AR · Solar

Solar quotes in Little Rock, AR.

One real quote from a vetted local Little Rock installer, sized to your roof, your bill, and every federal + state rebate you qualify for.

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One vetted local Little Rock installer
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7.5 kW
Average system size: $2.80/W
Average cost (USD): 11 yrs
Average payback: 55+
Local installers

Why solar in Little Rock

Arkansas solar has a date running through the middle of it. Systems developed before September 30, 2024 were grandfathered onto one-to-one net metering for twenty years, through September 2040. Systems interconnecting after that date go onto a non-legacy schedule where exported electricity earns avoided cost rather than the retail rate. Two Little Rock homes with identical arrays can therefore be on materially different terms, and nothing about the roof will tell you which.

What Act 278 changed and when

Act 278, passed by the 94th General Assembly in 2023, overhauled Arkansas net metering. The pivot date for grandfathering was September 30, 2024.

Projects developed before that date were locked at the one-to-one rate for a 20-year contract duration, running through September 2040. For those customers an exported kilowatt hour and a consumed one are worth the same.

Customers interconnecting after September 30, 2024, with certain exceptions, take service under a non-legacy net metering schedule. Under it, generation consumed on site offsets a retail purchase while excess exported to the grid is compensated at avoided cost.

Avoided cost is a wholesale-style measure well below the roughly 14.2 cent Arkansas residential average, so the difference between the two arrangements is substantial rather than marginal.

Establishing which side you are on

For a new installation the answer is straightforward: you will be on the non-legacy schedule. Design accordingly rather than from a guide written before the change.

For an existing system, the development date determines it, and that is a documented fact rather than a matter of recollection. Ask for it in writing and confirm the schedule with the utility.

For a home purchase, ask whether the grandfathered status transfers to a new owner, what has to be done to effect that, and by when. An arrangement that does not survive the transaction is worth nothing to you.

A pre-September-2024 array with fourteen years of one-to-one crediting remaining is a materially different asset from an identical array installed last month.

What the non-legacy schedule asks of a design

Electricity you consume at the moment it is generated offsets a purchase at the full retail rate. Electricity you export earns avoided cost. Those are very different amounts.

So annual production stops being a useful summary of what a system is worth. What matters is how much of that production your household absorbs as it happens.

Ask what self-consumption share the savings model assumed, and ask for the savings split into two lines: avoided purchases at the retail rate, and exports at avoided cost.

Ask for a smaller system modelled alongside the proposal. Under this arrangement the marginal panels produce mostly exports, so a design covering less than your full annual usage frequently returns better.

What the number should be built from

The 30 percent federal Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, so a cash or loan purchase in Little Rock receives no federal tax credit, and Arkansas has no state solar tax credit.

Section 48E survives at 30 percent for third-party owners under leases and power purchase agreements, so ask what a provider claims and what reaches you in the rate.

What exists is full retail value for what you consume as it is generated, avoided cost for exports under the non-legacy schedule, and the electricity you stop buying at around 14.2 cents per kWh.

Ask for those two values separated in the projection, with the self-consumption share stated on the page.

Incentives & rebates

Net metering: Non-legacy schedule at avoided cost; pre-Sept-2024 grandfathered

Arkansas net metering changed under Act 278 of 2023, and the pivot is a date. Projects developed before September 30, 2024 were grandfathered at the one-to-one rate for a 20-year contract duration, which runs through September 2040. For those customers an exported kilowatt hour and a consumed one remain worth the same, and nothing about the change affects them for the working life of the system. Customers interconnecting after September 30, 2024, with certain exceptions, take service under a non-legacy net metering schedule instead. Under it, generation consumed on site in real time offsets electricity you would have bought at the retail rate, which remains the most valuable outcome, while excess exported to the grid is compensated at avoided cost, a wholesale-style measure well below the roughly 14.2 cent Arkansas residential average. The utilities argued in support of the change that full retail credit shifted transmission, distribution and maintenance costs onto other customers. Whatever view you take of that, the practical consequence for a new system is the same: self-consumption is worth substantially more than export, so the design should be built from your daytime load rather than from your annual total, load shifting into daylight is free value, and storage carries more weight than the national conversation suggests. Arkansas is also served extensively by electric cooperatives and municipal utilities whose terms may differ, so confirm what applies at your address.

Related Arkansas resources

Arkansas solar incentives & rebates Full breakdown of federal, provincial, and utility programs.

How payback works in Arkansas

System cost: $21,000
Estimated net cost: $21,000
Estimated payback: ~13.0 years
25-year net savings: ~$19,500

These figures are illustrative; your actual quote reflects your roof, sun exposure, and local utility rates.

Frequently asked questions

Does Arkansas have one-to-one net metering?

Only for systems developed before September 30, 2024, which were grandfathered at that rate for a 20-year contract duration running through September 2040. New systems go onto a non-legacy schedule with avoided-cost export compensation.

What changed under Act 278?

Act 278 of 2023 ended one-to-one net metering for new systems. Under the non-legacy schedule, generation consumed on site offsets a retail purchase while excess exported to the grid is compensated at avoided cost, well below the retail rate.

I am buying a house with solar. What should I ask?

The development and interconnection dates with documentation, which schedule the account is on today confirmed by the utility, and whether grandfathered status transfers to a new owner and what is required to effect it.

How should I design a new system?

Around self-consumption. Ask what share of generation the model expects your household to use at the moment it is produced, ask for the savings split into avoided purchases and exports, and ask for a smaller system modelled alongside.