LA · Solar + Battery

Solar quotes in Bossier City, 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.

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What you get

One vetted local Bossier City 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 Bossier City

If you are buying a Bossier City home with solar already installed, one date decides much of what the array is worth: whether it went in before January 1, 2020. Systems installed before that date were grandfathered onto full retail net metering for 15 years. Systems installed after it receive avoided-cost compensation for exports, which has run at roughly a quarter of the retail rate. It will not be visible from the roof.

The date that separates two arrangements

The Louisiana Public Service Commission changed the rules in September 2019. Customers who installed or applied after December 31, 2019 moved onto the avoided-cost arrangement.

Customers who installed before January 1, 2020 were grandfathered onto full retail net metering for 15 years. After that period their excess is credited at avoided cost like everyone else.

So a pre-2020 array carries a defined remaining term of retail net metering rather than an open-ended benefit, and that term is a specific number worth establishing.

A system installed in 2018, for example, would have its grandfathered period running to some point in the early 2030s. Ask for the installation date and calculate what remains.

What to establish before you agree a price

Ask the seller for the installation and interconnection dates, with documentation rather than a recollection. Those dates place the system on one side of the line or the other.

Ask which arrangement the account is actually on today, and get that confirmed by the utility rather than by the seller. Grandfathered status is only worth something if the account genuinely carries it.

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.

Then price accordingly. A pre-2020 array with years of retail net metering left is a materially different asset from an identical array installed last year.

The rest of the diligence on an existing array

Ask for production history rather than an estimate. An installed system has real data, and real data is worth far more than a model.

Ask for the equipment make and model and what warranty remains on the panels, the inverter and the workmanship. Inverters typically have shorter lives than panels, and a pre-2020 system may be approaching a replacement.

Ask about the roof underneath. A system on a roof near the end of its life implies a removal and reinstallation cost that belongs in your purchase arithmetic.

Ask whether the system is owned outright, financed, or on a lease or power purchase agreement. Those are entirely different things to inherit, and only the first is straightforwardly an asset.

What is left to build the number from

For a new system, the 30 percent federal Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, and Louisiana state credit expired on December 31, 2017.

Section 48E survives at 30 percent for third-party owners under leases and power purchase agreements.

A new system receives full retail value for what you consume as it is generated and avoided-cost compensation for exports, plus the property tax exemption on the value it adds.

For an existing system, start with the installation date, whether grandfathered status transfers and how many of the 15 years remain. That is the single fact that most changes what the array is worth to you.

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 Bossier City

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

Are older Louisiana systems still on net metering?

Those installed before January 1, 2020 were grandfathered onto full retail net metering for 15 years, after which their excess is credited at avoided cost. Systems installed after that date receive avoided cost from the start.

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

The installation and interconnection dates with documentation, which arrangement the account is on today confirmed by the utility, whether grandfathered status transfers to a new owner and what is required, and how many of the 15 years remain.

How much difference does the date make?

A large one. Retail net metering credits exports at around 12 cents per kWh; avoided cost has run near 3. A pre-2020 array with years of grandfathering left is a materially different asset from an identical new one.

What else should I check on an existing array?

Production history rather than an estimate, equipment models and remaining warranties including the inverter, the condition of the roof underneath, and whether the system is owned outright, financed, or on a lease or power purchase agreement.