Solar by state
Solar in Virginia, by the numbers
Utilities and their rates, adoption, ten years of growth, batteries, ownership, state rules and installer licensing in Virginia, from federal 2024 data.
Virginia in brief
1.90% of Virginia homes had rooftop solar in 2024, the 23rd-highest of 51 (3.55% nationally). Power cost 14.41¢/kWh, below the national 16.48¢, and the average system was 7.39 kW. Virginia Electric & Power Company serves 65.2% of homes.
Where does Virginia stand out?
The four measures, beyond price and adoption, on which Virginia sits furthest from the middle of the ranking.
Virginia solar in numbers, 2024
Every Virginia figure next to the national one, with its place in the ranking (highest first, out of the jurisdictions reporting it).
| Measure | Virginia | United States | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes with a metered rooftop system | 1.90% | 3.55% | 23rd-highest of 51 |
| Rooftop systems counted | 69,553 | 5,077,543 | 16th-highest of 51 |
| Average system size | 7.39 kW | 6.74 kW | 25th-highest of 51 |
| Residential price | 14.41¢/kWh | 16.48¢/kWh | 23rd-lowest of 51 |
| Average monthly bill | $148.77 | $142.26 | 16th-highest of 51 |
| Use per home | 12,388 kWh/yr | 10,359 kWh/yr | 13th-highest of 51 |
| Systems with a battery | 1.00% | 5.86% | 19th-lowest of 47 |
| Leased or on a PPA | 0.1% | 29.1% | 5th-lowest of 38 |
| Growth in systems, five years | 44.2% a year | — | 7th-highest of 51 |
| Minutes without power per customer | 962 | 297 (median state) | 8th-highest of 51 |
| Homes on a time-varying rate | 0.69% | 11.1% | 19th-lowest of 51 |
| Installed rooftop capacity | 513.8 MW | 34,226 MW | — |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861, 2024 final release, retrieved 2 September 2026. The Virginia ratios and ranks are HyreSolar calculations from EIA inputs.
Which utility serves Virginia, and what does it charge?
The 8 largest utilities selling to Virginia 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Electric & Power Company | Investor-owned | 2,383,548 (65.2%) | 14.09¢ | 1,005 kWh | 53,368 (2.2%) |
| Appalachian Power Company | Investor-owned | 465,283 (12.7%) | 17.02¢ | 1,048 kWh | 4,892 (1.1%) |
| Rappahannock Electric Co-op | Co-op | 169,489 (4.6%) | 14.89¢ | 1,145 kWh | 3,442 (2.0%) |
| Northern Virginia Electric Co-op | Co-op | 167,274 (4.6%) | 11.57¢ | 1,144 kWh | 3,602 (2.2%) |
| Shenandoah Valley Electric Co-op | Co-op | 85,281 (2.3%) | 13.81¢ | 1,166 kWh | 1,126 (1.3%) |
| Southside Electric Co-op | Co-op | 56,846 (1.6%) | 15.48¢ | 1,108 kWh | 730 (1.3%) |
| City of Danville | Municipal | 37,781 (1.0%) | 15.01¢ | 994 kWh | 220 (0.58%) |
| Central Virginia Electric Co-op | Co-op | 34,893 (0.95%) | 16.14¢ | 1,184 kWh | 835 (2.4%) |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861 2024, Sales to Ultimate Customers and Net Metering, utility level, retrieved 5 October 2026. Shares are of 3,654,413 Virginia residential accounts. Each Virginia 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 Virginia utility figures mean for a solar quote?
EIA-861 lists 19 utilities serving homes in Virginia in 2024, across 3,654,413 residential accounts. The three largest, Virginia Electric & Power Company, Appalachian Power Company and Rappahannock Electric Co-op, served 82.6% of those homes. By ownership: investor-owned utilities 78.6%, electric cooperatives 16.8%, municipal utilities 2.6% and small utilities EIA counts as a group 1.9%.
All 3,654,413 Virginia residential accounts bought energy from the utility that delivers it; EIA counted none on a competitive supplier. So a Virginia utility’s own tariff sets both the price you avoid and the credit for what you export.
Virginia Electric & Power Company, the largest, served 2,383,548 Virginia homes (65.2%). Its full-service residential customers paid 14.09¢ per kWh, below the Virginia average of 14.41¢, and used 1,005 kWh a month on average. 53,368 of its customers ran net-metered rooftop solar, 2.2% of its homes against 1.90% statewide.
Among the 19 Virginia utilities with at least 5,000 residential customers and a full-service price, the price ran from 10.99¢ at Bristol Virginia Utilities to 17.18¢ at Virginia Tech Electric Service.
At the Virginia average of 12,388 kWh a year, that 6.19¢ gap is worth about $767 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 14.41¢ Virginia average.
Rooftop solar is concentrated: Virginia Electric & Power Company alone accounts for 53,368 net-metered residential systems, about 77% of the 69,553 counted in Virginia, and 16 Virginia utilities reported any at all. The highest adoption among the larger utilities was at Central Virginia Electric Co-op, where 2.4% of homes had a system.
What does power cost in Virginia, and why does it matter?
Residential electricity in Virginia averaged 14.41¢ per kilowatt-hour in 2024, the 23rd-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 Virginia household bill was $148.77 a month ($1,785 a year), the 16th-highest of 51, against $142.26 nationally. That $1,785 is the ceiling on what solar could save a typical Virginia home, before fixed monthly charges.
Only 0.69% of Virginia homes were on a time-varying rate in 2024 (11.1% nationally), so a flat rate is the likely starting point. 92.9% of Virginia residential meters were smart meters (83.8% nationally), and a time-varying rate needs one. How time-of-use changes solar.
How many Virginia homes have solar?
Virginia had 69,553 rooftop systems on net metering in 2024, across 3,654,481 residential accounts: 1.90% of homes, the 23rd-highest of 51. Adoption in Virginia sits above the middle of the 51, so there is a working installer market to choose between.
The Virginia market counted 11,038 more systems in 2024 than in 2023 and has grown 44.2% a year over five years, the 7th-highest of 51. Where growth has turned nationally.
How has Virginia solar changed since 2014?
Virginia counted 1,918 net-metered rooftop systems in 2014 and 69,553 in 2024, 36.3 times as many. The share of homes with one moved from 0.06% to 1.90%. The biggest one-year addition came in 2023, with 31,011 more systems than the year before.
| Year | Rooftop systems | Share of homes | Average size | Residential price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 1,918 | 0.06% | 4.8 kW | 11.10¢ |
| 2016 | 3,702 | 0.11% | 5.6 kW | 11.36¢ |
| 2018 | 7,057 | 0.21% | 6.2 kW | 11.73¢ |
| 2020 | 16,807 | 0.48% | 6.7 kW | 12.03¢ |
| 2022 | 27,504 | 0.77% | 7.1 kW | 13.34¢ |
| 2024 | 69,553 | 1.90% | 7.4 kW | 14.41¢ |
Source: US EIA, Form EIA-861 annual files 2014–2024, net-metered residential systems, retrieved 2 September 2026. Virginia shares and sizes are HyreSolar calculations.
What does the Virginia trend mean for a savings estimate?
Over the same years the Virginia residential price went from 11.10¢ to 14.41¢ per kWh, up 30%, and the average system from 4.8 kW to 7.4 kW. A rate that has risen that far makes a 2024 bill a conservative base for a Virginia savings estimate only if the trend continues, which nobody can promise.
How big is a typical Virginia system?
The average Virginia system was 7.39 kW in 2024, the 25th-highest of 51, against 6.74 kW nationally. Virginia homes used 12,388 kilowatt-hours a year each, the 13th-highest of 51.
A Virginia home using 12,388 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 Virginia?
In Virginia, 0.1% 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 5th-lowest of 38, against 29.1% nationally.
Nearly every Virginia 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 Virginia system claims any tax credit on it: Section 48E explained.
Do Virginia homes add batteries?
In Virginia, 1.00% of solar systems were paired with a battery in 2024 (697 systems), the 19th-lowest of 47. Virginia’s share is well under half the national 5.86%.
On reliability, the average Virginia customer went 962 minutes without power in 2024 counting major storms, and 245 minutes without them. The median state saw 297. Outages in every state.
Whether a battery pays in Virginia turns on your utility’s export credit and your own outage history: what a home battery does.
Which Virginia solar laws have we read?
Virginia 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
Wholly exempt statewide at or below 25 kW; above that it is a local-option ordinance. The zoning section it keys to is dated “effective until January 1, 2027”.
Va. Code § 58.1-3661. Read at source September 2, 2026. Property tax exemptions
What an HOA can and cannot block
The Virginia access statute tests an association’s restriction two ways. On cost: a 5% increase in installation cost. On output: a 10% reduction in energy production.
Va. Code § 55.1-1820.1. Read at source September 2, 2026. Solar access rights by state
How do you check a solar company’s license in Virginia?
We checked 27 Virginia solar companies from June to August 2026 against the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, Board for Contractors. 3.7% 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 Virginia, and a license current then may have lapsed since. How to verify a solar license.
Which states are closest to Virginia on adoption?
The six jurisdictions nearest to Virginia’s 1.90% share of homes with rooftop solar.
Where do the Virginia numbers come from?
The Virginia figures are HyreSolar calculations from the Form EIA-861 annual files: 69,553 net-metered residential systems counted against 3,654,481 residential accounts, sizes as means, and 19 utility-level rows for the utility table, matched to net-metering records by EIA utility number.
The method and limits cover all 51; the Virginia row is in the data as a CSV.
No Virginia 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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