Solar Panel Cost in Raleigh, NC 2026: ~20.3-Year Payback
In Raleigh, NC, an 8 kW system at $2.35/W produces about 1,424 kWh per kW and pays back in roughly 20.3 years at 15.54¢/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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- Raleigh production
- 1,424 kWh/kW/yr
- North Carolina average
- 1,375 kWh/kW/yr
- Electricity rate
- 15.2¢/kWh
- 8 kW installed cost
- ~$18,800
- 2026 federal credit
- $0
- Payback (utility math)
- 20.3 years
Why this number
A kilowatt of panels in Raleigh produces about 1,424 kWh a year, the lowest of the 2 North Carolina cities modeled here — behind Charlotte at 1,431. That is a payback of roughly 20.8 years against 20.7 years in Charlotte, with the same electricity rate, the same export rule and the same installed price. The difference is entirely the sky.
What sets Raleigh apart
Duke Energy Progress territory — a different Duke company with a different price than Charlotte.
Your utility, officially
North Carolina’s average residential rate is 15.2¢/kWh, but the bill in Raleigh comes from Duke Energy Progress at 15.54¢ — 2.5% above the state figure. These are the residential figures Raleigh’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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke Energy Progress | 3046 | 15.54¢/kWh | 1,356,079 | 24149 customers / 179.893 MW |
How exports are treated matters as much as the headline price: Duke Energy Progress is modeled here under the state’s net billing rules, and that treatment is baked into every payback figure on this page.
Raleigh’s electric utility is Duke Energy Progress — and if that sounds like the same company that serves Charlotte, it is the same brand but not the same business. Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas are separate operating companies with separate rate cases, and the 2024 EIA-861 file prices them apart: Progress bills its 1,356,079 residential customers an average of 15.54¢/kWh, about 11% above the 13.94¢ Duke Carolinas charges in Charlotte. Meanwhile the solar resource barely moves between the two cities — 1,424 kWh per kW of unshaded south-facing capacity in Raleigh against 1,431 in Charlotte, a gap of half a percent. So when Raleigh’s solar math comes out ahead of Charlotte’s, understand why: it is not better sun, it is a more expensive utility. The boundary between the two Dukes, not the weather, is what separates their paybacks.
Both cities live under the same statewide export rule, and it deserves a clear-eyed read. North Carolina’s Residential Solar Choice (RSC) framework, effective October 1, 2023, is net billing: exports are credited below the retail rate rather than at par. Every kilowatt-hour you consume the moment it is generated offsets the full 15.54¢; every one you export earns less. That makes Raleigh a self-consumption market — shift daytime loads under the array, size the system to your daytime usage rather than your annual bill, and treat exports as a bonus rather than the plan. Raleigh’s higher retail rate actually sharpens this logic: at best-case self-consumption each installed kilowatt displaces roughly $221 of retail electricity a year, more than the same panel earns in Charlotte.
Uptake is broadly similar across the two Dukes. Progress reported 24,149 residential net-metering customers and 179.893 MW for 2024 — about one home in fifty-six in its territory, averaging roughly 7.4 kW per system.
On incentives, the slate is thin. The federal §25D residential credit is $0 for cash and loan purchases in 2026 — it expired December 31, 2025 — with 30% remaining only on leases and PPAs via the §48E business credit, claimed by the system owner, not you. North Carolina’s state residential solar credit is expired. The state does maintain a full property-tax exemption on the added value. The genuinely favorable number is cost: North Carolina’s EnergySage marketplace average of $2.35/W before incentives is among the lowest in the country, and cheap installation plus a 15.54¢ retail rate is what carries the Raleigh case under net billing.
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.
Raleigh against the rest of North Carolina
Two North Carolina cities have their own modeled figures, and they are only 0.5% apart — Raleigh at 1,424 kWh per kW against Charlotte at 1,431, which is a remarkably narrow gap by the standards of this dataset. The rate, the export rule and the $2.35/W installed cost are identical for both; only production moves.
| Location | kWh per kW per year | 8 kW output | Annual value | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | 1,431 | 10,303 kWh | $906 | 20.7 yrs |
| Raleigh (this page) | 1,424 | 10,253 kWh | $902 | 20.8 yrs |
| North Carolina state average | 1,375 | 9,900 kWh | $870 | 21.4 yrs |
Against the state figure, Raleigh runs 3.6% above North Carolina’s 1,375 kWh per kW — a payback 1.1 years shorter than the statewide 21.4-year estimate on the same hardware at the same price.
An 8 kW system in Raleigh, priced out
| Metric | Estimate for Raleigh | North Carolina statewide |
|---|---|---|
| Production, unshaded 20° south | 1,424 kWh per kW/yr | 1,375 kWh per kW/yr |
| 8 kW output after a 10% roof derate | ~10,253 kWh/yr | ~9,900 kWh/yr |
| Average residential rate | 15.2¢/kWh (EIA) | 15.2¢/kWh |
| Installed cost, 8 kW | ~$18,800 at $2.35/watt | ~$18,800 |
| 2026 federal credit | $0 | $0 |
| Export rule | Net billing — exports credited below retail | Net billing — exports credited below retail |
| Export credit modeled | 4.55¢/kWh | 4.55¢/kWh |
| Annual value of that output | ~$902 | ~$870 |
| Rough payback (your utility) | 20.3 years | 21.4 years (state-average model) |
| 25-year net position | $4,280 | — |
Only the first two rows differ. Everything financial — rate, tariff, price per watt — is inherited from North Carolina 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 Raleigh array would produce, with rates rising at 2.5% a year, comes to roughly $53,081.
Solar aside, the EV vs. gas cost calculator runs Raleigh’s 15.2¢/kWh rate against what a gas car costs to fill instead.
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.
Raleigh against the rest of North Carolina
Same rate, same export rule, same installed price per watt — only the sunshine changes:
| City | kWh per kW | Payback |
|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | 1,431 | 20.7 years |
| Raleigh | 1,424 | 20.8 years |
A 0.5% production span across one state is the reason a single statewide number is only ever a starting point.
What North Carolina pays Raleigh for exported power
North Carolina does not credit exports at the retail rate, and that rule reaches Raleigh unchanged. The program is Residential Solar Choice (RSC) , in force since 2023-10-01, crediting surplus power at an assumed 4.5¢/kWh, about 30% of retail, because no per-kWh figure is published against a retail rate of 15.2¢.
Because a typical home uses only about 40% of its generation as it is produced, most of what a Raleigh array makes is sold at that lower rate. That is why the payback above is 20.3 years and not the 11.9 years the same hardware would return under full-retail net metering. Raising self-consumption is the lever that closes the gap.
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 1,424 kWh per kW figure for Raleigh is a modeled location point, not an interpolation from the North Carolina 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 North Carolina’s residential average; EIA does not publish a Raleigh figure, so the state rate is used and labeled as such.
- Export rules: Residential Solar Choice (RSC) , from our North Carolina 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 Raleigh in 2026?
About $18,800 for a typical 8 kW system at $2.35 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 North Carolina 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 Raleigh?
Roughly 20.3 years on this model, using Raleigh’s own production figure of 1,424 kWh per kW and its own utility tariff (15.54¢/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 Raleigh better or worse for solar than the rest of North Carolina?
Against the state figure, Raleigh runs 3.6% above North Carolina’s 1,375 kWh per kW — a payback 1.1 years shorter than the statewide 21.4-year estimate on the same hardware at the same price.
Is solar worth it in Raleigh in 2026?
At 15.16¢/kWh and 1,424 kWh per kW, an 8 kW system in Raleigh pays back in about 20.8 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 North Carolina
- Solar panel cost in North Carolina — The statewide picture: North Carolina’s rate, incentives, export rules and the 1,375 kWh per kW average this page corrects.
- Solar panel cost in Charlotte — 1,431 kWh per kW and a 20.7-year payback — better than Raleigh on identical hardware.
- Solar panel cost in Savannah — 1,420 kWh per kW in Georgia — the closest production match to Raleigh in our data.
- Solar panel cost in Bend — 1,418 kWh per kW in Oregon — the closest production match to Raleigh in our data.
- All city solar figures — The 66 US cities with their own modeled production data, and the spreads between them.