Indiana pays about 15.3¢ per kilowatt-hour for residential electricity and receives about 4.6 kWh per square metre per day of sunlight — 21st and 26th respectively among the 50 states and DC tracked here. Those two numbers set the ceiling on what rooftop solar returns in Indiana, and they point in opposite directions.
Where Indiana sits against the rest of the country
Indiana is 0.5¢/kWh above the median residential rate across this dataset (14.8¢/kWh) and level with the median insolation (4.6 kWh/m²/day). Under this site's standard assumptions, that combination puts Indiana 28th of 51 for modeled payback speed, at 13.6 years against a dataset median of 13.5 years.
What actually drives payback in Indiana
Indiana is rate-led: upper half of the dataset for electricity price (21st), lower half for sunlight (26th). Swap Indiana's sunlight for the dataset median and payback moves to 13.6 years (0.0 years of swing). Swap its electricity rate instead and payback moves to 14.0 years (0.4 years of swing). The rate swap is the larger of the two, so what a kilowatt-hour costs is the input deciding the outcome in Indiana.
State incentives on record
Recorded for Indiana: Net metering phased down by SEA 309 (excess generation credited near wholesale); property tax deduction; no income 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 Indiana's sunlight level a 7 kW array produces roughly 9,167 kWh a year, worth about $1,403 in first-year bill savings at 15.3¢/kWh against an assumed $22,400 installed cost. A ten-year payback at this sunlight level would require a residential rate of about 21.9¢/kWh, which is 6.6¢ above what Indiana households pay today.
States with comparable economics
Indiana's closest analogues by modeled payback are Illinois (13.5 years), Kansas (13.5 years), South Carolina (13.5 years). They arrive there from different rate and sunlight combinations, so their incentive rows are the useful comparison.
- Illinois — modeled payback 13.5 years
- Kansas — modeled payback 13.5 years
- South Carolina — modeled payback 13.5 years