How Much Can You Save With Solar?
Enter your details below. We calculate your exact savings using real 2026 federal and state incentive data — no email gates, no contact forms, no installer leads. Results in seconds.
How We Calculate Your Savings
We start with your monthly electric bill and convert it to annual kilowatt-hour usage using your state's average residential electricity rate. From there, we compute the system size required to offset your usage given your state's peak sun hours, applying an industry-standard 80% derate factor for inverter losses, wiring, soiling, and temperature.
Gross installed cost uses your state's average $/watt — typically $2.65 to $3.85 — multiplied by system wattage. The federal residential credit is $0. We then subtract your state income tax credit (if any), capped where applicable, and the five-year value of SREC income in states with active markets.
Year-over-year savings model 3% annual electricity rate inflation and 0.5% panel degradation, summed across 25 years and discounted only by the up-front net cost. Payback is the year cumulative savings exceed your net out-of-pocket cost.
What Affects Your Solar Savings
The single biggest variable. Hawaii pays $0.40+/kWh, Washington pays $0.10. Higher rates mean faster payback and larger lifetime savings.
Peak sun hours per day vary from 3.2 (Alaska) to 6.5 (Arizona). More sun means a smaller, cheaper system produces the same energy.
Retail-rate net metering effectively turns your grid into a free battery. Avoided-cost credit is much less valuable.
State tax credits, SREC markets, and property/sales tax exemptions are the incentives this model applies. The federal residential credit is $0 for a 2026 install.