Georgia pays about 14.2¢ per kilowatt-hour for residential electricity and receives about 5.1 kWh per square metre per day of sunlight — 32nd and 11th respectively among the 50 states and DC tracked here. Those two numbers set the ceiling on what rooftop solar returns in Georgia, and they point in opposite directions.
Where Georgia sits against the rest of the country
Georgia is 0.6¢/kWh below the median residential rate across this dataset (14.8¢/kWh) and 0.5 kWh/m²/day above the median insolation (4.6 kWh/m²/day). Under this site's standard assumptions, that combination puts Georgia 22nd of 51 for modeled payback speed, at 13.3 years against a dataset median of 13.5 years.
What actually drives payback in Georgia
Georgia is sunlight-led: 11th for insolation but only 32nd for electricity price. Swap Georgia's sunlight for the dataset median and payback moves to 14.5 years (1.2 years of swing). Swap its electricity rate instead and payback moves to 12.8 years (0.5 years of swing). The sunlight swap is the larger of the two, so how much sun the roof gets is the input deciding the outcome in Georgia.
State incentives on record
Recorded for Georgia: Georgia Power monthly netting (not full retail net metering) capped on first-come basis; no statewide tax credit.
No federal credit is applied above (Section 25D expired 31 December 2025), and export terms often matter more than the headline rate (net metering guide).
The modeled system, in numbers
At Georgia's sunlight level a 7 kW array produces roughly 10,164 kWh a year, worth about $1,443 in first-year bill savings at 14.2¢/kWh against an assumed $22,400 installed cost. A ten-year payback at this sunlight level would require a residential rate of about 19.7¢/kWh, which is 5.5¢ above what Georgia households pay today.
States with comparable economics
Georgia's closest analogues by modeled payback are Alaska (13.3 years), Wisconsin (13.4 years), Pennsylvania (13.4 years). They arrive there from different rate and sunlight combinations, so their incentive rows are the useful comparison.
- Alaska — modeled payback 13.3 years
- Wisconsin — modeled payback 13.4 years
- Pennsylvania — modeled payback 13.4 years