MS · Solar

Solar quotes in Meridian, MS.

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

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What you get

One vetted local Meridian installer
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No call-center spam, no lead list

7.5 kW
Average system size: $2.80/W
Average cost (USD): 13 yrs
Average payback: 35+
Local installers

Why solar in Meridian

Mississippi is served by roughly 20 rural electric cooperatives alongside its two regulated investor-owned utilities, and cooperatives set their own terms for customer generation. The Public Service Commission tariffs, the 2.5 cent Distributed Generation Benefits Adder and the January 2025 Entergy figures may therefore not describe your account at all. Establishing which applies is the first step in reading any quote.

Cooperatives are governed differently

The Public Service Commission regulates Entergy Mississippi and Mississippi Power. Rural electric cooperatives are member-owned and governed by their own boards rather than by the Commission in the same way.

So the net metering rule, the Distributed Generation Benefits Adder and the low-to-moderate income adder are Commission arrangements applying to the regulated utilities, and a cooperative may take a different approach.

That can cut either way. A cooperative may compensate exports more generously than the Commission tariffs or less, may cap system sizes differently, and may charge different interconnection fees.

With roughly 20 cooperatives in the state, there is no single answer. Check the utility name on a recent bill, then take specific questions to that utility.

The questions worth putting in writing

Ask how exported electricity is compensated and at what rate, whether any adder applies, and whether that rate is fixed or reset periodically.

Ask whether generation is netted across a billing period or measured instantaneously, and whether excess credits carry forward or expire.

Ask whether credits can offset fixed charges on the bill or only energy charges. That distinction materially changes what a system saves and it is easy to overlook.

Ask what system size limits apply, what the interconnection application involves, what it costs, how long approval takes, and whether any solar-specific charge or minimum bill applies to customer generators.

Reconciling the quote with the answers

Ask which export arrangement the projection assumed and which retail rate it applied, then check both against what the cooperative told you and against a recent bill.

Ask what self-consumption share the model assumed. Under any arrangement where exports are worth less than retail, that assumption drives the savings figure.

Ask whether the installer has completed projects on your specific cooperative recently. Interconnection practice varies and recent local experience is what moves a project along.

If the quote cannot be reconciled with what the cooperative told you, ask for it to be rebuilt rather than explained. That discrepancy is the most useful thing you will find before signing.

What the arithmetic actually rests on

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 receives no federal tax credit, and Mississippi has no state solar tax credit.

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.

Everything else comes from your own utility: the retail rate, export compensation, any adder, the netting method, whether credits offset fixed charges, size limits and interconnection.

Ask for the projection rebuilt from those answers, with your rate taken from a recent bill and any solar-specific charges included.

Incentives & rebates

Net metering: Avoided cost plus adders, grandfathered 25 years

Mississippi does not offer retail-rate net metering. Exported electricity is credited at the utility avoided cost rate plus a Distributed Generation Benefits Adder of 2.5 cents per kWh, and a Public Service Commission order in January 2025 updated the Entergy Mississippi tariff to 5.5 cents per kWh for customers not eligible for the low-to-moderate income adder and 7.5 cents for those who are. Against a Mississippi residential rate around 16 cents per kWh on recent EIA figures, an exported kilowatt hour is worth roughly a third of one consumed as it is generated, or a little under half with the income adder applied. Two features make this arrangement better than a bare avoided-cost regime. First, the adders are grandfathered for 25 years, which is close to the working life of a system, so a customer enrolling now is not exposed to annual revision the way Utah or Louisiana customers are. Second, the low-to-moderate income adder is genuinely accessible: eligibility has been expanded to households with annual income up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level, which in Mississippi reaches a large share of households, though the additional 2 cents per kWh is limited to the first 1,000 qualifying customers to install and runs 15 years from the start of net metering service. The design conclusion is the familiar one for an avoided-cost state: build around what your household consumes during daylight, shift flexible loads into the generating window, and treat storage as doing real arbitrage rather than only providing backup.

Related Mississippi resources

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

How payback works in Mississippi

System cost: $21,000
Estimated net cost: $21,000
Estimated payback: ~13.0 years
25-year net savings: ~$19,500

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

Frequently asked questions

Do the Mississippi Commission net metering rules apply to my cooperative?

Not necessarily. The Commission regulates Entergy Mississippi and Mississippi Power. Roughly 20 rural electric cooperatives are member-owned and set their own terms for customer generation.

What should I ask my cooperative?

How exports are compensated and at what rate, whether any adder applies, whether generation is netted across a billing period or measured instantaneously, whether credits carry forward, and what interconnection involves and costs.

Why ask about fixed charges specifically?

Because whether credits can offset fixed charges or only energy charges materially changes what a system saves. A household covering its energy use may still pay the fixed portion in full, and a savings model treating the bill as one number would overstate the result.

What if my quote used Entergy figures?

Ask for it to be rebuilt on your cooperative 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.