LA · Solar + Battery

Solar quotes in Baton Rouge, LA.

Battery-coupled solar closes most often in Louisiana. One real quote from a vetted local installer, with the federal Clean Tech ITC (30%) on storage stacked with state net metering.

One vetted local installer · no lead list

What you get

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

7.5 kW
Average system size: $2.85/W
Average cost (USD): 11 yrs
Average payback: 70+
Local installers

Why solar in Baton Rouge

Louisiana ended retail net metering for most of the state, and the arrangement that replaced it is worth understanding precisely. Under the Louisiana Public Service Commission rules, a customer who installed or applied after December 31, 2019 pays full retail for electricity bought from the utility, pays nothing for solar consumed on site, and receives avoided-cost compensation for exports. Those three sentences describe a system whose value depends almost entirely on the second one.

Three treatments, not one net figure

The Commission changed the rules in September 2019. Rather than netting generation against consumption, the arrangement treats each flow on its own terms.

Electricity you buy from the utility is charged at the full retail rate, as it always was. Electricity your solar produces and your household consumes on site is charged at nothing, because you never bought it.

Electricity you export to the grid earns avoided-cost compensation, a wholesale-style measure that has run near 3 cents per kWh against a Louisiana retail average around 12 cents.

So the same kilowatt hour is worth about four times more consumed at home than exported. That ratio is the design brief for any Baton Rouge system installed under these rules.

What a four-to-one ratio does to a design

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.

It also means the marginal panel at the top of a design produces mostly exports, earning about a quarter of retail while costing full price. The return on each additional panel falls as the system grows.

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 the avoided cost rate.

Ask for a smaller system modelled alongside the proposal. Under this arrangement a design covering less than your full annual usage frequently returns better.

Louisiana summers are on your side

Air conditioning is a very large load in a Louisiana summer, and it runs hardest through hot afternoons, which is exactly when a solar array produces most.

Under an arrangement that rewards self-consumption at four times the export rate, that overlap is a genuine asset. A high summer cooling load absorbs generation at full value that would otherwise leave at avoided cost.

Pre-cooling extends the effect. Running the air conditioning harder while the sun is up, so less is needed after sunset, shifts a large load into the generating window and costs nothing.

Ask for the analysis seasonally rather than annually. A design that works well in July and less well in January is a normal outcome here, but an annual average conceals it.

What is left to build the number from

The 30 percent federal Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, and Louisiana state solar tax credit expired on December 31, 2017.

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 property tax exemption on the value the system adds, full retail value for electricity consumed as it is generated, and avoided-cost compensation for exports at a rate the Commission publishes annually and sets per utility.

Ask for the projection with those two values separated and the self-consumption assumption stated on the page.

Incentives & rebates

Net metering: Avoided cost outside New Orleans; net metering within it

Louisiana has two different arrangements depending on who regulates your utility, and the difference is large. For utilities regulated by the Louisiana Public Service Commission, which is most of the state, the Commission changed the rules in September 2019. Customers who installed or applied after December 31, 2019 are on a two-channel arrangement: they pay the full retail rate for electricity purchased from the utility, they pay nothing for solar energy consumed on site as it is generated, and they receive avoided-cost compensation for electricity exported to the grid. Avoided cost is a wholesale-style measure and has run near 3 cents per kWh against a Louisiana retail average around 12 cents, so an exported kilowatt hour has been worth roughly a quarter of a self-consumed one. The Commission publishes an Avoided Cost Rate by Electric Utility each year, so the figure is reset annually and differs between utilities. Customers who installed before January 1, 2020 were grandfathered onto full retail net metering for 15 years, after which their excess is credited at avoided cost as well. New Orleans sits outside all of this. Entergy New Orleans is regulated by the New Orleans City Council, whose rules require net metering to be offered, and the Commission 2020 rules do not apply to its customers. The practical consequence everywhere outside New Orleans is that self-consumption is worth roughly four times export, so sizing to your daytime load, shifting flexible loads into daylight and considering storage all matter more here than the national conversation suggests.

Related Louisiana resources

Battery + Storage

Why solar + battery in Baton Rouge

Louisiana is two solar markets rather than one, and which you are in depends on who regulates your utility. For most of the state the Louisiana Public Service Commission ended retail net metering: customers who installed or applied after December 31, 2019 pay full retail for electricity they buy, pay nothing for solar they consume themselves, and receive avoided-cost compensation for anything they export. Against a Louisiana average around 12 cents per kWh, that export credit has run near 3 cents, roughly a quarter of retail. New Orleans is the exception. Entergy New Orleans is regulated by the New Orleans City Council rather than the Commission, the only city council in the country besides the District of Columbia with that authority over its electric utility, and the Commission 2020 rules do not apply there. On top of that, Louisiana state solar tax credit expired on December 31, 2017 and the federal residential credit expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025.

✓ Federal Clean Tech ITC 30% on storage ✓ Outage resilience

How payback works in Louisiana

System cost: $21,375
Estimated net cost: $21,375
Estimated payback: ~13.2 years
25-year net savings: ~$19,125

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

Frequently asked questions

How does Louisiana compensate exported solar?

Outside New Orleans, at avoided cost. Customers who installed or applied after December 31, 2019 pay full retail for electricity bought, nothing for solar consumed on site, and receive avoided-cost compensation for exports, which has run near 3 cents per kWh.

How does that compare to the retail rate?

Against a Louisiana average around 12 cents per kWh, an exported kilowatt hour has been worth roughly a quarter of one you consume at home. That four-to-one ratio is the design brief for a system under these rules.

How should that change my system?

Size to your daytime load rather than your annual total, since the marginal panels produce mostly exports earning about a quarter of retail. Ask for a smaller system modelled alongside the proposal.

Does summer air conditioning help?

Considerably. A large midday cooling load absorbs generation at full retail value that would otherwise be exported at avoided cost. Pre-cooling on hot afternoons extends the effect at no cost.