you into a different utility service territory.
On a 7.2 kW system that charge is close to $470 a year on an Alabama Power account. Not paying it is worth roughly that much annually to a Huntsville household, which is a large difference on a project of this size.
So a quote prepared for a Huntsville address from a statewide Alabama template will understate the project by including a charge you would not pay. That is an unusual direction for a quote error and worth catching.
What does apply instead
The TVA framework. Residential exports are compensated at TVA avoided cost through its Dispersed Power Production programme, well below the retail rate, so export value is still low.
An interconnection agreement with your local power company is required to participate, and TVA Green Connect is the route that arranges it along with access to TVA-approved contractors.
So the design principle is the same as in Alabama Power territory even though the charge is not: self-consumption is worth substantially more than export, and the system should be sized around your daytime load.
What differs is that there is no fixed monthly penalty scaling with capacity, which makes the sizing decision less punishing at the margin than it is on an Alabama Power account.
Confirm the local terms yourself
Ask your local power company how exported electricity is compensated and at what rate, and whether an interconnection agreement is required.
Ask what system size limits apply, what the interconnection application involves, what it costs and how long approval typically takes. Practice varies between local power companies.
Ask specifically whether any capacity, standby or solar-specific charge applies at your utility. The absence of the Alabama Power charge does not guarantee the absence of every charge, and it is worth asking rather than assuming.
Get the answers in writing from the utility rather than from a sales conversation, and reconcile them against what the quote assumed.
Costing it out with the recurring charge included
The 30 percent federal Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, so a cash or loan purchase in Huntsville receives no federal tax credit, and Alabama has no state solar tax credit.
Section 48E survives at 30 percent for third-party owners under leases and power purchase agreements, so ask what a provider claims and what reaches you in the rate.
What exists is retail value for electricity consumed as it is generated, TVA avoided cost for exports, and whatever your local power company charges, which does not include the Alabama Power capacity charge.
Ask that the projection uses your own utility terms rather than a statewide Alabama template, and confirm the absence of any capacity or standby charge directly with the utility.