How Much Is Solar in Philadelphia, PA? $2.58/W, 14.0-Yr Payback
In Philadelphia, PA, an 8 kW system at $2.58/W produces about 1,320 kWh per kW and pays back in roughly 14.0 years at 16.16¢/kWh with the federal credit at $0.
· Source: EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A (July 2026 data) · next EIA update ~Oct 23
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- Philadelphia production
- 1,320 kWh/kW/yr
- Pennsylvania average
- 1,270 kWh/kW/yr
- Electricity rate
- 21.7¢/kWh
- 8 kW installed cost
- ~$20,640
- 2026 federal credit
- $0
- Payback (utility math)
- 14.0 years
Why this number
A kilowatt of panels in Philadelphia produces about 1,320 kWh a year, the highest of the 2 Pennsylvania cities modeled here — ahead of Pittsburgh at 1,186. On an 8 kW system that is a payback of about 9.8 years, against 10.9 years in Pittsburgh, on identical hardware at the same 21.72¢/kWh.
Pennsylvania is not one solar market
Two Pennsylvania cities have their own modeled figures, and they are 11% apart — Pittsburgh at 1,186 kWh per kW against Philadelphia at 1,320. The rate, the export rule and the $2.58/W installed cost are identical for both; only production moves.
| Location | kWh per kW per year | 8 kW output | Annual value | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia (this page) | 1,320 | 9,504 kWh | $2,064 | 9.8 yrs |
| Pittsburgh | 1,186 | 8,539 kWh | $1,855 | 10.9 yrs |
| Pennsylvania state average | 1,270 | 9,144 kWh | $1,986 | 10.2 yrs |
Against the state figure, Philadelphia runs 3.9% above Pennsylvania’s 1,270 kWh per kW — a payback 3.8 years longer than the statewide 10.2-year estimate on the same hardware at the same price.
What sets Philadelphia apart
Largest PA metro; PECO territory. Five-point cluster around Center City.
Your utility, officially
Pennsylvania’s average residential rate is 21.7¢/kWh, but the bill in Philadelphia comes from PECO at 16.16¢ — 26% below the state figure. These are the residential figures Philadelphia’s utility reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Form EIA-861 for 2024 — computed as revenue ÷ sales from the official file, not estimated:
| Utility | EIA ID | Residential avg price | Residential customers | Net-metering (residential, self-reported) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PECO | 14940 | 16.16¢/kWh | 1,205,013 | 21660 customers / 149.943 MW |
How exports are treated matters as much as the headline price: PECO is modeled here under the state’s full-retail net metering rules, and that treatment is baked into every payback figure on this page.
Philadelphia bills come from PECO Energy Co — PECO on the envelope — an investor-owned utility with 1,205,013 residential customers in the 2024 EIA-861 data, the largest electric utility in Pennsylvania. Its bundled residential average works out to 16.16¢/kWh, and that number needs an immediate asterisk: Pennsylvania is a retail-choice state. The 16.16¢ figure is what PECO’s own default-service customers paid on average. If you shop for generation — and a large share of Pennsylvanians do — your supply charge comes from your supplier contract, not from any average. Before you trust a payback estimate, pull your actual bill, add the delivery and supply lines together, and put that number in the calculator instead of ours.
The comparison worth making is with the other end of the Turnpike. Pittsburgh’s Duquesne Light averages 21.74¢/kWh against PECO’s 16.16¢, while PVGIS models Philadelphia at 1,320 kWh per kW per year against Pittsburgh’s 1,186. Run both: a Philadelphia kilowatt of panels offsets about $213 of default-rate electricity in year one, a Pittsburgh kilowatt about $258. Philadelphia has 11% more sun and still loses the payback race, because rate beats yield almost every time. That is not an argument against Philadelphia solar — it is a reminder that the driver of your economics is the price you avoid, which is exactly the number retail choice makes personal.
On exports, both cities sit under the same state rules: Pennsylvania is a full-retail net-metering state under 52 Pa. Code, which we carry at medium confidence — confirm your crediting terms with PECO in writing before signing. What Pennsylvania does not offer is state money. There is no state credit or rebate, only a low-value SREC market, so the whole case rests on the bill savings and the state’s installed-cost average of $2.58 per watt, which is on the cheaper side of the national table.
PECO’s 2024 filing shows 21,660 residential net-metered customers and 149.943 MW — about one home in 56, averaging roughly 6.9 kW per system. That is a middling adoption rate for a full-retail-crediting territory, and the 16.16¢ default rate is probably why: at that price the savings are real but not electric, so to speak. If your supplier contract is higher than the default — many are — your math is better than the headline on this page. If it is lower, it is worse. Either way, the honest input is on your own bill.
Source: EIA Form EIA-861, 2024 final release , accessed 2026-09-02. Average price is total residential revenue divided by total residential sales for the year — your own rate depends on your tariff and usage tier.
Who else serves the metro
PECO serves the great majority of Philadelphia, but the six counties in its EIA-861 territory also host FirstEnergy’s Pennsylvania Electric Co at 15.5¢, PPL Electric Utilities at 12.3¢, and Adams Electric Cooperative at 14.4¢ — all priced below PECO’s own 16.16¢. The gap to PPL alone is about 3.9¢, large enough to change how quickly a solar system pays for itself, and a different utility can also mean different net-metering terms than this page’s PECO-based payback estimate. Pennsylvania’s July 2026 state average, 21.72¢, comes from a later period and a different calculation than these 2024 figures. Which of these actually bills a property comes down to its ZIP code, not its city.
| Utility (EIA-861, same service counties) | 2024 avg residential price | Residential customers |
|---|---|---|
| FirstEnergy Pennsylvania Electric Co | 15.5¢/kWh | 1,802,612 |
| PPL Electric Utilities Corp | 12.3¢/kWh | 1,295,883 |
| Adams Electric Cooperative Inc | 14.4¢/kWh | 32,231 |
The exact answer is a ZIP question, not a city question: look up your utility by ZIP . Candidates: utilities EIA-861 lists in 6 service counties of the metro’s main utility; prices are 2024 revenue ÷ sales from the official file.
An 8 kW system in Philadelphia, priced out
| Metric | Estimate for Philadelphia | Pennsylvania statewide |
|---|---|---|
| Production, unshaded 20° south | 1,320 kWh per kW/yr | 1,270 kWh per kW/yr |
| 8 kW output after a 10% roof derate | ~9,504 kWh/yr | ~9,144 kWh/yr |
| Average residential rate | 21.7¢/kWh (EIA) | 21.7¢/kWh |
| Installed cost, 8 kW | ~$20,640 at $2.58/watt | ~$20,640 |
| 2026 federal credit | $0 | $0 |
| Export rule | Full-retail net metering | Full-retail net metering |
| Export credit modeled | retail (21.7¢/kWh) | retail (21.7¢/kWh) |
| Annual value of that output | ~$2,064 | ~$1,986 |
| Rough payback (your utility) | 14.0 years | 10.2 years (state-average model) |
| 25-year net position | $39,624 | — |
Only the first two rows differ. Everything financial — rate, tariff, price per watt — is inherited from Pennsylvania without change, which is the point: a city page that quietly used a different electricity rate from its state page would be guessing, not measuring.
Doing nothing is not free either. Twenty-five years of the electricity an 8 kW Philadelphia array would produce, with rates rising at 2.5% a year, comes to roughly $70,502.
Electricity isn’t only for panels — the heat pump vs. furnace cost calculator compares heating costs at Philadelphia’s own 21.7¢/kWh rate.
Run it with your own bill
Shared methodology · identical on every city page
- Production figures are unshaded, south-facing, 20° PVGIS values. A real roof — its own pitch, orientation, a tree or a chimney — typically produces 10–25% less; every payback here already carries a 10% real-roof derate.
- Paybacks include $150/yr of running costs and one $2,000 inverter replacement in year 14, which is why they run longer than paybacks quoted elsewhere.
- State export rules cover investor-owned, state-regulated utilities. Municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives are exempt in most states and set their own terms.
- Installed cost is the state-level EnergySage market figure, not a city quote; a swing of 50¢/W moves payback by roughly a year and a half either way. Get three quotes before trusting any payback — including ours.
Philadelphia against the rest of Pennsylvania
Same rate, same export rule, same installed price per watt — only the sunshine changes:
| City | kWh per kW | Payback |
|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia | 1,320 | 9.8 years |
| Pittsburgh | 1,186 | 10.9 years |
A 11% production span across one state is the reason a single statewide number is only ever a starting point.
What Pennsylvania pays Philadelphia for exported power
Pennsylvania credits exported power at the retail rate under 52 Pa. Code , so a kilowatt-hour a Philadelphia array sends to the grid is worth the same as one you buy. That is the best case for solar economics and it is why the payback above is what it is.
It is also the assumption most likely to change. Twenty-two states have already moved to net billing. If Pennsylvania did the same on typical terms, this system would take about 17.4 years instead of 14.0 — 3.4 years’ difference from a policy change, with no change to the hardware and none to Philadelphia’s weather.
Sources and method
- Production: modeled with PVGIS v5.2 PVcalc (European Commission JRC) using the PVGIS-NSRDB radiation database — the same NREL satellite dataset PVWatts draws on for the Americas. Assumptions: 4 kWp, standard c-Si, 14% system loss, roof mounting, 20-degree tilt, due south, horizon shading on. The 1,320 kWh per kW figure for Philadelphia is a modeled location point, not an interpolation from the Pennsylvania average. PVGIS is free to use with JRC attribution requested; the underlying NSRDB is public domain (NREL/DOE).
- Real-roof derate: a separate 10% deduction for azimuth, pitch and shading, applied in the shared model rather than folded into the production data — so you can adjust it if your roof is genuinely unobstructed.
- Electricity rate: U.S. Energy Information Administration, average price by state . This is Pennsylvania’s residential average; EIA does not publish a Philadelphia figure, so the state rate is used and labeled as such.
- Export rules: 52 Pa. Code , from our Pennsylvania state page and the shared export-rules dataset behind it.
- State average rate: EIA Table 5.6.A, July 2026 data (released Sep 2026), used for every state-average comparison on this page.
- Payback model: shared with the solar savings calculator and the state pages — 2.5%/yr utility inflation, 0.5%/yr degradation, $150/yr running costs, one $2,000 inverter replacement in year 14, federal credit $0. The rest of the toolset — battery, sizing, financing — is under all calculators .
- Incentives: DSIRE . City and utility programs change more often than state ones — check yours directly.
Electricity rate, export regime, production figure and installed cost on this page were last verified on 30 August 2026. Export credits reset on annual tariff cycles and incentive budgets run out mid-year, so treat every figure as a snapshot at that date and confirm current terms before acting. Nothing here is tax or financial advice.
Frequently asked questions
How much do solar panels cost in Philadelphia in 2026?
About $20,640 for a typical 8 kW system at $2.58 per watt, before any incentive. With the federal credit at $0 in 2026 that is close to your net cost. Note that the price per watt is a Pennsylvania market average — there is no reliable city-level cost data, so treat it as a starting point and get three quotes.
What is the solar payback in Philadelphia?
Roughly 14.0 years on this model, using Philadelphia’s own production figure of 1,320 kWh per kW and its own utility tariff (16.16¢/kWh) with each utility’s real export treatment. That includes $150 a year of running costs and one inverter replacement, which many published paybacks leave out.
Is Philadelphia better or worse for solar than the rest of Pennsylvania?
Against the state figure, Philadelphia runs 3.9% above Pennsylvania’s 1,270 kWh per kW — a payback 3.8 years longer than the statewide 10.2-year estimate on the same hardware at the same price.
Is solar worth it in Philadelphia in 2026?
At 21.72¢/kWh and 1,320 kWh per kW, an 8 kW system in Philadelphia pays back in about 9.8 years on this model. Treat that as a starting point for reading real quotes rather than as a quote: your roof’s orientation, its shading and the price you are actually offered will move it more than your city does.
How we calculated this
Year-1 saving = production (kW × the city’s modeled kWh per kW) × the blended kWh value (retail rate for self-use, the state export rule for exports). Payback = net cost ÷ year-1 saving, with the federal credit at $0 for 2026 purchases and cost per watt from the state’s installed-price band. Production is modeled from PVGIS/NSRDB irradiance for the city.Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) electricity rates · DSIRE incentive records · public IRS/OBBBA guidance. Figures are modeled estimates, not quotes or tax advice. See our methodology.
Compare with the rest of Pennsylvania
- Solar panel cost in Pennsylvania — The statewide picture: Pennsylvania’s rate, incentives, export rules and the 1,270 kWh per kW average this page corrects.
- Solar panel cost in Pittsburgh — 1,186 kWh per kW and a 10.9-year payback — worse than Philadelphia on identical hardware.
- Solar panel cost in Yakima — 1,320 kWh per kW in Washington — the closest production match to Philadelphia in our data.
- Solar panel cost in Medford — 1,316 kWh per kW in Oregon — the closest production match to Philadelphia in our data.
- All city solar figures — The 66 US cities with their own modeled production data, and the spreads between them.