Is solar worth it in West Virginia in 2026?

How West Virginia pays for your solar power

No statewide rule; set by each utility. Mon Power and Potomac Edison pay 9.343 cents/kWh for every kWh a new solar system exports (rate set through Dec. 31, 2026); full retail credit applies only to systems grandfathered by Dec. 31, 2024 filings.

In the calculator, 40% of your solar output is used at home at the retail price and the rest is exported at about 60% of retail, so each solar kWh is worth 76% of the retail price on average. Change it if your utility pays more or less. Method

How exports are credited

West Virginia’s net metering rules are written by the Public Service Commission (PSC) in its Net Metering Rules (150 C.S.R. 33), and each utility’s tariff sets the credit. There is no single statewide credit rate, so what you get depends on the utility that serves you.

The rule covered here is the one Mon Power and Potomac Edison (both FirstEnergy companies) filed after PSC Case No. 23-0460-E-42T, decided on March 26, 2024. Their Net Energy Metering Riders split customers into two groups.

Grandfathered customers keep full retail credit. That group is existing net metering customers as of December 31, 2024, plus customers who submitted a materially complete application by December 31, 2024 and received a Certificate of Completion by December 31, 2025 (residential). Their excess kWh carry forward at the full retail rate, and the status stays with the service location until 11:59 pm on December 31, 2049.

Everyone else is credited differently. Energy the home buys is billed on the normal rate schedule. Every kWh of solar output sent to the grid (the tariff’s “Metered Output”) is credited at a fixed rate. For Mon Power residential Schedules A, B, C and CSH, that rate is $0.09343 per kWh; Schedule D gets $0.09146 and Schedules K and AGS get $0.08910. Potomac Edison’s residential schedules list the same $0.09343. The tariff says these rates remain in effect through December 31, 2026, and later changes need PSC approval.

The credit is a bill credit for energy only. Under the grandfathered terms, credits cannot reduce the customer charge, minimum bill or demand charges, and unused credits are not paid out if you close your account.

Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power, which serve much of southern and western West Virginia, file their own tariff. Its current credit terms could not be confirmed from the utility’s own tariff, so check it before relying on the Mon Power numbers. Co-op and municipal customers should ask their utility.

State incentives in 2026

The sources cited here show no statewide residential solar rebate, grant or state income tax credit, so none is listed. Check with your utility and county assessor for local programs.

The federal residential credit ended for systems installed after December 31, 2025, so it does not reduce cost in 2026. See the federal credit explainer.

What it means for payback

For a new Mon Power or Potomac Edison customer, exports earn about 60% of the average residential price in the EIA data used by the calculator (9.343 cents against 15.47 cents). Each kWh the home uses directly avoids the full retail energy charge, so self-consumption is worth more than export. Size the system to daytime and annual usage rather than to export.

Because the export credit is a fixed rate rather than a retail offset, a battery stores midday output for evening use and avoids selling at the lower credit. Whether that pays back depends on the battery’s cost, which is covered in are solar batteries worth it. Mon Power’s tariff says a behind-the-meter battery does not count toward the net metering capacity limit if it does not run in parallel with the generator and does not export more than the generator’s capacity.

Check the credit expiry. The $0.09343 rate is stated through December 31, 2026, so a project signed now should assume it may change. For how the two crediting models differ, see net metering vs net billing.

Other rules worth knowing

Residential systems can be up to 25 kW nameplate to qualify, per Mon Power’s net metering guidance. Total net metered capacity on the Mon Power system is limited to 3% of its prior-year single-hour peak load, and 0.5% is reserved for residential customers.

Mon Power’s application fee is $30 for inverter-based systems of 25 kW or less. A licensed electrician must certify the installation. A customer-generator of up to 50 kW must carry $100,000 of general liability insurance and give evidence of it with the application.

Two-way metering is installed at the company’s expense. If the net metered system is moved or sold, the facility can transfer to another person only after written notice to the utility and verification by a licensed electrician.

Grandfathered status survives small changes. Panel additions or replacements of up to 10% or 1 kW (whichever is greater) keep the status, and battery additions or replacements do not affect it. Larger expansions can remove it. That matters if you are buying a home with an existing system: the credits stay with the service location, not the account name.

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