IN · Solar

Solar quotes in Evansville, IN.

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

One vetted local installer · no lead list

What you get

One vetted local Evansville installer
Rebates checked for your exact address
No call-center spam, no lead list

7.5 kW
Average system size: $2.90/W
Average cost (USD): 12 yrs
Average payback: 80+
Local installers

Why solar in Evansville

The Indiana court case that decided how solar customers are billed was about a southern Indiana utility, which makes Evansville the place where the instantaneous netting question is least theoretical. Under that method you pay full retail for everything you draw from the grid at any moment while everything you send earns only the Excess Distributed Generation rate. Before comparing quotes here, establish which method applies to your account.

The dispute and how it ended

A southern Indiana utility proposed moving from monthly net metering to instantaneous netting, and the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approved the request in April 2021.

Consumer and solar advocates argued the plan went beyond what the 2017 law called for. The Court of Appeals initially sided with them; the Indiana Supreme Court then disagreed and upheld the method.

The reasoning was narrow. The court held that when the General Assembly moved to the excess distributed generation scheme it did not direct utilities on how often excess generation must be measured, so the Commission acted within its authority.

The result is that instantaneous netting is permitted in Indiana. What matters for your project is not the litigation history but which method your own utility applies today.

What it does to a household bill

Under instantaneous netting the meter measures inflow and outflow moment by moment. Any generation above your demand at that instant is an export credited at the Excess Distributed Generation rate.

The Excess Distributed Generation rate is the prior year average wholesale cost of electricity plus 25 percent, which has run roughly 70 to 80 percent below the retail rate.

So a sunny weekday afternoon with the house empty produces a great deal of exported electricity earning very little, while the same household pays full retail that evening.

That pattern is the design problem. The answer is not to abandon solar but to size and operate the system so that far more of its output lands inside your own consumption.

The levers that actually help

Size to your daytime load rather than your annual total. Ask what percentage of your annual usage the design covers and, more importantly, what share of generation the model expects you to consume directly.

Shift flexible loads into daylight. Dishwasher, laundry, pool pump and electric vehicle charging all move easily, and each moved kilowatt hour goes from the Excess Distributed Generation rate to the full retail rate.

Pre-cool the house on hot afternoons so air conditioning runs while the sun is up and less after sunset. In a southern Indiana summer that is the largest free lever available.

Consider storage seriously. Under instantaneous netting with a low export rate, a battery converting exports into evening self-consumption does real arbitrage, and the gap it monetises is unusually wide here.

Building the number from what Indiana still offers

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 Evansville receives no federal tax credit, and Indiana has no state income tax credit for solar.

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 the 7 percent sales tax exemption, the property tax exemption on added value, full retail value for what you consume as it is generated, and the Excess Distributed Generation rate for what you export.

Confirm your netting method and current Excess Distributed Generation rate with your utility, then ask for the projection rebuilt on those two facts.

Incentives & rebates

Net metering: Net metering closed; EDG credit at 125% of wholesale

Indiana closed net metering to new solar customers under Senate Enrolled Act 309, no later than July 1, 2022. New residential systems instead receive the Excess Distributed Generation credit, which the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission sets at the average wholesale cost of electricity from the prior year plus 25 percent. That has produced a credit roughly 70 to 80 percent below the retail rate, so an exported kilowatt hour is worth a small fraction of one you consume yourself. A second change compounds the first. The Indiana Supreme Court held that a utility may measure excess generation instantaneously rather than netting across a billing period, on the reasoning that the statute does not direct utilities on how often the measurement must be made. Under instantaneous netting a household pays the full retail rate for everything it draws from the grid at any moment while everything it sends to the grid earns only the Excess Distributed Generation rate, with no monthly offset in between. The practical consequences are large. A system sized to annual consumption will export a great deal of its midday output at the low rate, so a smaller system matched to daytime load frequently returns better. Shifting flexible loads into daylight converts low-value exports into full-value offsets at no cost, and storage carries more weight here than the national conversation suggests. Existing customers were grandfathered: systems installed before 2018 keep full net metering until July 1, 2047, and those installed between the start of 2018 and the close of the programme until July 1, 2032.

Related Indiana resources

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

How payback works in Indiana

System cost: $21,750
Estimated net cost: $21,750
Estimated payback: ~13.4 years
25-year net savings: ~$18,750

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

Frequently asked questions

What did the Indiana Supreme Court decide?

That a utility may use instantaneous netting rather than monthly netting, on the reasoning that the statute moving Indiana to the excess distributed generation scheme did not direct utilities on how often excess generation must be measured.

How does that affect my bill?

You pay full retail for everything drawn from the grid at any moment, while everything sent to the grid earns the Excess Distributed Generation rate, roughly 70 to 80 percent below retail. There is no monthly offset in between.

What can I do about it?

Size to your daytime load rather than your annual total, shift flexible loads into daylight, pre-cool on hot afternoons so air conditioning runs while the sun is up, and take storage seriously, since the gap a battery monetises is unusually wide here.

Is a battery worth it in Evansville?

More than in most states. Under instantaneous netting with a low export credit, a battery converting exports into evening self-consumption is doing real arbitrage. Ask for the system modelled with and without storage so the value is a visible number.