In Arkansas the date on the paperwork matters as much as the sun. Systems filed before September 30, 2024 still get full credit for power they send out. A new system gets 3.34 cents per kWh at Entergy Arkansas, so a typical new system there takes about 22 years to pay for itself, close to the 25 years panels usually last, against about 14 on the old terms. Using more of your solar power at home is what shortens the wait.
Simple payback before incentives, new Entergy Arkansas systemAbout 22.4 years
Arkansas state figure, before incentivesAbout 23.3 years
Typical owned 8.16 kW system at $20,890 cash (EcoGen Solar Cost Index, September 2026), filed after the cutoff. The state figure weights Entergy Arkansas, OG&E and SWEPCO by customers; they run from 22.4 to 27.2 years. On legacy terms the same Entergy Arkansas system would take about 14 years. Our per-utility file of October 19, 2026 uses the export share each utility reports to EIA and counts no upkeep or price rises. See the math.
- Paperwork date: before September 30, 2024 keeps the old terms; anything newer is on the low credit.
- Daytime use: power used at home saves the full price; power sent out earns about a quarter as much.
- Your utility: Entergy Arkansas and SWEPCO post their credits. Co-ops and city utilities set their own.
2026 rules: home systems installed after December 31, 2025 get no federal homeowner credit (IRS). New Arkansas systems earn the utility’s yearly avoided-cost credit for power sent to the grid: 3.34 cents per kWh at Entergy Arkansas since March 1, 2026.
How we checked this guide
Rules come from the Arkansas Public Service Commission, credits and fees from utility tariffs, prices from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Where we assume a number, the page says so.
The writer and checker shown above are EcoGen staff. EcoGen is paid when homeowners request quotes, which is explained beside the quote form. Read our editorial standards.
The date that split Arkansas solar in two
A neighbor’s solar bill may tell you nothing about yours. Act 278 of 2023 changed net metering for new applicants, and the line is the date of the interconnection agreement, the paperwork that connects a system to the grid.
| Paperwork submitted | Power sent to the grid earns | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Before September 30, 2024 (legacy) | One kWh back for each kWh sent out, so about the full price of power | Until June 1, 2040 |
| Since then (non-legacy) | A dollar credit at the utility’s avoided cost: 3.34 cents per kWh at Entergy Arkansas | Reset every March, with no end date |
Avoided cost is what your utility would pay for the same power on the wholesale market, far below what you pay. That door is closed: applying today cannot get you legacy terms, whatever a sales pitch says. The only way in now is to buy a home whose system already has them.
Four things that move a new Arkansas system’s payback
On the new rules the house matters more than the roof. Read each row across.
Paperwork date
Worth a closer look
You buy a home whose solar agreement went in before September 30, 2024, and can prove it.
Pause and check
A seller says a new system can still get the old terms.
Check next: the interconnection agreement and its date, confirmed by the utility.
Daytime use
Worth a closer look
Someone is home in the day, or a pool pump or daytime car charging uses the power.
Pause and check
The house is empty on weekdays, so most of the power goes out at the low credit.
Check next: the home-use share the quote assumed, and why.
System size
Worth a closer look
Sized to the power you use while the sun is up.
Pause and check
Sized to fill the roof, sending much of it out for 3.34 cents per kWh.
Check next: a smaller design priced next to the full one.
Price and financing
Worth a closer look
Near the Index’s $20,890 for 8.16 kW ($2.56 per watt), paid in cash or a low-fee loan.
Pause and check
A dealer-fee loan, or a quote that subtracts a tax credit.
Check next: the cash price next to the financed price, plus APR, fees and term.
The numbers: a new system against the old deal
Simple payback is the years your savings take to cover what you paid: net cost divided by yearly savings. A kWh (kilowatt-hour) is the unit your bill counts. Here is the typical Arkansas system on Entergy Arkansas, filed after the cutoff.
- Cash price
- $20,890
- Confirmed incentives
- $0
- Year-one production
- 11,351 kWh
- Used at home / exported
- 49.5% / 50.5%
- Entergy price, less customer charge
- $0.1318/kWh
- Export credit
- $0.0334/kWh
- Upkeep and price rises
- Not counted
- Used-at-home value
11,351 × 49.5% × $0.1318$741/yr - Export value
11,351 × 50.5% × $0.0334$191/yr - Yearly savings
$741 + $191$932/yr - Simple payback before incentives
$20,890 ÷ $932about 22.4 years
Inputs: the EcoGen Solar Cost Index typical Arkansas system (8.16 kW, $20,890 cash, September 2026; 1,391 kWh per kW a year, so about 11,351 kWh in year one); no rebate or tax credit. Exports earn the Entergy Arkansas credit of 3.34 cents per kWh for March 2026 through February 2027. Power used at home is valued at 13.18 cents: Entergy Arkansas’s 12-month EIA average of 13.98 cents, less its $8.40 monthly customer charge spread over the average home’s 12,634 kWh a year. The 50.5% export share is what Entergy Arkansas reports to EIA, not a share measured at the meter. No upkeep and no price rises are counted.
Now give the same system legacy terms, so each kWh sent out counts at the same 13.18 cents as power used at home. This is roughly what a pre-cutoff neighbor sees.
| Scenario | Export credit | Export value | Yearly savings | Simple payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filed after the cutoff | $0.0334/kWh | $191 | $932 | about 22.4 years |
| Legacy one-for-one | $0.1318/kWh | $756 | $1,497 | about 14.0 years |
What you can change is how much power you use at home. Each kWh you use as it is made saves about 13.18 cents at Entergy Arkansas; each kWh sent out earns 3.34 cents. So moving use into daylight, as in a home where someone is in during the day, is what shortens the payback.
Run your own Arkansas numbers
Enter your quote’s price, yearly kWh and your utility’s credit, then press Calculate. For legacy terms, set the export credit to your price per kWh. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
Example result
about 22.4 years
simple cash payback
- Used-at-home value
- $741/yr
- Export value
- $191/yr
- Owner costs
- $0/yr
- Yearly savings
- $932/yr
- Net cost
- $20,890
Starts with a new Entergy Arkansas system, with no upkeep counted. Use your own utility’s credit. Flat first-year values; rates, panel wear and repairs will change the result.
A credit that resets every March, up or down
Each utility files a new avoided cost by February 1, from the prior year’s wholesale prices, and it applies from March for a year. At Entergy Arkansas it was 2.59 cents per kWh, then 2.47 cents per kWh, and now 3.34 cents per kWh for March 2026 through February 2027. The next change is due in March 2027.
Used at home: 5,618 kWh. Each one replaces power you would have bought, so it saves the price per kWh ($0.1318 here).
Sent to the grid: 5,733 kWh. These earn whatever your utility pays for exports ($0.0334 here). That can be far less.
The 49.5/50.5 split is the share Entergy Arkansas reports to EIA, not a share measured at your meter. Entergy Arkansas homes paid about 13 cents per kWh on average in 2024 (EIA), so a kWh sent out earns about a quarter as much as one bought. The credit carries forward on your bill, with no year-end payout or expiry, but cannot pay the fixed customer charge.
So panels past your daytime use mostly earn the low credit, and a quote sized to fill the roof can work against you. Daytime car charging or a battery (priced on its own) helps more. Under the tariff you also keep the renewable energy credits your system creates; do not sign them away for nothing.
Find out which Arkansas credit sets your number
Your utility sets the export credit. A good Arkansas quote names it and the year it applies to.
Solar providers that serve your area may contact you, and they pay EcoGen for the introduction. How we make money.
Not on Entergy Arkansas? Get your own number
Entergy Arkansas serves about 4 in 10 Arkansas homes (EIA, 2024), co-ops about 1 in 3, city utilities about 1 in 8. Entergy Arkansas and SWEPCO print their current credits. Our per-utility file gives simple paybacks before incentives of 26.8 years at OG&E and 27.2 years at SWEPCO. For co-ops, at the 2.89-cent credit their supplier last posted (March 2025): Ozarks 23.3, Arkansas Valley 24.5, Carroll 25.4, First Electric 27.3 and North Arkansas 30.4 years. We have not confirmed co-op terms for new customers, so co-ops stay out of the state figure. City utilities and Liberty (Empire District) are not modeled.
| Utility | Credit for power sent out | One-time fee | Ask before you sign |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entergy Arkansas | 3.34 cents per kWh, for March 2026 through February 2027 | $196.75 | Study or grid-work costs. |
| First Electric Co-op | Its supplier’s avoided cost: 2.89 cents per kWh last posted, from March 1, 2025 | $320 | Its minimum bill with solar, $31 plus taxes. |
| SWEPCO | 3.656 cents per kWh, for March 2026 through February 2027 | $175 | Leftover dollars carry to the next bill. |
| Other co-ops, OG&E | Their own filed figures; not confirmed | Ask the utility | This year’s figure, in writing. |
| City utilities | Set by the city | Ask the city | Any lower size limit. |
Six lines to find on an Arkansas solar quote
If a quote cannot show these, its payback cannot be checked. If it uses a neighbor’s savings as proof, ask when that neighbor filed.
- Your utility and its credit. This year’s export credit and the months it covers.
- A lower-credit version. The same design at last year’s 2.47 cents per kWh.
- Home-use share. The share of solar power assumed used at home, and why.
- Size against your use. kW and year-one kWh, within 25 kW and your highest month of use.
- Fees and taxes. The connection fee ($196.75 at Entergy) and whether sales tax is included.
- No tax credit subtracted. Arkansas has none; the federal one ended after December 31, 2025.
Compare Arkansas solar quotes
Ask each installer for your utility’s credit this year and a system sized to your daytime use. Enter your ZIP code to request quotes from solar providers that serve your area.
How EcoGen is paid
EcoGen America does not sell or install solar. When you request quotes, we pass your request to solar providers serving your area, and they pay us for the introduction. Providers can include installers, solar marketplaces and lead exchanges, and more than one may contact you. You never pay us.
More Arkansas solar guides
- Arkansas solar guide: utilities, incentives and installers in one place
- Arkansas solar companies: compare local installers before you request quotes
- Arkansas solar incentives: the bill credit and the March reset
- What solar costs in Arkansas
- Free solar panels in Arkansas: what a zero-down offer means
- Are solar panels worth it? The national guide and payback calculator
All 51 state guides
Arkansas solar questions
Are solar panels worth it in Arkansas?
It depends on how much power you use at home in the day. A new owned system on Entergy Arkansas takes about 22.4 years, simple payback before incentives, with about half its power used at home. That is inside the 25 years panels usually last, but not by much, and our state figure is 23.3 years. The more of your solar power you use as it is made, the sooner you get your money back.
Did Arkansas end net metering?
For new systems, the one-for-one kind ended. Act 278 of 2023 moved anyone whose paperwork went in after September 30, 2024 onto a new deal: you pay the normal price for power you take from the grid, and power you send out earns the utility’s avoided cost. Older systems keep one-for-one terms until June 1, 2040.
Will the Arkansas export credit keep rising?
Nobody knows. It is reset each March from the prior year’s wholesale prices: at Entergy Arkansas, 2.59 cents per kWh, then 2.47 cents per kWh, now 3.34 cents per kWh. A drop back to 2.47 cents per kWh would make the payback longer, so ask for that version too.
How big should my Arkansas solar system be?
Size it to the power your home uses while the sun is up. Extra power sent out earns about a quarter of what Entergy Arkansas homes pay. The rules also cap home systems at 25 kW, and at what covers 100% of your highest monthly use in the past 12 months.
Are there Arkansas solar incentives?
Not in cash. Form AR1000TC for 2025 lists no state tax credit for home solar, and we found no statewide rebate. The federal homeowner credit ended for systems installed after December 31, 2025. What you do keep under the tariff are the renewable energy credits your system makes.
What if I buy a house that already has solar?
Ask for the interconnection agreement and its date. If it went in before September 30, 2024, legacy terms stay with the system at that address until June 1, 2040, and the agreement can be transferred to you. Moving the panels, or adding a lot of capacity, can end those terms.
Sources, method and corrections
The example uses the EcoGen Solar Cost Index typical Arkansas system (September 2026) and Entergy Arkansas’s row in our per-utility payback file of October 19, 2026: its EIA 12-month price less its customer charge, the 3.34-cent credit, and the export share it reports to EIA. No upkeep and no price rises are counted. The legacy case credits every kWh at the same 13.18 cents, a stand-in for one-for-one netting. Simple payback uses flat first-year values. The calculator runs in your browser and sends nothing.
Updated October 19, 2026: paybacks now come from our per-utility file (export share reported to EIA, customer charge taken out of the price, no upkeep), replacing the 40% home-use and $30 per kW upkeep assumptions. Earlier: size, price and electricity price from the September 2026 Index; the cutoff now reads “before September 30, 2024”, as in the state rules.
Spotted an error? Tell us through our corrections and feedback process.
- Entergy Arkansas: Rate Schedule No. 71, Non-Legacy Net-Metering Service, Attachment A (credits, fee, renewable energy credits; checked October 5, 2026)
- Arkansas Public Service Commission: Net-Metering Rules, 23 CAR Part 457 (cutoff, legacy terms, yearly reset; checked October 5, 2026)
- First Electric Cooperative: Net Metering Service (co-op fee)
- First Electric Cooperative: Facts About Solar (minimum bill)
- SWEPCO: Arkansas Rate Schedule 58, Non-Legacy Net-Metering, Sheet R-58.3 (credit and fee; checked October 19, 2026)
- Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation: Average Avoided Cost Rate Bulletin No. 1 (co-op credit, effective March 1, 2025; checked October 19, 2026)
- U.S. EIA: Form EIA-861, 2024 data (utility shares, Entergy average price)
- U.S. EIA: average residential electricity price by state (12-month average used in the Cost Index)
- Arkansas DFA: AR1000TC 2025, individual income tax credits (no home solar credit)
- IRS: Residential Clean Energy Credit
- EcoGen Solar Cost Index, September 2026: what solar costs in Arkansas (typical system)
