Self-consumption is the part that does not move
Generation you consume on site as it is produced offsets a retail purchase. It never becomes an export and is never priced at the export credit rate.
That means it is unaffected by the season, by the time of day, and by the annual updates to the export credit that Idaho Power files.
Everything else is exposed. An exported kilowatt hour earns whatever the applicable rate is in that season and period, and those rates have a fifteenfold spread and are revised annually.
So the self-consumption share is not just a modelling assumption; it is the proportion of your system that is insulated from the tariff risk.
What share is realistic for your household
A household with someone home during the day, or with heavy daytime cooling through an Idaho summer, consumes a high share of its generation directly.
A household that leaves at eight and returns at six exports most of its midday production, and outside summer on-peak hours that production earns under a cent per kilowatt hour.
Ask what self-consumption share the model assumed and what it was based on. An assumption drawn from your actual interval data, where the meter provides it, is far stronger than a generic figure.
Ask to see the projection at a lower share. If the case only works at an optimistic assumption about when you use power, that is worth knowing before you sign.
Raising the share
Shifting flexible loads into daylight is free and, outside summer on-peak hours, exceptionally valuable here. An exported kilowatt hour worth 0.95 cents becomes a retail-rate offset when you use it yourself.
Dishwasher, washing machine, dryer and pool pump all move easily. Charging an electric vehicle during the day rather than overnight is the biggest single shift for a household that has one.
A battery does the same automatically and at scale, and in Idaho it can additionally hold generation for the summer on-peak export window when that pays more than self-consumption would.
Ask for the projection with and without load shifting, and with and without storage, so you can see which improvements are free and which are paid for.
Rebuilding the estimate from what is confirmed
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 Pocatello receives no federal tax credit.
The Idaho Residential Alternative Energy Tax Deduction remains as a deduction rather than a credit, worth the deducted amount multiplied by your marginal state rate.
What exists on the utility side is retail-rate offsetting for self-consumed generation and season and time-varying export credits for the rest.
Ask for the self-consumption share stated on the page, the projection shown at a lower share, and the export volumes broken out by season and period.