Louisiana pays about 13.5¢ per kilowatt-hour for residential electricity and receives about 5.0 kWh per square metre per day of sunlight — 35th and 12th respectively among the 50 states and DC tracked here. Those two numbers set the ceiling on what rooftop solar returns in Louisiana, and they point in opposite directions.
Where Louisiana sits against the rest of the country
Louisiana is 1.3¢/kWh below the median residential rate across this dataset (14.8¢/kWh) and 0.4 kWh/m²/day above the median insolation (4.6 kWh/m²/day). Under this site's standard assumptions, that combination puts Louisiana 31st of 51 for modeled payback speed, at 14.1 years against a dataset median of 13.5 years.
What actually drives payback in Louisiana
Louisiana is sunlight-led: 12th for insolation but only 35th for electricity price. Swap Louisiana's sunlight for the dataset median and payback moves to 15.1 years (1.0 years of swing). Swap its electricity rate instead and payback moves to 13.0 years (1.1 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 Louisiana.
State incentives on record
Recorded for Louisiana: Net metering at avoided cost since 2020 PSC order; sales tax exemption on solar equipment under specific conditions; no current state 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 Louisiana's sunlight level a 7 kW array produces roughly 9,965 kWh a year, worth about $1,345 in first-year bill savings at 13.5¢/kWh against an assumed $22,400 installed cost. A ten-year payback at this sunlight level would require a residential rate of about 20.1¢/kWh, which is 6.6¢ above what Louisiana households pay today.
States with comparable economics
Louisiana's closest analogues by modeled payback are Minnesota (14.2 years), Virginia (14.0 years), Mississippi (14.4 years). They arrive there from different rate and sunlight combinations, so their incentive rows are the useful comparison.
- Minnesota — modeled payback 14.2 years
- Virginia — modeled payback 14.0 years
- Mississippi — modeled payback 14.4 years