Kentucky pays about 13.0¢ per kilowatt-hour for residential electricity and receives about 4.5 kWh per square metre per day of sunlight — 39th and 28th respectively among the 50 states and DC tracked here. Those two numbers set the ceiling on what rooftop solar returns in Kentucky, and they point in the same direction.
Where Kentucky sits against the rest of the country
Kentucky is 1.8¢/kWh below the median residential rate across this dataset (14.8¢/kWh) and 0.1 kWh/m²/day below the median insolation (4.6 kWh/m²/day). Under this site's standard assumptions, that combination puts Kentucky 46th of 51 for modeled payback speed, at 15.9 years against a dataset median of 13.5 years.
What actually drives payback in Kentucky
Kentucky ranks in the lower half on both inputs — 39th for electricity price and 28th for sunlight. Swap Kentucky's sunlight for the dataset median and payback moves to 15.6 years (0.3 years of swing). Swap its electricity rate instead and payback moves to 14.3 years (1.6 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 Kentucky.
State incentives on record
Recorded for Kentucky: Net metering replaced with net billing under SB 100 (2019); compensation rates set by PSC by utility; 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 Kentucky's sunlight level a 7 kW array produces roughly 8,968 kWh a year, worth about $1,166 in first-year bill savings at 13.0¢/kWh against an assumed $22,400 installed cost. A ten-year payback at this sunlight level would require a residential rate of about 22.4¢/kWh, which is 9.4¢ above what Kentucky households pay today.
States with comparable economics
Kentucky's closest analogues by modeled payback are Nebraska (15.8 years), South Dakota (15.6 years), Tennessee (15.5 years). They arrive there from different rate and sunlight combinations, so their incentive rows are the useful comparison.
- Nebraska — modeled payback 15.8 years
- South Dakota — modeled payback 15.6 years
- Tennessee — modeled payback 15.5 years