State analysis · source documents checked 2026-09-24
Solar payback in Louisiana (LA) — 2026
Louisiana's LPSC-regulated utilities credit exports from solar systems installed or applied for after 2019 at their own avoided cost, 3.583 to 3.990 cents/kWh on the regulator's 2026 list, while solar you use as it is generated offsets full-price purchases. Entergy says these rules do not apply to Entergy New Orleans customers, and Entergy Louisiana systems installed by the end of 2019 stay on the older net-metering rider.
What decides the answer in Louisiana
The Louisiana Public Service Commission's Distributed Generation Rules (General Order dated September 19, 2019, Docket R-33929) apply to systems installed, or with an interconnection request, after December 31, 2019. Under them you pay the full retail rate for energy bought from the utility, pay nothing for solar energy used on site, and are credited at avoided cost for energy sent back. Avoided cost is the prior calendar year's 12-month average wholesale market price (locational marginal price) in the utility's MISO or SPP load zone, updated every year. Entergy Louisiana systems installed by December 31, 2019 stay on the older net-metering rider through December 31, 2034, even if the home is sold, unless the system is materially modified. [2] [4] [1]
Entergy Louisiana's Rider Schedule DG, Attachment A, sets the avoided-cost rate at 3.86407 cents/kWh effective April 1, 2026, and the LPSC's 2026 table lists the same figure. Entergy's net-metering web page still shows the April 1, 2025 rate of 2.59331 cents; the rider's newer rate replaces it. Other LPSC-regulated utilities have their own 2026 rates in the same table: Cleco Power 3.854 cents (effective March 1, 2026), Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) 3.656 cents (April 1, 2026), Dixie Electric Membership Corporation (DEMCO) 3.847 cents (March 1, 2026), SLEMCO 3.930 cents (February 1, 2026) and Washington-St. Tammany Electric Cooperative 3.632 cents (January 1, 2026). The lowest listed is Northeast Louisiana Power Cooperative at 3.583 cents and the highest Pointe Coupee Electric Membership Corporation at 3.990 cents. Entergy says these rules do not affect Entergy New Orleans customers, so check which company's name is on your bill. [3] [2] [1]
Rider DG reads two meter channels and does not net them: energy you import is billed under your normal residential schedule, and each kWh you export earns the avoided-cost credit. Your monthly bill cannot fall below the minimum plus non-bypassable charges; leftover credit carries to the next bill, and a check at the avoided-cost rate is paid only for the final month of service. The rider covers residential systems of up to 25 kW sized to offset no more than your own use, and Entergy charges a one-time 100-dollar fee for the initial distributed-generation meter installation. Because each exported kWh earns about a third of the 11.73-cent EIA 2024 Louisiana residential average price, ask the installer for the share of production your home is expected to use as it is generated, not only the annual kWh total. [3]
How Louisiana pays for an exported kilowatt-hour
Avoided-cost export compensation in the cited territory. The retail benchmark values every exported kWh at the full retail price, which overstates its worth when exports earn only avoided cost. The household rows split self-use from exports to show the effect; compare the export price each row prints with the 3.86407-cent Entergy Louisiana rate above or your own utility's rate. The 12-cent import price in the household rows is an assumed round figure slightly above the 11.73-cent EIA 2024 Louisiana residential average, not an Entergy rate schedule; at 11.73 cents with the 3.86407-cent Entergy export rate, modeled payback is about 21.1 years instead of the Entergy row's 20.8.
Document: Facilities installed by / after December 31, 2019; Riders NM and DG. Effective/source period: Retrieved September 24, 2026; its avoided-cost figure (April 1, 2025) is superseded by Rider DG Attachment A.
Applies to: Entergy Louisiana qualifying distributed generation, not Entergy New Orleans. Relevant passage: “The grandfathering period for all eligible systems will continue until Dec. 31, 2034, even if the property is sold.”.
Document: 2026 Avoided Cost Rate by Electric Utility (linked from the LPSC net-metering page). Effective/source period: Per-utility effective dates from January 1 to April 1, 2026, as listed in each row.
Applies to: Customers of LPSC-jurisdictional utilities with distributed generation installed or applied for after December 31, 2019. Relevant passage: “Entergy Louisiana, LLC $0.0386407 per kWh Effective April 1, 2026”.
Entergy Louisiana Rider Schedule DG — Two-channel billing, minimum bill, credit carryover, meter installation charge and the current export rate.
Document: Schedule DG, pages 172.1 to 172.3; Attachment A. Effective/source period: Attachment A effective April 1, 2026; rider effective January 1, 2020.
Applies to: Entergy Louisiana residential customers on RS-L or RS-G with generation of no more than 25 kW. Relevant passage: “Avoided Cost Rate $0.0386407 per kWh”.
Document: General Order 09-19-2019 (R-33929), corrected. Effective/source period: Order dated September 19, 2019; rules apply to systems after December 31, 2019.
Applies to: LPSC-regulated utilities and their distributed-generation customers. Relevant passage: “Docket No. R-33929, In re: Review of Policies Related to Customer-Owned Solar Generation”.
“Source documents checked 2026-09-24” means each linked document was retrieved on that date and the passage quoted under it is the text the claims in this section rely on. The date covers only those claims. It is not a household eligibility decision or a guarantee that a tariff is still current, so check the linked live documents before signing a contract, and report corrections via the contact page.
Common retail-value benchmark — not a household forecast
No incentives; every modeled kWh is valued at the historical state-average retail price. The household scenarios below separate assumed import/export prices, consumption share, cash cost and receipt timing.
How Louisiana compares with the other 50 records in this dataset
Measure
Louisiana
Dataset median
Rank of 51
Avg residential rate
11.73¢/kWh
14.91¢/kWh
48th highest
NSRDB daily sunlight (one location per state)
5.3 kWh/m²/day
4.9 kWh/m²/day
12th highest
Retail benchmark payback
15.1 years
13.0 years
43rd fastest on this benchmark
Household scenarios below (range)
17.2 years to 23.7 years
—
Not ranked across states
The rank compares every state on the same full-retail basis; it is a benchmark, not a forecast for a new Louisiana customer. The household scenarios below, each with its own stated import price, export credit, cost and incentive timing, give 17.2 years to 23.7 years.
Rate: Calendar year 2024 annual average, from the EIA. Sunlight is NSRDB data via NLR PVWatts v8 at each state's 2020 Census center of population, one location per state (request settings and the values PVWatts returned are in state-insolation-pvwatts.json). Ranks and medians are computed across the 50 states and DC in this dataset. Every input behind the payback figure is printed in the assumptions block below, and the full 51-row table is at /states.
Reproduce the Louisiana household comparisons
These are hypothetical households, not customer results or offers. All start from an assumed 7 kW array producing 10562.37 kWh in year one; any row that changes production (a battery or a production-stress row) says so. The sunlight input is NSRDB data via PVWatts v8 for one location per state (request and response in state-insolation-pvwatts.json; see the methodology), not a production estimate for your roof. No federal credit is applied. No loan, income-tax effect on incentive revenue, battery replacement or future tariff change is modeled.
The benchmark row prices every kWh at the EIA average cited above. Where another row applies a published figure (for example a tariff or rider rate or charge, a program incentive rate, a statutory fee schedule, or a tax credit's rate, cap or carryforward period), that figure comes from a document in the sources list above. Every other price, consumption share, cost, fee, receipt date and amount of tax a household can use in a year is assumed. Eligibility remains conditional. The annual split does not reproduce monthly netting, time-of-use periods, credit caps, curtailment or minimum bills. Annual fees represent incremental solar costs, not charges you would pay with or without solar.
Production degrades by assumed 0.5% per year. The main result increases both import and export prices by assumed 3% per year; the flat-price column sets that to zero. Neither escalation is a tariff forecast. Fixed fees and scheduled receipts do not escalate. Energy savings accrue uniformly within a year for interpolation; incentives arrive only at year end.
Modeled results, not guarantees. No break-even means no crossing inside 25 years, not a calculated date beyond year 25.
Scenario
Initial cash cost
Year 1 energy value
Year 1 net cash incl. receipts
Payback
Flat-price payback
25-year net cash after cost
Common retail-value benchmark — no incentives
$22,400.00
$1,238.97
$1,238.97
15.1 years
18.9 years
Modeled $19,838.18
Hypothetical household — no incentives
$22,400.00
$844.99
$844.99
20.6 years
no break-even inside 25 years
Modeled $6,406.95
Illustrative higher cash price — no incentives
$26,880.00
$844.99
$844.99
23.7 years
no break-even inside 25 years
Modeled $1,926.95
Illustrative 75% self-use — no incentives
$22,400.00
$1,056.24
$1,056.24
17.2 years
22.4 years
Modeled $13,608.68
Entergy Louisiana: published avoided-cost export rate — no incentives
$22,500.00
$837.81
$837.81
20.8 years
no break-even inside 25 years
Modeled $6,062.21
Inputs, receipts and annual arithmetic: Common retail-value benchmark — no incentives
Historical state-average import value for ALL production; only a comparison, not an address-specific tariff.
Assumed initial cash cost $22,400.00, not reduced by any upfront credit or rebate; any receipt is listed below and arrives at year end. Import 11.730¢/kWh; export 11.730¢/kWh; self-use 100%; incremental fixed annual cost $0.00.
Year-one modeled energy value = 10562.37 × [(100/100 × 11.73/100) + ((1 − 100/100) × 11.73/100)] = $1,238.97. Subtract the annual fixed cost and add only that year's receipts for net cash. Display rounds cents; the downloadable calculation retains full precision.
Incentive basis: None; no eligibility or benefit assumed. Modeled total receipts inside 25 years: $0.00. These are not subtracted from initial cash cost.
The exact input fields and all 25 modelled years for this row are in the JSON download above.
Inputs, receipts and annual arithmetic: Hypothetical household — no incentives
Assumed round 12-cent import price, slightly above the 11.73-cent EIA 2024 Louisiana average and not an Entergy rate schedule, and an assumed round 4-cent export price; the Entergy Louisiana row below uses the published 3.86407-cent avoided-cost rate.
Assumed initial cash cost $22,400.00, not reduced by any upfront credit or rebate; any receipt is listed below and arrives at year end. Import 12.000¢/kWh; export 4.000¢/kWh; self-use 50%; incremental fixed annual cost $0.00.
Year-one modeled energy value = 10562.37 × [(50/100 × 12/100) + ((1 − 50/100) × 4/100)] = $844.99. Subtract the annual fixed cost and add only that year's receipts for net cash. Display rounds cents; the downloadable calculation retains full precision.
Incentive basis: None; no eligibility or benefit assumed. Modeled total receipts inside 25 years: $0.00. These are not subtracted from initial cash cost.
The exact input fields and all 25 modelled years for this row are in the JSON download above.
Inputs, receipts and annual arithmetic: Illustrative higher cash price — no incentives
Same production, prices, consumption share and fees, but cash cost is 20% higher; not a market-price estimate.
Assumed initial cash cost $26,880.00, not reduced by any upfront credit or rebate; any receipt is listed below and arrives at year end. Import 12.000¢/kWh; export 4.000¢/kWh; self-use 50%; incremental fixed annual cost $0.00.
Year-one modeled energy value = 10562.37 × [(50/100 × 12/100) + ((1 − 50/100) × 4/100)] = $844.99. Subtract the annual fixed cost and add only that year's receipts for net cash. Display rounds cents; the downloadable calculation retains full precision.
Incentive basis: None; no eligibility or benefit assumed. Modeled total receipts inside 25 years: $0.00. These are not subtracted from initial cash cost.
The exact input fields and all 25 modelled years for this row are in the JSON download above.
Inputs, receipts and annual arithmetic: Illustrative 75% self-use — no incentives
Assumes a different load profile serves 75% of production on site without added equipment cost. This is a sensitivity, not a promised behavioral saving.
Assumed initial cash cost $22,400.00, not reduced by any upfront credit or rebate; any receipt is listed below and arrives at year end. Import 12.000¢/kWh; export 4.000¢/kWh; self-use 75%; incremental fixed annual cost $0.00.
Year-one modeled energy value = 10562.37 × [(75/100 × 12/100) + ((1 − 75/100) × 4/100)] = $1,056.24. Subtract the annual fixed cost and add only that year's receipts for net cash. Display rounds cents; the downloadable calculation retains full precision.
Incentive basis: None; no eligibility or benefit assumed. Modeled total receipts inside 25 years: $0.00. These are not subtracted from initial cash cost.
The exact input fields and all 25 modelled years for this row are in the JSON download above.
Inputs, receipts and annual arithmetic: Entergy Louisiana: published avoided-cost export rate — no incentives
Entergy Louisiana's Rider Schedule DG, Attachment A (effective 4/1/2026), lists an Avoided Cost Rate of 0.0386407 dollars per kWh, and the LPSC's 2026 avoided-cost table lists the same rate for Entergy Louisiana “Effective April 1, 2026”; the rider notes it is “updated annually effective with April billing.” This row applies 3.86407 cents to every exported kWh, with the same assumed 12-cent import price and 50% self-use. Its cash cost also includes the one-time 100-dollar “Initial Single Distributed Generation Meter Installation” charge that Schedule DG lists for adding metering when a customer starts service under the rider. Entergy Louisiana only; other utilities have their own rates in the LPSC table.
Assumed initial cash cost $22,500.00, not reduced by any upfront credit or rebate; any receipt is listed below and arrives at year end. Import 12.000¢/kWh; export 3.864¢/kWh; self-use 50%; incremental fixed annual cost $0.00.
Year-one modeled energy value = 10562.37 × [(50/100 × 12/100) + ((1 − 50/100) × 3.86407/100)] = $837.81. Subtract the annual fixed cost and add only that year's receipts for net cash. Display rounds cents; the downloadable calculation retains full precision.
Incentive basis: None; no eligibility or benefit assumed. Modeled total receipts inside 25 years: $0.00. These are not subtracted from initial cash cost.
The exact input fields and all 25 modelled years for this row are in the JSON download above.
Formula and modeling limitations · Use the editable calculator below to test your own cash price and energy split. It cannot confirm utility enrollment or tax eligibility.
Assumptions behind the Louisiana retail-value benchmark
A common full-retail comparison, not an address-specific forecast. Size alone does not change payback when cash cost and production both scale proportionally. Use the worksheet to vary cash price, production, self-consumption, export value and recurring costs.
System modeled
7 kW DC
Assumed installed cost
$22,400 (assumed $3.20/W DC)
Annual production, year 1
10,562 kWh
Production basis
NSRDB daily sunlight on a 20° south-facing panel at Louisiana's 2020 Census population center (5.30 kWh/m²/day, via PVWatts v8). Annual production = system kW × this input × 365 × assumed performance ratio. PVWatts' own modelled AC output for the same request is 1,440.1 kWh per kW, or 10,081 kWh for 7 kW, so this shortcut runs 4.8% above it; on the PVWatts figure the benchmark payback would be 15.7 years.
Performance ratio (system losses)
0.78
EIA state-average retail rate
11.73¢/kWh — Calendar year 2024 annual average
Panel degradation
0.5%/yr
Assumed electricity price escalation
3.0%/yr, not a forecast
Model horizon
25 years
Federal tax credit applied
None included in this benchmark
State or utility incentives applied
None deducted in this benchmark. Where a household scenario above applies a published tariff rate or a conditional receipt, its row says so; this benchmark applies none of them
Assumed value of all production
Full retail rate, including exports; not a utility tariff lookup
Recurring operating costs applied
None in this benchmark; editable in worksheet
How the payback figure reconciles
Modelled $22,400 ÷ modelled $1,239 of year-one savings = 18.1 years — the straight division, if electricity prices never move and the panels never age.
With 0.5%/yr degradation and prices held flat: 18.9 years.
With the same degradation and electricity prices rising 3.0%/yr: 15.1 years — the retail-value benchmark, not a household forecast.
Production stress test, same assumed prices: 20% less production (shading, a poorer roof angle) gives 18.2 years; 20% more production gives 13.0 years. This is a what-if range, not a confidence interval.
These price-growth rates are assumptions, not forecasts of your utility's tariff. None of these cases models financing, taxes, battery dispatch or actual utility settlement. No crossing within 25 years does not establish a crossing later. Full wording on the methodology.
Solar cash-flow worksheet
Compare assumed cash flows, not an address-specific forecast. No tariff, roof or incentive eligibility is looked up. Your worksheet entries are calculated in this browser; the worksheet does not send them anywhere or save them between visits. The site also loads Google advertising code; the privacy page explains what that code may collect and your choices.
Starting retail rate: 11.73¢/kWh — Calendar year 2024 annual average (Louisiana), from EIA Table 2.10. It is not your current tariff. All cost, export, usage, escalation and incentive entries are assumptions.
With no incentives or recurring costs, fixed cost/W and proportional generation mean that increasing size scales cost and savings equally: payback years cancel out. Unedited price and production follow that rule here. Once you edit either, it stays fixed when size changes; update it deliberately. Different cash prices, shading/production and export shares can change payback.
Optional assumed cash incentives — zero by default
No federal, state or utility incentive is inferred. Check eligibility and actual receipt timing. Recurring and delayed incentives arrive at year end; do not enter the same benefit in multiple fields. Operating cash is approximated uniformly within each year.
Your entered scenario — modelled, not a quote
Modelled installed cash price
$22,400
Modelled initial outlay after upfront rebate
$22,400
Modelled year-one net cash, including receipts/costs
$1,239
Modelled first cash-flow break-even
15.1 years
Modelled 25-year net cash after initial outlay
$19,838
Modelled production in year one
10,562 kWh
Modelled year-one energy value before costs/incentives: $1,239.
No break-even inside 25 years means the model never crosses within its horizon; it does not predict a later crossing. This is undiscounted cash flow, not investment return. A first crossing can reverse if later operating costs exceed cash benefits. Financing, taxes, changing export rules, time-of-use settlement, credit expiry and battery dispatch are not simulated.
Assumed price-escalation sensitivity
Same entered inputs, degradation and nominal fixed costs; only import/export price escalation changes. These are scenarios, not forecasts.
0%/year: 18.9 years
3%/year: 15.1 years
6%/year: 12.9 years
Separate common retail-value benchmark
This comparison uses 7 kW, assumed $3.20/W, production from the state's one-location NSRDB sunlight input and 11.73¢/kWh (Calendar year 2024 annual average) for every kWh. It ignores your entered cash price, production, tariff, costs and incentives; assumes 0.5% degradation and 3% escalation. It is not an address forecast.
Benchmark assumed cash price
$22,400
Benchmark modelled year-one value
$1,239
Benchmark modelled break-even
15.1 years
Reproduce the 25-year modelled cash flows for your entered scenario
Annual cash = degraded production × weighted import/export price × price-escalation factor − annual fixed cost + eligible year-end receipts. Cumulative cash starts at negative initial outlay. Incentives after year 25 are excluded.
Use your utility tariff and a site-specific production assessment to refine inputs. Methodology and limitations.
Estimate only. State comparisons are common retail-value benchmarks, not forecasts for your roof. Custom scenarios depend on the cash price, production, import/export prices, self-consumption and other assumptions entered. They are not quotes or guarantees. Listed incentives do not establish eligibility or a payment date. The Residential Clean Energy Credit (Section 25D, the 30% federal tax credit) expired for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025. Verify all numbers with a licensed installer and your utility before making a purchase decision. See full disclaimer.
Compare every state
Louisiana is one of 17 jurisdictions with a written analysis on this site: 16 states and the District of Columbia. The rate, sunlight, modeled payback and recorded incentives for all 50 states and DC — including those without a page — are in one sortable table.