What 1,147 kWh per kW means for your decision
The planning figure for Erie is roughly 1,147 kWh a year for every kW of panels installed. It is derived from satellite irradiance data with a standard performance ratio applied rather than measured on local systems, so it is a screening estimate and the site survey is what produces a number worth contracting on.
Because the figure is modest, the design has to be tighter. Every panel placed on a poorly oriented or shaded plane is a proportionally larger loss when the whole array has less production to work with, so the gap between a well-designed system and a merely adequate one is wider than the price difference between them suggests.
So ask for more detail than you otherwise might: production modelled per roof plane, the shading assumptions written down, and the seasonal shape of output rather than an annual total. If an installer will not break the model down, you cannot tell whether the proposal is designed for your roof or assembled from a template.
Full retail crediting, and the annual reconciliation
Pennsylvania's Public Utility Commission sets net metering at the full retail rate. Excess generation is credited kWh for kWh against your usage each billing period, so an exported kilowatt-hour buys back a kilowatt-hour later at the same rate.
Once a year, any credit still banked is reconciled at the regulated Price to Compare rate, which is narrower than full retail. The distinction only bites if you are banking credit you never use, which is the position an oversized system puts you in.
That risk is smaller for a system matched to consumption, which is unlikely to run a large permanent surplus. It still argues for the same discipline: bring twelve months of bills, size against them rather than against roof area, and ask your installer to confirm the current net metering tariff for Penelec specifically, since terms are set per utility.
Duplexes, and who the roof belongs to
Single-detached houses are 60.7 percent of Erie's 43,681 housing units, so most residents control the roof and the decision outright.
Two-unit buildings are 14.5 percent, a meaningful share, and they raise two questions that are easier to answer early. Roof rights can involve more than one owner, and an array feeds a single electrical service, so it reduces one household's bill rather than splitting across both. If you own the whole building and rent the other half, that is a decision about which meter the system serves. If the halves are separately owned, it needs agreeing in writing before a design is paid for.
Three and four unit buildings hold 7.1 percent and buildings of 20 or more units 7.3 percent. In the larger buildings the roof belongs to the owner or the association, and an array there normally offsets a building account rather than any individual apartment.
Alternative Energy Credits, treated honestly
Under Pennsylvania's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, the owner of a certified solar system earns one Alternative Energy Credit for every 1,000 kWh generated, and those credits can be sold to utilities and suppliers that need them for compliance. Registration goes through the PA AEPS portal and the PJM Generation Attribute Tracking System, either directly or through an aggregator or broker.
Credits accrue with generation, so the number you earn follows what the array actually produces rather than what it is rated at. On top of that, AEC prices are set by supply and demand on an open market and fluctuate, so the income is variable in both quantity and price.
Treat it as an occasional extra rather than a revenue line. If a quote builds a fixed annual AEC figure into the payback, ask what price it assumed and where that price came from, then contact an aggregator to confirm current rates before you rely on it.
What a 2026 project costs
The 30 percent federal residential tax credit under Section 25D applied through December 31, 2025 and is not available for a purchased home system placed in service after that date. A 2026 purchase in Erie cannot claim it.
The credit was large enough to carry a substantial share of a project cost, so removing it changes the arithmetic on system size, on whether storage is worth adding, and on how long the payback runs. Any figure that still includes it is wrong, and rebuilding the arithmetic without it is the first thing to do with any quote you have been given.
If you go solar through a lease or a power purchase agreement rather than buying, the provider may still claim the business version of the credit under Section 48E and pass part of that value through in the rate they charge. That is worth asking about directly, and worth checking with a tax advisor, but it is not something to assume in your own budget.