LA · Solar + Battery

Solar quotes in Kenner, 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 Kenner 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 Kenner

Kenner sits minutes from New Orleans and on completely different solar terms. Entergy New Orleans is regulated by the New Orleans City Council, whose rules require net metering. Kenner is outside the city, under Louisiana Public Service Commission rules, where customers who installed or applied after December 31, 2019 receive avoided-cost compensation for exports instead. Same metro, same weather, same installers, materially different economics.

A regulatory boundary inside one metro area

Entergy New Orleans answers to the New Orleans City Council, one of only two local authorities in the country with that role over an electric utility. Its rules require net metering to be offered.

Outside the city, utilities answer to the Louisiana Public Service Commission, whose September 2019 decision moved new customers onto avoided-cost export compensation from January 1, 2020.

So two homes a short drive apart, on identical roofs, with identical systems, receive materially different value for the same exported kilowatt hour.

That is invisible from the street and it is not something a statewide guide will flag. Check the utility name on a recent bill and establish which regulator sets your terms before reading any figure in a quote.

What being on the Commission side means

Under the Commission rules you pay full retail for electricity bought from the utility, nothing for solar you consume on site as it is generated, and avoided cost for anything exported.

Avoided cost 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.

That makes self-consumption the whole game. Size to your daytime load rather than your annual total, and ask what share of generation the model expects your household to use directly.

It also makes load shifting and storage more valuable than they would be a few miles away in the city, because the gap they close is four to one rather than close to nothing.

Checking a quote written for the wrong side

Because installers work both sides of the boundary, a template built for one can easily be applied to the other. A Kenner quote built on New Orleans net metering will overstate the project.

Ask which export arrangement the projection assumed: net metering, or avoided-cost compensation. If the answer is not immediate, that is informative.

Ask which avoided cost rate it used, from which utility and which year, since the Commission publishes the rate by utility annually.

Ask for the savings split into avoided purchases at the retail rate and exports at avoided cost. That split is what makes the assumption visible.

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, full retail value for electricity consumed as it is generated, and avoided-cost compensation for exports under Commission rules.

Ask for the projection built on the Commission arrangement rather than the New Orleans one, with the avoided cost rate identified by utility and year.

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 Kenner

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

Does Kenner get New Orleans net metering?

No. Entergy New Orleans is regulated by the New Orleans City Council, whose rules require net metering. Kenner is outside the city and under Louisiana Public Service Commission rules, where exports earn avoided-cost compensation instead.

How big is the difference?

Substantial. Avoided cost has run near 3 cents per kWh against a Louisiana retail average around 12, so an exported kilowatt hour is worth roughly a quarter of one consumed at home. Under net metering the two are far closer.

How do I check my quote used the right rules?

Ask which export arrangement the projection assumed, net metering or avoided cost, and which avoided cost rate it used from which utility and year. Then ask for the savings split into avoided purchases and exports.

What should I do differently on this side of the line?

Size to your daytime load rather than your annual total, shift flexible loads into daylight, and take storage more seriously, because the gap those close is four to one here rather than close to nothing in the city.