Solar by state
Solar in Alaska, by the numbers
Utilities and their rates, adoption, ten years of growth, batteries, ownership, state rules and installer licensing in Alaska, from federal 2024 data.
Alaska in brief
0.91% of Alaska homes had rooftop solar in 2024, the 17th-lowest of 51 (3.55% nationally). Power cost 24.82¢/kWh, above the national 16.48¢, and the average system was 5.24 kW. Chugach Electric Association serves 32.5% of homes.
Where does Alaska stand out?
The four measures, beyond price and adoption, on which Alaska sits furthest from the middle of the ranking.
Alaska solar in numbers, 2024
Every Alaska figure next to the national one, with its place in the ranking (highest first, out of the jurisdictions reporting it).
| Measure | Alaska | United States | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes with a metered rooftop system | 0.91% | 3.55% | 17th-lowest of 51 |
| Rooftop systems counted | 2,706 | 5,077,543 | 6th-lowest of 51 |
| Average system size | 5.24 kW | 6.74 kW | 2nd-lowest of 51 |
| Residential price | 24.82¢/kWh | 16.48¢/kWh | 6th-highest of 51 |
| Average monthly bill | $143.54 | $142.26 | 19th-highest of 51 |
| Use per home | 6,939 kWh/yr | 10,359 kWh/yr | 8th-lowest of 51 |
| Systems with a battery | Not reported | 5.86% | No figure |
| Leased or on a PPA | Not reported | 29.1% | No figure |
| Growth in systems, five years | 22.9% a year | — | 22nd-lowest of 51 |
| Minutes without power per customer | 323 | 297 (median state) | 24th-highest of 51 |
| Homes on a time-varying rate | 0.02% | 11.1% | 3rd-lowest of 51 |
| Installed rooftop capacity | 14.2 MW | 34,226 MW | — |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861, 2024 final release, retrieved 2 September 2026. The Alaska ratios and ranks are HyreSolar calculations from EIA inputs.
Which utility serves Alaska, and what does it charge?
The 8 largest utilities selling to Alaska homes, by residential customers, with the price full-service customers paid and how many run net-metered solar.
| Utility | Type | Homes served | Price per kWh | Use per home, monthly | Net-metered systems |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chugach Electric Association | Co-op | 97,048 (32.5%) | 21.24¢ | 507 kWh | 922 (0.95%) |
| Matanuska Electric Association | Co-op | 64,205 (21.5%) | 23.37¢ | 606 kWh | 453 (0.71%) |
| Golden Valley Electric Association | Co-op | 40,675 (13.6%) | 30.32¢ | 591 kWh | 814 (2.0%) |
| Homer Electric Association | Co-op | 29,721 (10.0%) | 29.79¢ | 497 kWh | 514 (1.7%) |
| Alaska Electric Light & Power Company | Investor-owned | 15,407 (5.2%) | 12.93¢ | 923 kWh | None reported |
| Alaska Village Electric Co-op | Co-op | 7,689 (2.6%) | 69.95¢ | 475 kWh | None reported |
| Ketchikan Public Utilities | Municipal | 6,561 (2.2%) | 12.48¢ | 991 kWh | None reported |
| Alaska Power and Telephone Company | Investor-owned | 5,737 (1.9%) | 37.18¢ | 406 kWh | 3 (0.05%) |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861 2024, Sales to Ultimate Customers and Net Metering, utility level, retrieved 5 October 2026. Shares are of 298,397 Alaska residential accounts. Each Alaska price is residential revenue divided by sales for full-service customers (HyreSolar calculation); a wires company’s price is its default-service price.
What do the Alaska utility figures mean for a solar quote?
EIA-861 lists 10 utilities serving homes in Alaska in 2024, across 298,397 residential accounts. The three largest, Chugach Electric Association, Matanuska Electric Association and Golden Valley Electric Association, served 67.7% of those homes. By ownership: electric cooperatives 82.2%, small utilities EIA counts as a group 8.5%, investor-owned utilities 7.1% and municipal utilities 2.2%.
All 298,397 Alaska residential accounts bought energy from the utility that delivers it; EIA counted none on a competitive supplier. So a Alaska utility’s own tariff sets both the price you avoid and the credit for what you export.
Chugach Electric Association, the largest, served 97,048 Alaska homes (32.5%). Its full-service residential customers paid 21.24¢ per kWh, below the Alaska average of 24.82¢, and used 507 kWh a month on average. 922 of its customers ran net-metered rooftop solar, 0.95% of its homes against 0.91% statewide.
Among the 8 Alaska utilities with at least 5,000 residential customers and a full-service price, the price ran from 12.48¢ at Ketchikan Public Utilities to 69.95¢ at Alaska Village Electric Co-op. At the Alaska average of 6,939 kWh a year, that 57.47¢ gap is worth about $3,988 a year (our arithmetic), so the same system offsets more money in one territory than the other.
Price a quote on your own utility’s rate, not the 24.82¢ Alaska average.
Rooftop solar is concentrated: Chugach Electric Association alone accounts for 922 net-metered residential systems, about 34% of the 2,706 counted in Alaska, and 5 Alaska utilities reported any at all. The highest adoption among the larger utilities was at Golden Valley Electric Association, where 2.0% of homes had a system.
What does power cost in Alaska, and why does it matter?
Residential electricity in Alaska averaged 24.82¢ per kilowatt-hour in 2024, the 6th-highest of 51 and above the national 16.48¢. That is one of the highest residential prices in the country.
Each kilowatt-hour a system covers on site is one not bought at that price, so self-consumption carries more value in Alaska than in all but a handful of states.
The average Alaska household bill was $143.54 a month ($1,722 a year), the 19th-highest of 51, against $142.26 nationally. That $1,722 is the ceiling on what solar could save a typical Alaska home, before fixed monthly charges.
Only 0.02% of Alaska homes were on a time-varying rate in 2024 (11.1% nationally), so a flat rate is the likely starting point. 74.1% of Alaska residential meters were smart meters (83.8% nationally), and a time-varying rate needs one. How time-of-use changes solar.
How many Alaska homes have solar?
Alaska had 2,706 rooftop systems on net metering in 2024, across 298,397 residential accounts: 0.91% of homes, the 17th-lowest of 51. Alaska is a thin market. Fewer companies can mean slower quotes and less to compare, so ask each one how many local systems it has installed.
The Alaska market counted 245 more systems in 2024 than in 2023 and has grown 22.9% a year over five years, the 22nd-lowest of 51. Where growth has turned nationally.
How has Alaska solar changed since 2014?
Alaska counted 110 net-metered rooftop systems in 2014 and 2,706 in 2024, 24.6 times as many. The share of homes with one moved from 0.04% to 0.91%. The biggest one-year addition came in 2020, with 462 more systems than the year before.
| Year | Rooftop systems | Share of homes | Average size | Residential price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 110 | 0.04% | 3.8 kW | 19.14¢ |
| 2016 | 281 | 0.10% | 3.3 kW | 20.30¢ |
| 2018 | 572 | 0.20% | 3.6 kW | 21.94¢ |
| 2020 | 1,427 | 0.45% | 4.6 kW | 22.57¢ |
| 2022 | 2,073 | 0.70% | 5.1 kW | 23.10¢ |
| 2024 | 2,706 | 0.91% | 5.2 kW | 24.82¢ |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861 annual files 2014–2024, net-metered residential systems, retrieved 2 September 2026. Alaska shares and sizes are HyreSolar calculations.
What does the Alaska trend mean for a savings estimate?
Over the same years the Alaska residential price went from 19.14¢ to 24.82¢ per kWh, up 30%, and the average system from 3.8 kW to 5.2 kW. A rate that has risen that far makes a 2024 bill a conservative base for a Alaska savings estimate only if the trend continues, which nobody can promise.
How big is a typical Alaska system?
The average Alaska system was 5.24 kW in 2024, the 2nd-lowest of 51, against 6.74 kW nationally. Alaska homes used 6,939 kilowatt-hours a year each, the 8th-lowest of 51.
A Alaska home using 6,939 kWh is an average, not a design input: size from your own twelve months of bills and usable roof with cost by system size and the system size calculator.
Who owns the systems in Alaska?
Form EIA-861 reports no third-party-ownership split for the 2,706 systems counted in Alaska in 2024, so we publish none rather than infer one.
Ask any Alaska company in writing whether it is selling you the system or a lease or power purchase agreement; the owner of a Alaska system is the one who claims any tax credit.
Do Alaska homes add batteries?
Form EIA-861 recorded no battery-paired figure for Alaska’s 2,706 systems in 2024, so we cannot give an attachment rate.
On reliability, the average Alaska customer went 323 minutes without power in 2024 counting major storms, and 192 minutes without them. The median state saw 297. Outages in every state.
Whether storage pays in Alaska turns on your utility’s export credit and your own outage history: what a home battery does.
How do you check a solar company’s license in Alaska?
We found no dedicated state register for solar work in Alaska, so we publish no company counts. That is not evidence of light regulation: electrical work can be licensed at state or local level even where solar is never named.
With 2,706 systems in Alaska, the company quoting you may be based out of state. Ask which license it holds, in which state, and confirm it with that authority. What to do when the search comes back empty.
Which states are closest to Alaska on adoption?
The six jurisdictions nearest to Alaska’s 0.91% share of homes with rooftop solar.
Where do the Alaska numbers come from?
The Alaska figures are HyreSolar calculations from the Form EIA-861 annual files: 2,706 net-metered residential systems counted against 298,397 residential accounts, sizes as means, and 10 utility-level rows for the utility table, matched to net-metering records by EIA utility number.
The method and limits cover all 51; the Alaska row is in the data as a CSV.
No Alaska figure here is an estimate for one home: your roof, usage, utility tariff and tax position decide that.
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Questions
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