Solar by state
Solar in North Carolina, by the numbers
Utilities and their rates, adoption, ten years of growth, batteries, ownership, state rules and installer licensing in North Carolina, from federal 2024 data.
North Carolina in brief
1.13% of North Carolina homes had rooftop solar in 2024, the 22nd-lowest of 51 (3.55% nationally). Power cost 14.13¢/kWh, below the national 16.48¢, and the average system was 7.39 kW. Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC serves 37.9% of homes.
Where does North Carolina stand out?
The four measures, beyond price and adoption, on which North Carolina sits furthest from the middle of the ranking.
North Carolina solar in numbers, 2024
Every North Carolina figure next to the national one, with its place in the ranking (highest first, out of the jurisdictions reporting it).
| Measure | North Carolina | United States | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes with a metered rooftop system | 1.13% | 3.55% | 22nd-lowest of 51 |
| Rooftop systems counted | 57,393 | 5,077,543 | 19th-highest of 51 |
| Average system size | 7.39 kW | 6.74 kW | 26th-highest of 51 |
| Residential price | 14.13¢/kWh | 16.48¢/kWh | 18th-lowest of 51 |
| Average monthly bill | $143.50 | $142.26 | 20th-highest of 51 |
| Use per home | 12,184 kWh/yr | 10,359 kWh/yr | 16th-highest of 51 |
| Systems with a battery | 0.43% | 5.86% | 13th-lowest of 47 |
| Leased or on a PPA | 0.2% | 29.1% | 8th-lowest of 38 |
| Growth in systems, five years | 31.7% a year | — | 15th-highest of 51 |
| Minutes without power per customer | 1,518 | 297 (median state) | 4th-highest of 51 |
| Homes on a time-varying rate | 2.9% | 11.1% | 18th-highest of 51 |
| Installed rooftop capacity | 424.4 MW | 34,226 MW | — |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861, 2024 final release, retrieved 2 September 2026. The North Carolina ratios and ranks are HyreSolar calculations from EIA inputs.
Which utility serves North Carolina, and what does it charge?
The 8 largest utilities selling to North Carolina 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC | Investor-owned | 1,919,372 (37.9%) | 13.94¢ | 984 kWh | 24,648 (1.3%) |
| Duke Energy Progress | Investor-owned | 1,356,079 (26.8%) | 15.54¢ | 1,006 kWh | 24,149 (1.8%) |
| EnergyUnited Electric Member Corporation | Co-op | 121,995 (2.4%) | 11.54¢ | 1,188 kWh | 656 (0.54%) |
| Virginia Electric & Power Company | Investor-owned | 108,656 (2.1%) | 13.93¢ | 1,201 kWh | 722 (0.66%) |
| Brunswick Electric Member Corporation | Co-op | 105,562 (2.1%) | 13.66¢ | 957 kWh | 881 (0.83%) |
| Union Electric Membership Corporation | Co-op | 84,602 (1.7%) | 13.37¢ | 1,230 kWh | 610 (0.72%) |
| Jones-Onslow Electric Member Corporation | Co-op | 79,690 (1.6%) | 13.09¢ | 1,080 kWh | 611 (0.77%) |
| Fayetteville Public Works Commission | Municipal | 75,987 (1.5%) | 12.21¢ | 971 kWh | 284 (0.37%) |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861 2024, Sales to Ultimate Customers and Net Metering, utility level, retrieved 5 October 2026. Shares are of 5,067,752 North Carolina residential accounts. Each North Carolina 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 North Carolina utility figures mean for a solar quote?
EIA-861 lists 54 utilities serving homes in North Carolina in 2024, across 5,067,752 residential accounts. The three largest, Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, Duke Energy Progress and EnergyUnited Electric Member Corporation, served 67.0% of those homes. By ownership: investor-owned utilities 66.8%, electric cooperatives 21.3%, municipal utilities 9.2% and small utilities EIA counts as a group 2.7%.
All 5,067,752 North Carolina residential accounts bought energy from the utility that delivers it; EIA counted none on a competitive supplier. So a North Carolina utility’s own tariff sets both the price you avoid and the credit for what you export.
Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, the largest, served 1,919,372 North Carolina homes (37.9%). Its full-service residential customers paid 13.94¢ per kWh, below the North Carolina average of 14.13¢, and used 984 kWh a month on average. 24,648 of its customers ran net-metered rooftop solar, 1.3% of its homes against 1.13% statewide.
Among the 49 North Carolina utilities with at least 5,000 residential customers and a full-service price, the price ran from 10.52¢ at Town of Apex to 21.14¢ at Roanoke Electric Member Corporation.
At the North Carolina average of 12,184 kWh a year, that 10.62¢ gap is worth about $1,294 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 14.13¢ North Carolina average.
Rooftop solar is concentrated: Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC alone accounts for 24,648 net-metered residential systems, about 43% of the 57,393 counted in North Carolina, and 23 North Carolina utilities reported any at all. The highest adoption among the larger utilities was at Duke Energy Progress, where 1.8% of homes had a system.
What does power cost in North Carolina, and why does it matter?
Residential electricity in North Carolina averaged 14.13¢ per kilowatt-hour in 2024, the 18th-lowest of 51 and below the national 16.48¢. The price sits near the middle of the 51. With the retail rate unremarkable, what your utility pays for exported power can decide the result.
The average North Carolina household bill was $143.50 a month ($1,722 a year), the 20th-highest of 51, against $142.26 nationally. That $1,722 is the ceiling on what solar could save a typical North Carolina home, before fixed monthly charges.
Only 2.9% of North Carolina homes were on a time-varying rate in 2024 (11.1% nationally), so a flat rate is the likely starting point. 92.5% of North Carolina residential meters were smart meters (83.8% nationally), and a time-varying rate needs one. How time-of-use changes solar.
How many North Carolina homes have solar?
North Carolina had 57,393 rooftop systems on net metering in 2024, across 5,067,762 residential accounts: 1.13% of homes, the 22nd-lowest of 51. Adoption in North Carolina sits in the middle of the 51: neither an early market nor a late one.
The North Carolina market counted 6,421 more systems in 2024 than in 2023 and has grown 31.7% a year over five years, the 15th-highest of 51. Where growth has turned nationally.
How has North Carolina solar changed since 2014?
North Carolina counted 1,995 net-metered rooftop systems in 2014 and 57,393 in 2024, 28.8 times as many. The share of homes with one moved from 0.05% to 1.13%. The biggest one-year addition came in 2022, with 11,590 more systems than the year before.
| Year | Rooftop systems | Share of homes | Average size | Residential price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 1,995 | 0.05% | 4.4 kW | 11.10¢ |
| 2016 | 5,050 | 0.11% | 5.2 kW | 11.03¢ |
| 2018 | 9,767 | 0.21% | 5.6 kW | 11.09¢ |
| 2020 | 20,559 | 0.44% | 6.9 kW | 11.38¢ |
| 2022 | 40,355 | 0.83% | 6.9 kW | 11.62¢ |
| 2024 | 57,393 | 1.13% | 7.4 kW | 14.13¢ |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861 annual files 2014–2024, net-metered residential systems, retrieved 2 September 2026. North Carolina shares and sizes are HyreSolar calculations.
What does the North Carolina trend mean for a savings estimate?
Over the same years the North Carolina residential price went from 11.10¢ to 14.13¢ per kWh, up 27%, and the average system from 4.4 kW to 7.4 kW.
A rate that has risen that far makes a 2024 bill a conservative base for a North Carolina savings estimate only if the trend continues, which nobody can promise.
How big is a typical North Carolina system?
The average North Carolina system was 7.39 kW in 2024, the 26th-highest of 51, against 6.74 kW nationally. North Carolina homes used 12,184 kilowatt-hours a year each, the 16th-highest of 51.
A North Carolina home using 12,184 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 North Carolina?
In North Carolina, 0.2% 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 8th-lowest of 38, against 29.1% nationally.
Nearly every North Carolina 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 North Carolina system claims any tax credit on it: Section 48E explained.
Do North Carolina homes add batteries?
In North Carolina, 0.43% of solar systems were paired with a battery in 2024 (248 systems), the 13th-lowest of 47. North Carolina’s share is well under half the national 5.86%.
On reliability, the average North Carolina customer went 1,518 minutes without power in 2024 counting major storms, and 144 minutes without them. The median state saw 297. Outages in every state.
Whether a battery pays in North Carolina turns on your utility’s export credit and your own outage history: what a home battery does.
Which North Carolina solar laws have we read?
North Carolina statutes we read ourselves. Any rule not listed here is one we have not read, not one that does not exist.
Property tax on the added value
80% of the system’s appraised value excluded, not 100%.
G.S. § 105-275(45). Read from a third-party copy of the code on September 2, 2026, not yet confirmed against the state’s own publisher. Property tax exemptions
How do you check a solar company’s license in North Carolina?
We checked 50 North Carolina solar companies from June to August 2026 against the North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors. 2.0% of those did not hold a current license when checked (1 expired).
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 North Carolina, and a license current then may have lapsed since. How to verify a solar license.
Which states are closest to North Carolina on adoption?
The six jurisdictions nearest to North Carolina’s 1.13% share of homes with rooftop solar.
Where do the North Carolina numbers come from?
The North Carolina figures are HyreSolar calculations from the Form EIA-861 annual files: 57,393 net-metered residential systems counted against 5,067,762 residential accounts, sizes as means, and 54 utility-level rows for the utility table, matched to net-metering records by EIA utility number.
The method and limits cover all 51; the North Carolina row is in the data as a CSV.
No North Carolina 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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