Is solar worth it in Louisiana in 2026?

How Louisiana pays for your solar power

Net billing (exports credited below retail). Under the Louisiana PSC rule (since 2020), new solar customers offset their own use at retail and are paid the utility's avoided cost for exports: 3.86 cents/kWh from Entergy Louisiana in 2026.

In the calculator, 40% of your solar output is used at home at the retail price and the rest is exported at about 29% of retail, so each solar kWh is worth 57% of the retail price on average. Change it if your utility pays more or less. Method

State or utility incentive	What it is worth
Solar energy system property tax exemption (R.S. 47:1706)	Equipment on an owner-occupied home is exempt from ad valorem tax

How exports are credited

Louisiana’s rule comes from the Public Service Commission (LPSC), not the legislature. Its General Order of September 19, 2019 replaced the old net metering rule for anyone who submits an interconnection request or installs a distributed generation system after December 31, 2019. For those customers the rule has three parts:

• Energy bought from the utility is billed at the full retail rate.
• Energy the system generates and the home uses on site is charged at a zero rate, so it avoids the retail charge.
• Energy sold back to the grid is credited at the utility’s avoided cost.

Avoided cost is the 12-month average Locational Marginal Price for the utility’s load zone in the regional power market (MISO or SPP). Each utility recalculates it every year. The LPSC’s 2026 table lists these rates, among others:

• Entergy Louisiana: 3.86407 cents/kWh, effective April 1, 2026
• Cleco Power: 3.854 cents/kWh, effective March 1, 2026
• SWEPCO: 3.656 cents/kWh, effective April 1, 2026
• DEMCO: 3.847 cents/kWh, effective March 1, 2026

Entergy Louisiana describes the arrangement as two-channel billing under its Rider Schedule DG, with minimum bill protections. Residential systems can be up to 25 kW. Exports are credited on the bill at the avoided cost rate in effect.

Customers who had interconnected or installed by December 31, 2019 are grandfathered at full retail credit through December 31, 2034. The grandfathering stays with the address if the home is sold. Anyone installing now is under the avoided cost rule.

The rule covers LPSC-regulated utilities, which include electric cooperatives. Entergy New Orleans is regulated by the City Council instead and runs its own net metering: kilowatt-hours sent to the grid offset kilowatt-hours sold in that month, surplus carries to the next month, and credits left at disconnection are paid at avoided cost. New Orleans residential systems are also limited to 25 kW.

State incentives in 2026

• Property tax exemption: under R.S. 47:1706, equipment attached to an owner-occupied residential building as part of a solar energy system is personal property exempt from ad valorem tax, and assessors may not count its value. The statute defines a solar energy system as a device that uses the sun’s heat to heat or cool a structure or pool or to heat water, and says it includes solar cells. Confirm with your parish assessor how a rooftop PV array is treated.

No open statewide solar rebate or income tax credit was confirmed in the sources checked. The federal residential credit ended for systems installed after December 31, 2025. See the federal credit explainer.

What it means for payback

At the 13.35 cents/kWh average retail price, Entergy Louisiana’s 3.86-cent export credit is worth about 29% of a kilowatt-hour you import. Power the home uses directly is worth the full retail rate. Power you export earns less than a third of that.

So payback in Louisiana depends on self-consumption. Louisiana’s strong sun and heavy summer air conditioning help, because midday output lines up with cooling load. Size the system to your daytime use rather than to cover the annual total, and run flexible loads such as water heating, laundry and EV charging while the panels produce. Oversizing earns only the avoided cost on the surplus, and that rate moves each year with wholesale prices.

A battery lets you store midday output for the evening instead of exporting it. Whether that beats its added cost depends on your load shape. The general trade-offs are in are solar batteries worth it and net metering vs net billing.

Other rules worth knowing

Entergy Louisiana charges a one-time $100 interconnection fee, plus reasonable costs for connecting, switching, metering and system upgrades that exceed standard connection costs. The system needs a visibly open, lockable, manual disconnect that Entergy can reach at all times, and a UL 1741 listed inverter. Entergy applications go through its online interconnection portal, and its rules do not apply in New Orleans.

Net metering is not allowed in the Downtown Network Area of New Orleans, according to Entergy New Orleans.

Avoided cost rates are published yearly by the LPSC, so check the current table before you model a system. Co-op members should read their own co-op’s tariff, since each sets its own rate in the LPSC table. Entergy’s pages say nothing about homeowner association covenants or local permits, so check both before you order.

Berkeley Lab does not publish a Louisiana median from enough systems, so the calculator starts from the U.S. median of $3.60/W. Put your own quote in.