In North Carolina, your utility and the calendar month decide what solar is worth. On Duke Energy’s Bridge plan, power you send out first cancels power you buy that same month at full price, and only the month-end leftover earns 4.53 cents per kWh. A typical owned system on Duke Energy Carolinas’ Bridge plan pays back in about 28.5 years before incentives, or 24.3 to 33.1 years depending on how much power is left over at month end, so on many homes it does not pay for itself within the 25 years panels usually last.
Simple payback before incentives, Duke Energy Carolinas BridgeAbout 28.5 years
55% to 28% used at home24.3 to 33.1 years
Typical owned 9.76 kW system at $26,938 cash (EcoGen Solar Cost Index, September 2026), Duke Energy Carolinas, Bridge plan, no battery, Duke’s solar charge counted, no upkeep. Duke’s own price less its customer charge; 60% of output left over at month end at 4.53 cents per kWh, a modeled share. See the math.
- Utility: Duke, Dominion, a co-op or a city utility. Each credits extra power its own way.
- System size: matched to your monthly use, not to the whole roof, so little is left over at month end.
- Bridge date: Duke takes new Bridge requests until December 31, 2026, while that year’s room lasts.
2026 rules: new home systems get no 30% federal homeowner credit (IRS). New Duke solar homes since October 1, 2023 choose the Net Metering Bridge or Residential Solar Choice, and the Bridge takes new requests only until December 31, 2026.
How we checked this guide
Credits and charges come from Duke’s North Carolina riders, the N.C. Public Staff, utility rate sheets and state law; the electricity price from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The example is the EcoGen Solar Cost Index typical North Carolina home. 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.
Where North Carolina solar works, and where it stalls
North Carolina has no state rebate and no state solar tax credit. What changes the payback is the utility on your bill, its plan, and how much power is left over at the end of each month. Read each row across.
Your utility
Worth a closer look
Duke on the Bridge plan, or Dominion, where extra kWh roll over.
Pause and check
A co-op or city utility that pays a few cents per exported kWh.
Check next: the utility and export credit named on the quote.
System size
Worth a closer look
Output close to your monthly use, so exports cancel your own purchases.
Pause and check
A roof-filling design that leaves leftover kWh every sunny month at 4.53 cents per kWh.
Check next: 12 months of bills next to the quote’s month-by-month production.
Billing plan and timing
Worth a closer look
Your request is filed before December 31, 2026, while the Bridge has room.
Pause and check
The quote assumes the Bridge but names no filing date.
Check next: the plan name, Bridge or Solar Choice, and the filing date in writing.
Price and time in home
Worth a closer look
A cash price near the Index’s $26,938 for 9.76 kW ($2.76 per watt), and plans to stay well past payback.
Pause and check
A loan with a dealer fee, an old roof, or a move within a few years.
Check next: the cash price next to the financed price, the roof’s age and your moving date.
One Duke home: how much is left at month end
Simple payback is net cost divided by yearly savings. A kWh (kilowatt-hour) is the unit your bill counts. Here is the typical system on Duke Energy Carolinas’ Bridge plan, from our per-utility figures.
- Cash price
- $26,938
- Confirmed incentives
- $0
- Year-one production
- 13,732 kWh
- Used at home or netted / left over
- 40% / 60%
- Duke price, less its $14 customer charge
- $0.12513/kWh
- Month-end credit
- $0.0453/kWh
- Duke solar charge (no upkeep counted)
- $116/yr
- Used-at-home value
13,732 × 40% × $0.12513$687/yr - Leftover value
13,732 × 60% × $0.0453$373/yr - Yearly savings after the solar charge
$687.33 + $373.24 − $115.95$945/yr - Simple payback before incentives
$26,938 ÷ $945about 28.5 years
Inputs: the EcoGen Solar Cost Index typical North Carolina system (9.76 kW, $26,938 cash, September 2026), with 1,407 kWh per kW a year in our payback figures. No battery, so no PowerPair. Power used at home or netted in the month is valued at 12.513¢: Duke Energy Carolinas’ 13.936¢ EIA price for the 12 months to July 2026, less its $14 monthly customer charge. Too few of its solar homes are in the reported data, so the 60% left over at month end is a modeled share, credited at 4.53 cents. The only yearly cost is Duke’s solar charge ($0.99 per kW x 9.76 kW = $9.66 a month, about $116 a year); no upkeep or price rises are counted. If Duke Energy Carolinas’ $22 minimum bill applies every month, payback is 31.7 years.
Now change only how much is left over at month end. The share is modeled, so we show the span of the measured studies: 55% to 28% used at home or netted in the month.
| Scenario | Month-end credit | Leftover value | Yearly savings | Simple payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55% used at home or netted | $0.0453/kWh | $280 | $1,109 | about 24.3 years |
| 40% used at home or netted | $0.0453/kWh | $373 | $945 | about 28.5 years |
| 28% used at home or netted | $0.0453/kWh | $448 | $813 | about 33.1 years |
Leftover piles up in mild, sunny spring and fall months; air conditioning and heating use it up in summer and winter. A system sized to your own use stays near the faster end. On Residential Solar Choice, our figure values every kWh at Duke’s 13.94¢ average price, so it pays back in at least 15.0 years; netting by price period makes a real home take longer.
Try your own North Carolina numbers
The tool starts with the Bridge case above. Enter your own quote and press Calculate. Raise the share used at home to see what a system sized to your use saves. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
Example result
about 28.5 years
simple payback before incentives
- Used-at-home value
- $687/yr
- Export value
- $373/yr
- Owner costs
- −$116/yr
- Yearly savings
- $945/yr
- Net cost
- $26,938
Starts with the Bridge case above, with Duke’s solar charge as the yearly cost. Flat first-year values; rates, panel wear and repairs will change the result. No battery is included.
What Duke really pays for the power you send out
Solar power you use at home saves the full price. Power you send to the grid is an export, and the export credit is what your utility gives you for it. At Duke that works in two steps. First, exports cancel power you buy in the same month, kWh for kWh: on a standard price plan, the N.C. Public Staff explains, the meter runs backward. Second, what is left when the month closes earns 4.53 cents per kWh in Duke Energy Carolinas or 3.94 cents per kWh in Duke Energy Progress. That credit keeps reducing later bills, with no yearly reset.
Used at home or netted in the month: 5,493 kWh. Each one replaces power you would have bought, so it saves Duke’s price after its customer charge ($0.12513 here).
Left over at month end: 8,239 kWh. These earn Duke’s month-end credit ($0.0453 here), far below the price you pay.
How much is left over decides the result, which is why we show the range. Our typical system makes about 13,732 kWh in year one; compare that with your own yearly use.
Bridge, Solar Choice, or another utility
The Net Metering Bridge keeps one price at every hour, and a home keeps it for up to 15 years. Residential Solar Choice is a time-of-use plan where busy hours cost more, so midday exports mostly cancel cheaper kWh. Both add a solar charge and a minimum bill: $0.99 per kW of panel size ($9.66 on our example) and $22 at Duke Energy Carolinas, $1.16 per kW and $28 at Duke Energy Progress.
Dominion Energy North Carolina rolls extra kWh over, then resets unused credit to zero, unpaid, each summer billing season. For a system sized to your use, our per-utility figure puts a Dominion home at about 16.1 years before incentives. EnergyUnited pays 5.058 cents per kWh for every kWh sent out; Fayetteville PWC pays 4.43 cents per kWh with no carry-over. Where exports earn a few cents, size the system to your daytime use.
Get quotes built on your monthly bills
A North Carolina quote should start from 12 months of your bills and show what month-end leftover earns.
Solar providers that serve your area may contact you, and they pay EcoGen for the introduction. How we make money.
Two Duke clocks running out in 2026
The Bridge closes to new requests on December 31, 2026. Its yearly limit can fill sooner, and then new Duke solar homes go on Solar Choice. Get the filing date and the plan name in the contract.
Older Duke solar homes move too. Homes that applied before October 1, 2023 keep the old plan only until December 31, 2026, then move to the Bridge.
PowerPair is the only cash rebate, and it needs a battery. Duke pays up to $9,000 for new panels with a home battery. On September 24, 2026, Duke Energy Carolinas had less than a tenth of its room left, only for homes on Solar Choice, and Duke Energy Progress was full with a waitlist. PowerPair homes keep their plan for 24 months and sign a 10 years contract. Our example leaves the battery out.
Six lines a North Carolina quote should show
Lay two or three quotes side by side. Skip any that cannot show these.
- Utility and billing plan. Duke Bridge, Duke Solar Choice, Dominion, a co-op or a city utility, named on the quote.
- Month-by-month production. Expected kWh for each month, set against 12 months of your bills.
- Month-end leftover. How many kWh the quote expects to be left over, and the 4.53 cents per kWh or 3.94 cents per kWh credit used for them.
- Duke’s monthly charges. The $0.99 per kW solar charge and $22 minimum bill, counted in the savings.
- Filing date. When the interconnection request goes in, and whether the Bridge still has room.
- PowerPair, only if confirmed. Any PowerPair money in the price confirmed by Duke in writing. Cash and financed prices side by side.
Compare North Carolina solar quotes
Ask each installer which billing plan the quote assumes and how much power it expects to be left over. 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. This is not an application to Duke Energy PowerPair.
Keep reading about North Carolina solar
- North Carolina solar guide: utilities, incentives and installers in one place
- North Carolina solar companies: compare local installers before you request quotes
- North Carolina solar incentives: PowerPair, Duke plans and the property tax break
- What solar costs in North Carolina
- Free solar panels in North Carolina: what a zero-down offer really is
- Are solar panels worth it? The national guide and payback calculator
All 51 state guides
North Carolina homeowner questions
Are solar panels worth it in North Carolina in 2026?
They can be, if you plan to stay. In our per-utility figures a typical owned system on Duke Energy Carolinas’ Bridge plan pays back in about 28.5 years before incentives, or 24.3 years if 55% of its power is used at home or netted in the month. A Dominion home pays back in about 16.1 years. Your utility, use and system size decide where you land.
What is Duke’s Net Excess Energy Credit in 2026?
Duke Energy Carolinas pays 4.53 cents per kWh and Duke Energy Progress pays 3.94 cents per kWh for power left over at the end of the month. It does not apply to every kWh you send out. Exports first cancel power you buy in the same month, so only the leftover gets this small credit. The credit keeps reducing later bills, with no yearly reset.
Is PowerPair still available in North Carolina?
Barely. Duke’s count of September 24, 2026 showed Duke Energy Carolinas with less than a tenth of its room left, only on Solar Choice, and Duke Energy Progress full, with a waitlist. PowerPair pays up to $9,000, and only for new panels with a battery. Check Duke’s page for today’s room before you sign.
Will solar raise my property tax in North Carolina?
Only a little, if you apply. State law leaves 80% of a solar electric system’s appraised value out of your property tax. It is not automatic: you file Form AV-10 once with your county assessor, during the listing period that runs through January 31 unless your county extends it.
Can my HOA block solar panels in North Carolina?
Not fully. State law (G.S. 22B-20) voids deed rules that ban solar on a home. An association may still bar panels that can be seen from the ground on the side of the house that faces a street or a shared area. Ask for the rules in writing.
Should I wait for a new federal tax credit or a cheaper system?
Waiting is a gamble. The federal homeowner credit ended for systems installed after December 31, 2025, and North Carolina’s own credit ended for systems switched on from January 1, 2016. In Duke territory, waiting has its own cost: new Bridge requests close on December 31, 2026.
Sources, method and corrections
The example is our per-utility payback of October 19, 2026 for Duke Energy Carolinas’ Bridge plan, simple payback before incentives, with no battery: the EcoGen Solar Cost Index typical North Carolina system (September 2026), Duke’s EIA 12-month price less its $14 customer charge for power used at home or netted, 4.53 cents for power left over at month end, and Duke’s solar charge as the only yearly cost, with no upkeep or price rises. Too few of its solar homes are in the reported data, so the share left over is modeled: 60% in the central case, with 55% to 28% used at home giving 24.3 to 33.1 years. The Solar Choice and Dominion figures come from the same file. Simple payback uses flat first-year values. The calculator runs in your browser and sends nothing.
Spotted an error? Tell us through our corrections and feedback process.
- N.C. Public Staff: Net metering in North Carolina (Bridge and Solar Choice rules; read October 5, 2026)
- Duke Energy Carolinas: Rider RSC (month-end credit, solar charge, minimum bill)
- Duke Energy Progress: Rider RSC, Fourth Revised Leaf No. 670 (same items for Duke Energy Progress)
- Duke Energy: Net Metering Bridge Rider NMB (closing date for new requests)
- Duke Energy: PowerPair (rebate and capacity table)
- N.C. General Statutes 105-275(45) (solar property tax exclusion)
- N.C. General Statutes 22B-20 (solar rights and HOAs)
- EnergyUnited: 2026 avoided cost rate (co-op export credit)
- Fayetteville PWC: buy-back rider (city utility export credit)
- U.S. EIA: residential electricity price by state (12-month average used in the Cost Index)
- IRS: Residential Clean Energy Credit (ended after 2025)
- EcoGen Solar Cost Index, September 2026: North Carolina (system size, price, output)
