Oklahoma pays about 12.5¢ per kilowatt-hour for residential electricity and receives about 5.2 kWh per square metre per day of sunlight — 45th and 10th respectively among the 50 states and DC tracked here. Those two numbers set the ceiling on what rooftop solar returns in Oklahoma, and they point in opposite directions.
Where Oklahoma sits against the rest of the country
Oklahoma is 2.3¢/kWh below the median residential rate across this dataset (14.8¢/kWh) and 0.6 kWh/m²/day above the median insolation (4.6 kWh/m²/day). Under this site's standard assumptions, that combination puts Oklahoma 35th of 51 for modeled payback speed, at 14.6 years against a dataset median of 13.5 years.
What actually drives payback in Oklahoma
Oklahoma is sunlight-led: 10th for insolation but only 45th for electricity price. Swap Oklahoma's sunlight for the dataset median and payback moves to 16.1 years (1.6 years of swing). Swap its electricity rate instead and payback moves to 12.6 years (1.9 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 Oklahoma.
State incentives on record
Recorded for Oklahoma: Limited net metering for residential systems up to 100 kW; no statewide tax credit; OG&E and PSO have offered demand-charge rate options.
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 Oklahoma's sunlight level a 7 kW array produces roughly 10,363 kWh a year, worth about $1,295 in first-year bill savings at 12.5¢/kWh against an assumed $22,400 installed cost. A ten-year payback at this sunlight level would require a residential rate of about 19.4¢/kWh, which is 6.9¢ above what Oklahoma households pay today.
States with comparable economics
Oklahoma's closest analogues by modeled payback are Ohio (14.6 years), Mississippi (14.4 years), North Carolina (14.4 years). They arrive there from different rate and sunlight combinations, so their incentive rows are the useful comparison.
- Ohio — modeled payback 14.6 years
- Mississippi — modeled payback 14.4 years
- North Carolina — modeled payback 14.4 years