West Virginia pays about 14.6¢ per kilowatt-hour for residential electricity and receives about 4.2 kWh per square metre per day of sunlight — 28th and 41st respectively among the 50 states and DC tracked here. Those two numbers set the ceiling on what rooftop solar returns in West Virginia, and they point in the same direction.
Where West Virginia sits against the rest of the country
West Virginia is 0.2¢/kWh below the median residential rate across this dataset (14.8¢/kWh) and 0.4 kWh/m²/day below the median insolation (4.6 kWh/m²/day). Under this site's standard assumptions, that combination puts West Virginia 41st of 51 for modeled payback speed, at 15.3 years against a dataset median of 13.5 years.
What actually drives payback in West Virginia
West Virginia ranks in the lower half on both inputs — 28th for electricity price and 41st for sunlight. Swap West Virginia's sunlight for the dataset median and payback moves to 14.2 years (1.1 years of swing). Swap its electricity rate instead and payback moves to 15.1 years (0.2 years of swing). The sunlight swap is the larger of the two, so how much sun the roof gets is the input deciding the outcome in West Virginia.
State incentives on record
Recorded for West Virginia: Net metering retained for systems up to 25 kW residential; no statewide tax credit; property tax assessment unchanged.
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 West Virginia's sunlight level a 7 kW array produces roughly 8,370 kWh a year, worth about $1,222 in first-year bill savings at 14.6¢/kWh against an assumed $22,400 installed cost. A ten-year payback at this sunlight level would require a residential rate of about 24.0¢/kWh, which is 9.4¢ above what West Virginia households pay today.
States with comparable economics
West Virginia's closest analogues by modeled payback are Missouri (15.4 years), Arkansas (15.2 years), Wyoming (15.1 years). They arrive there from different rate and sunlight combinations, so their incentive rows are the useful comparison.