Wisconsin pays about 16.7¢ per kilowatt-hour for residential electricity and receives about 4.3 kWh per square metre per day of sunlight — 16th and 38th respectively among the 50 states and DC tracked here. Those two numbers set the ceiling on what rooftop solar returns in Wisconsin, and they point in opposite directions.
Where Wisconsin sits against the rest of the country
Wisconsin is 1.9¢/kWh above the median residential rate across this dataset (14.8¢/kWh) and 0.3 kWh/m²/day below the median insolation (4.6 kWh/m²/day). Under this site's standard assumptions, that combination puts Wisconsin 23rd of 51 for modeled payback speed, at 13.4 years against a dataset median of 13.5 years.
What actually drives payback in Wisconsin
Wisconsin is rate-led: upper half of the dataset for electricity price (16th), lower half for sunlight (38th). Swap Wisconsin's sunlight for the dataset median and payback moves to 12.6 years (0.8 years of swing). Swap its electricity rate instead and payback moves to 14.8 years (1.4 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 Wisconsin.
State incentives on record
Recorded for Wisconsin: Focus on Energy rewards for residential solar; net metering at retail rate for systems up to 20 kW at most IOUs; sales tax exemption.
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 Wisconsin's sunlight level a 7 kW array produces roughly 8,569 kWh a year, worth about $1,431 in first-year bill savings at 16.7¢/kWh against an assumed $22,400 installed cost. A ten-year payback at this sunlight level would require a residential rate of about 23.4¢/kWh, which is 6.7¢ above what Wisconsin households pay today.
States with comparable economics
Wisconsin's closest analogues by modeled payback are Pennsylvania (13.4 years), Georgia (13.3 years), South Carolina (13.5 years). They arrive there from different rate and sunlight combinations, so their incentive rows are the useful comparison.
- Pennsylvania — modeled payback 13.4 years
- Georgia — modeled payback 13.3 years
- South Carolina — modeled payback 13.5 years