LA · Solar + Battery

Solar quotes in Lafayette, 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 Lafayette 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 Lafayette

Lafayette is served by a municipally owned utility, which puts it outside the Louisiana Public Service Commission rules that govern most of the state. That means neither the Commission 2019 decision on avoided-cost exports nor the published Avoided Cost Rate tables necessarily describe your account. What applies instead is whatever your own utility has adopted, and that is a question with a local answer.

A municipal utility sets its own terms

The Louisiana Public Service Commission regulates investor-owned utilities. A municipally owned utility is governed by its own local authority rather than by the Commission.

So the September 2019 decision that moved Commission-regulated customers onto avoided-cost export compensation does not automatically apply, and the published Avoided Cost Rate by Electric Utility tables may not include your terms.

That can cut either way. A municipal utility may compensate exports more generously than the Commission-regulated arrangement or less, may cap system sizes differently, and may charge different interconnection fees.

What it always means is that a quote built from a statewide Louisiana template is describing terms that may not be yours. Check the utility name on a recent bill before reading any figure in a proposal.

The questions for your own utility

Ask how exported electricity is compensated and at what rate, and whether that rate is fixed or reset periodically. If reset, ask whether existing customers move to the new rate.

Ask whether generation is netted across a billing period or treated as separate flows, and whether excess credits carry forward or expire on a set date.

Ask what system size limits apply, what the interconnection application involves, what it costs and how long approval typically takes.

Ask whether the utility runs any programme of its own for solar or storage customers. Get the answers in writing from the utility rather than from a sales conversation.

What applies regardless of your utility

The expiry of both tax credits applies everywhere: the Louisiana state credit ended December 31, 2017 and the federal residential credit expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025.

The property tax exemption on the value a solar system adds is a state provision and applies regardless of utility, administered through your parish assessor.

And the physical facts do not change with the regulator. South Louisiana has a strong solar resource, hot humid summers that put heavy daytime load on air conditioning, and a hurricane season that makes resilience a real consideration.

So the split is clean. State-level items can be checked against state rules; everything about export compensation, size limits and interconnection has to come from your own utility.

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.

Add the property tax exemption, which applies regardless of utility, and then establish your own utility export terms, size limits and interconnection process.

Ask for the projection rebuilt from those answers rather than from the Commission-regulated arrangement, and reconcile it against what the utility told 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 Lafayette

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

Do the LPSC solar rules apply in Lafayette?

Not necessarily. Lafayette is served by a municipally owned utility, which is governed by its own local authority rather than by the Commission, so the September 2019 avoided-cost decision does not automatically apply.

What should I ask my municipal utility?

How exports are compensated and at what rate, whether that rate is fixed or reset, whether generation is netted across a billing period or treated as separate flows, whether credits carry forward or expire, and what interconnection involves and costs.

Do I still get the state property tax exemption?

Yes. The exemption on the value a solar system adds is a state provision and applies regardless of which utility serves you. Confirm with your parish assessor what filing, if any, is required.

What if my quote used statewide figures?

Ask for it to be rebuilt on your utility actual terms. A quote that cannot be reconciled with what your utility told you is describing a different arrangement, and that is worth resolving before anything else.