Is solar worth it in Virginia?

Short answer: in 2025 prices, a typical homeowner-owned system in Virginia pays for itself in roughly 10 to 14 years depending on the utility, and then keeps offsetting the energy part of the bill for the rest of a 25-year warranty period (the fixed customer charge stays). That is without the federal tax credit, which ended for homeowner-owned systems after 2025. Whether that is "worth it" is a question about your time horizon and your view of where electricity prices go. The table below is the data; the judgment is yours.

Payback by utility, 2025

Each row is an average home at that utility: its own average monthly usage and its own average residential price, both from the utility's EIA filing. The system is sized to offset that usage on a median Virginia roof (1,389 kWh per kW per year). Cost is $2.75 per watt installed, energy rates grow 3% a year, fixed charges of $15 a month stay, SRECs at $30 for 10 years. Dollars are nominal, not discounted.

Sources: EIA-861 (2025, early release where marked on utility pages), NREL PVWatts v8. Assumptions on the methodology page. This table rebuilds itself when EIA publishes new data.

What moves the number

Your rate. The spread between NOVEC at 11.6¢ and APCo at 17.2¢ is the single biggest factor on this page. Same panels, same sun, years of difference in payback. Find your utility on the rate tracker.

Where rates go next. Virginia's statewide residential price was 17.55¢ in July 2026, +11.2% from a year earlier. The table assumes 3% a year going forward. Set the slider in the calculator to 0% and the paybacks stretch; set it to what the last few years actually did and they shrink. Solar is, bluntly, a hedge against that slider.

Your roof. East-west roofs and shade reduce production and lengthen payback. Ground mounts and unshaded south roofs do the opposite. See roof direction, tilt and shade.

Price paid. Every $0.25 per watt is about 9% of the system cost at these defaults. Get more than one quote and compare on $/W; Virtue Solar's cost guide and its guide to comparing quotes are good checklists.

What is not in the table. Batteries (a backup purchase, not a payback purchase in Virginia's 1:1 net metering), financing interest, inverter replacement around year 12 to 15, the resale value of a home with paid-off solar, and the possibility that net metering rules change for new customers in the future. Existing customers have historically been grandfathered.

So, worth it?

• If you plan to stay in the house ten years or more and have a reasonably sunny roof at APCo, CVEC or similar prices: the arithmetic is solidly in favor.
• If you are at a lower-priced co-op or municipal utility, or your roof faces the wrong way: it can still pencil out, but it is a longer bet on rate increases. Run the calculator honestly.
• If you want backup power first: price the battery as resilience, not as an investment, and let the panels carry the economics.