Solar by state
Solar in Missouri, by the numbers
Utilities and their rates, adoption, ten years of growth, batteries, ownership, state rules and installer licensing in Missouri, from federal 2024 data.
Missouri in brief
1.02% of Missouri homes had rooftop solar in 2024, the 19th-lowest of 51 (3.55% nationally). Power cost 12.91¢/kWh, below the national 16.48¢, and the average system was 9.15 kW. Union Electric Company serves 37.3% of homes.
Where does Missouri stand out?
The four measures, beyond price and adoption, on which Missouri sits furthest from the middle of the ranking.
Missouri solar in numbers, 2024
Every Missouri figure next to the national one, with its place in the ranking (highest first, out of the jurisdictions reporting it).
| Measure | Missouri | United States | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes with a metered rooftop system | 1.02% | 3.55% | 19th-lowest of 51 |
| Rooftop systems counted | 30,022 | 5,077,543 | 23rd-highest of 51 |
| Average system size | 9.15 kW | 6.74 kW | 4th-highest of 51 |
| Residential price | 12.91¢/kWh | 16.48¢/kWh | 14th-lowest of 51 |
| Average monthly bill | $129.18 | $142.26 | 21st-lowest of 51 |
| Use per home | 12,007 kWh/yr | 10,359 kWh/yr | 17th-highest of 51 |
| Systems with a battery | 2.53% | 5.86% | 16th-highest of 47 |
| Leased or on a PPA | 0.0% | 29.1% | 2nd-lowest of 38 |
| Growth in systems, five years | 22.1% a year | — | 21st-lowest of 51 |
| Minutes without power per customer | 213 | 297 (median state) | 18th-lowest of 51 |
| Homes on a time-varying rate | 51.9% | 11.1% | 3rd-highest of 51 |
| Installed rooftop capacity | 274.8 MW | 34,226 MW | — |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861, 2024 final release, retrieved 2 September 2026. The Missouri ratios and ranks are HyreSolar calculations from EIA inputs.
Which utility serves Missouri, and what does it charge?
The 8 largest utilities selling to Missouri 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union Electric Company | Investor-owned | 1,095,619 (37.3%) | 12.56¢ | 989 kWh | 8,041 (0.73%) |
| Evergy Missouri West | Investor-owned | 305,583 (10.4%) | 12.55¢ | 978 kWh | 5,239 (1.7%) |
| Evergy Metro | Investor-owned | 273,860 (9.3%) | 13.72¢ | 798 kWh | 3,604 (1.3%) |
| Empire District Electric Company | Investor-owned | 142,537 (4.9%) | 14.99¢ | 1,010 kWh | 4,847 (3.4%) |
| City Utilities of Springfield | Municipal | 105,029 (3.6%) | 11.47¢ | 837 kWh | 707 (0.67%) |
| Cuivre River Electric Co-op | Co-op | 72,974 (2.5%) | 11.07¢ | 1,266 kWh | 265 (0.36%) |
| City of Independence | Municipal | 53,832 (1.8%) | 15.74¢ | 841 kWh | 742 (1.4%) |
| City of Columbia | Municipal | 45,651 (1.6%) | 13.94¢ | 785 kWh | 552 (1.2%) |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861 2024, Sales to Ultimate Customers and Net Metering, utility level, retrieved 5 October 2026. Shares are of 2,933,913 Missouri residential accounts. Each Missouri 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 Missouri utility figures mean for a solar quote?
EIA-861 lists 45 utilities serving homes in Missouri in 2024, across 2,933,913 residential accounts. The three largest, Union Electric Company, Evergy Missouri West and Evergy Metro, served 57.1% of those homes. By ownership: investor-owned utilities 62.0%, electric cooperatives 22.0%, municipal utilities 9.2% and small utilities EIA counts as a group 6.9%.
All 2,933,913 Missouri residential accounts bought energy from the utility that delivers it; EIA counted none on a competitive supplier. So a Missouri utility’s own tariff sets both the price you avoid and the credit for what you export.
Union Electric Company, the largest, served 1,095,619 Missouri homes (37.3%). Its full-service residential customers paid 12.56¢ per kWh, below the Missouri average of 12.91¢, and used 989 kWh a month on average. 8,041 of its customers ran net-metered rooftop solar, 0.73% of its homes against 1.02% statewide.
Among the 43 Missouri utilities with at least 5,000 residential customers and a full-service price, the price ran from 9.88¢ at City of Sikeston to 16.29¢ at Callaway Electric Cooperative.
At the Missouri average of 12,007 kWh a year, that 6.41¢ gap is worth about $770 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 12.91¢ Missouri average.
Rooftop solar is concentrated: Union Electric Company alone accounts for 8,041 net-metered residential systems, about 27% of the 30,022 counted in Missouri, and 43 Missouri utilities reported any at all. The highest adoption among the larger utilities was at Empire District Electric Company, where 3.4% of homes had a system.
What does power cost in Missouri, and why does it matter?
Residential electricity in Missouri averaged 12.91¢ per kilowatt-hour in 2024, the 14th-lowest of 51 and below the national 16.48¢. Retail power in Missouri is cheaper than in 37 of the other 50 jurisdictions. Each kilowatt-hour a system avoids is worth less, which lengthens payback.
The average Missouri household bill was $129.18 a month ($1,550 a year), the 21st-lowest of 51, against $142.26 nationally. That $1,550 is the ceiling on what solar could save a typical Missouri home, before fixed monthly charges.
In Missouri, 51.9% of homes were on a time-varying rate in 2024.
On those rates the hour you use or export power changes its value, so ask for a proposal modeled on your own tariff.
87.6% of Missouri residential meters were smart meters (83.8% nationally), and a time-varying rate needs one. How time-of-use changes solar.
How many Missouri homes have solar?
Missouri had 30,022 rooftop systems on net metering in 2024, across 2,933,914 residential accounts: 1.02% of homes, the 19th-lowest of 51. Adoption in Missouri sits in the middle of the 51: neither an early market nor a late one.
The Missouri market counted 3,848 more systems in 2024 than in 2023 and has grown 22.1% a year over five years, the 21st-lowest of 51. Where growth has turned nationally.
How has Missouri solar changed since 2014?
Missouri counted 3,581 net-metered rooftop systems in 2014 and 30,022 in 2024, 8.4 times as many. The share of homes with one moved from 0.13% to 1.02%. The biggest one-year addition came in 2023, with 5,316 more systems than the year before.
| Year | Rooftop systems | Share of homes | Average size | Residential price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 3,581 | 0.13% | 11.4 kW | 10.64¢ |
| 2016 | 5,589 | 0.20% | 11.0 kW | 11.21¢ |
| 2018 | 8,428 | 0.30% | 9.6 kW | 11.34¢ |
| 2020 | 13,350 | 0.47% | 9.6 kW | 11.22¢ |
| 2022 | 20,858 | 0.72% | 10.5 kW | 11.74¢ |
| 2024 | 30,022 | 1.02% | 9.2 kW | 12.91¢ |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861 annual files 2014–2024, net-metered residential systems, retrieved 2 September 2026. Missouri shares and sizes are HyreSolar calculations.
What does the Missouri trend mean for a savings estimate?
Over the same years the Missouri residential price went from 10.64¢ to 12.91¢ per kWh, up 21%, and the average system from 11.4 kW to 9.2 kW. With Missouri prices up 21% across ten years, a savings estimate that assumes steep yearly rate rises is assuming more than this record shows.
How big is a typical Missouri system?
The average Missouri system was 9.15 kW in 2024, the 4th-highest of 51, against 6.74 kW nationally. Missouri homes used 12,007 kilowatt-hours a year each, the 17th-highest of 51.
A Missouri home using 12,007 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 Missouri?
In Missouri, 0.0% of systems were third-party owned in 2024: leased, or on a power purchase agreement (PPA), rather than owned by the household. That is the 2nd-lowest of 38, against 29.1% nationally.
Nearly every Missouri system is owned by the household. A lease or power purchase agreement would be unusual here, which is a reason to read one closely. Whoever owns a Missouri system claims any tax credit on it: Section 48E explained.
Do Missouri homes add batteries?
In Missouri, 2.53% of solar systems were paired with a battery in 2024 (760 systems), the 16th-highest of 47. Missouri’s share is well under half the national 5.86%.
On reliability, the average Missouri customer went 213 minutes without power in 2024 counting major storms, and 107 minutes without them. The median state saw 297. Outages in every state.
Whether a battery pays in Missouri 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 Missouri?
We checked 58 Missouri solar companies from June to August 2026 against the Missouri Office of Statewide Electrical Contractors, Division of Professional Registration, Department of Commerce and Insurance. None of those showed an expired or revoked license when checked.
Ask which license a company holds, then confirm the number with the issuing authority yourself.
These counts describe the companies we checked on those dates, not every company in Missouri, and a license current then may have lapsed since. How to verify a solar license.
Which states are closest to Missouri on adoption?
The six jurisdictions nearest to Missouri’s 1.02% share of homes with rooftop solar.
Where do the Missouri numbers come from?
The Missouri figures are HyreSolar calculations from the Form EIA-861 annual files: 30,022 net-metered residential systems counted against 2,933,914 residential accounts, sizes as means, and 45 utility-level rows for the utility table, matched to net-metering records by EIA utility number.
The method and limits cover all 51; the Missouri row is in the data as a CSV.
No Missouri 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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Do Missouri homeowners add batteries to solar?
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