Arkansas solar had a deadline, and it passed: systems connected by September 30, 2024 keep full 1-to-1 net metering until 2040, while new systems earn roughly 4¢ for exports under the avoided-cost successor. That one date split the market in two. EcoGen America explains which side you are on and what still works on the new-rules side.
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Systems interconnected before October 2024 are grandfathered: every exported kilowatt-hour still offsets the bill one-to-one at the retail rate, slightly over 10¢ with Entergy, and those terms hold until 2040. If you own one, you hold a contract worth protecting, and it transfers with the house.
New systems live under different arithmetic. Entergy’s Non-Legacy Net-Metering tariff credits surplus near the utility’s avoided cost, roughly 4¢ and recalculated annually against wholesale power prices. Power you use as you make it still saves full retail; power you export earns pocket change.
Arkansas adds no state credit, no rebate and no exemption, and the federal residential credit ended December 31, 2025. What remains on the new-rules side is honest, narrow math carried by daytime self-consumption and cheap installs.
EcoGen America models your actual usage against the tariff you would actually receive, and connects you with the Arkansas installers whose numbers survive that honesty.
Every installer we list models new systems at the avoided-cost export rate, not the grandfathered rate you cannot get.
Built-in checks for projections quietly using 1:1 crediting, dead-incentive claims, and dealer fees inside financed totals.
Entergy, SWEPCO, OG&E and the co-ops each implement the successor rules their own way. We model the one on your bill.
Your information goes only to the installers you choose to hear from. Nothing is resold.
EcoGen is 100% free for homeowners. We earn a small referral fee from installers only when you choose to proceed with a project through our platform.
This fee comes from the installer’s marketing budget and does not increase your system price. In fact, our pre-negotiated rates often save you money compared to going direct.
Everything about Arkansas solar in 2026 follows from which side of September 30, 2024 a system sits on.
What Changes | Grandfathered Systems | New Systems (2026) |
|---|---|---|
Export crediting | 1:1 at retail, ~10¢+ with Entergy | ~4¢ avoided-cost (NLN-M), reset annually |
How long the terms hold | Until 2040 | Rate recalculated every year with wholesale prices |
What carries the payback | Everything the system produces | Daytime self-consumption only |
At resale | The 2040 lock transfers with the house, a real listing asset | Ordinary equipment value |
Two audiences, two messages. Grandfathered owners: your terms are valuable; do not let an equipment upgrade jeopardize the agreement without tariff advice. New buyers: size to what you consume in daylight, because the export line pays wholesale.
Grandfathered or new-rules? If a system came with your house, find the interconnection date; pre-October 2024 means 1:1 until 2040 and different decisions all around.
New systems earn ~4¢ on exports, so design to your daytime load: work-from-home usage, midday EV charging, electric water heating on timers.
Make the installer show payback with exports at the real NLN-M rate and incentives at zero. What survives is the true number.
Free 15-minute call. We check the date, the tariff and the honest return.
Roughly a decade of Arkansas installations carries the old 1:1 terms to 2040. That contract now deserves the care of any appreciating asset.
Either way, the era of casual Arkansas solar is over; what replaced it rewards owners who read their paperwork.
Arkansas Contract Checks
Post-deadline Arkansas punishes wishful modeling. Make every quote own these four.
New systems earn near-wholesale on exports, roughly 4¢, reset annually. A model crediting retail belongs to 2023.
Oversizing donates surplus at wholesale. The system should map to daylight consumption plus what you can shift there.
No state credit, no rebate, no exemption, no federal residential credit since December 2025. Arkansas quotes citing any are stale.
Cheap installs attract fee-heavy loans. In thin-margin Arkansas, a dealer fee is the difference between workable and not.
Four admissions, any Arkansas quote. Honest installers make them without prompting.
Vetted for licensing, post-deadline modeling honesty, warranties and complaint history.
The new rules narrowed the doorway. These households are on the wrong side of it for now.
Who still clears it: high-daytime-use households, EV owners charging at noon, and buyers of grandfathered homes who understand what they are inheriting. For everyone else, the honest Arkansas answer in 2026 is patience.
Graded under the post-deadline rules, exports at the rate you would actually receive.
15 minutes with an independent advisor. Date check, tariff, honest verdict.
Talk to an Arkansas AdvisorNo obligation. 100% free service.
The 1:1 retail-rate structure closed to new systems on September 30, 2024. Systems connected before then are grandfathered at full retail crediting until 2040; new systems earn roughly 4¢ on exports under avoided-cost successor tariffs like Entergy’s NLN-M, recalculated annually.
That single date now defines the state’s two solar markets.
Find the interconnection date. Pre-October 2024 means the grandfathered agreement, and its 1:1 terms to 2040, transferred with the property.
Document it: for owners it shapes every modification decision, and at resale it is a genuine asset.
Only for the right profile. With exports near wholesale and no incentives, the return runs through daytime self-consumption against roughly 10¢ retail power.
Work-from-home households, midday EV charging and shiftable loads can make cheap Arkansas installs pencil; ordinary usage patterns mostly cannot yet.
More than it used to. Storing surplus that would export at 4¢ to offset evening usage at 10¢-plus is arithmetic that finally works in storage’s favor, before counting outage protection.
Model it honestly: the spread pays for modest storage, not for a whole-home system.