South Carolina
Solar in Myrtle Beach, SC: Costs, Savings, Incentives & Local Options
What Santee Cooper credits, what the 2026 rebate pays, and what the City needs before panels go on a Myrtle Beach roof.
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Myrtle Beach Solar at a Glance
| Factor | Myrtle Beach, SC |
|---|---|
| Utility | Santee Cooper (state-owned; rates set by its board, not the Public Service Commission). Parts of rural Horry County are served by Horry Electric Cooperative instead |
| Electricity context | RG-25: $20.00 a month, $8.00/kW peak demand, 7.92¢/kWh base energy plus fuel and other adjustments. Santee Cooper’s 2024 residential average was 11.38¢/kWh (EIA-861) |
| Export credit | DG-25 rider: hourly netting, surplus credited at 4.15¢/kWh, $10/month rider charge, $100 interconnection fee |
| Incentives | Solar Home rebate $0.95/W AC to 6 kW (max $5,700), 2026 program window; SC credit 25%, up to $3,500 a year; federal §25D ended for homeowners |
| System considerations | Residential size cap: the lesser of 20 kW or your estimated maximum monthly demand. West-facing panels help against the 3–6 p.m. demand window |
| Permitting | City of Myrtle Beach Construction Services, 921 N Oak St: building and electrical applications, sealed engineering, Santee Cooper interconnection approval before plan review |
| Battery relevance | Higher than in most SC cities: a battery can hold your 3–6 p.m. demand down, and Horry County logged 12.18 damaging wind events a year (NOAA, 2015–2025) |
| Housing | 24,419 homes; 17.3% held for seasonal or occasional use; 40% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020–2024) |
| Next step | Read the cost page, then use Get Solar Options with your Santee Cooper bill to hand |
Sources at the foot of the page, retrieved 5 October 2026 unless marked.
Is solar worth considering in Myrtle Beach?
For an owner-occupied house with a good roof and summer afternoon load, usually yes in 2026, mainly because the Santee Cooper rebate can cover up to $5,700 of the price and the state credit covers a quarter of what you pay.
The case is weaker for a condo in a tower, a home you rent out by the week with nobody using power in the afternoon, or a roof that needs replacing within a few years.
The honest caveat: Santee Cooper’s average residential price, 11.38¢/kWh in 2024, is below Dominion’s 14.59¢ and Duke Energy Carolinas’ 13.99¢. Cheaper power means each kilowatt-hour you avoid buying is worth less, so the incentives and the demand charge carry more of the payback here than the energy price does.
What the Myrtle Beach housing market means for solar
Myrtle Beach had 40,937 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate, up 0.7% in a year, but its housing tells you more about who can go solar.
Of 24,419 homes counted in the 2020–2024 American Community Survey, 6,796 were vacant at the time of the survey and 4,223 of those, 17.3% of all homes, were held for seasonal, recreational or occasional use. Across Horry County the seasonal share is 18.8%.
Only 38.3% of the city’s homes are detached single-family houses; 40% sit in buildings of five units or more, including 2,942 in buildings of 50 or more.
Owner-occupancy among occupied homes is 61.3% and the median home was built in 1992 (ACS 2023). Rooftop solar is a detached-house and townhome decision here.
Condo owners need their association, and Santee Cooper’s Solar Share subscription may suit them better; see Myrtle Beach solar incentives.
How Santee Cooper bills a Myrtle Beach home
Most homes are on Santee Cooper’s Residential General Service schedule RG-25, effective for bills from 1 April 2025: a $20.00 monthly customer charge, a $8.00/kW demand charge on your highest 60-minute demand during peak hours, and a base energy charge of 7.92¢/kWh.
The fuel adjustment and three other adjustment clauses are added on top, so the per-kWh figure on your bill is higher than the base rate.
Peak demand hours are 3–6 p.m. from April through October and 6–9 a.m. from November through March. One hot afternoon with the air conditioning, dryer and oven running together sets the demand charge for the whole month. A time-of-use option, RT-25, drops the demand charge but prices on-peak energy at 33.80¢/kWh and off-peak at 7.92¢.
How much solar a Myrtle Beach home might need
Santee Cooper caps a home system at the lesser of 20 kW or your estimated maximum monthly demand, and the rebate stops at 6 kW AC or your highest demand over the past 12 months, whichever is lower.
Its rebate process starts with a Rebate Reservation Worksheet that works out that demand figure, so it is the first number to get.
Because surplus earns only 4.15¢, size to what the house uses during daylight rather than to cancel your whole annual bill. A part-time second home with low daytime use needs a smaller array than its roof can hold. The system size calculator works from your own usage.
How we estimate savings under DG-25
DG-25 compares what you import and export in each hour. Hours with net use are billed at your RG-25 energy price; hours with net export earn 4.15¢/kWh.
So savings have three parts: kWh you use while the panels produce (worth the full energy price, base plus adjustments), kWh you export (4.15¢), and any reduction in your 3–6 p.m. peak demand ($8.00 per kW per month in season). Subtract the $10 rider charge, $120 a year.
Before you sign, Santee Cooper itself produces an annual savings estimate from your historical interval data and NREL solar data for rebate applicants. Compare any installer’s savings figure with it. The savings calculator and our worked Myrtle Beach scenarios show the arithmetic.
Solar costs in Myrtle Beach
We do not publish a Myrtle Beach price per watt. Our rule is twelve sourced, dated local quotes before printing an installed price, and we have not collected them.
The costs we can state are the fixed local ones: Santee Cooper’s $100 non-refundable interconnection application fee, the $10 monthly rider charge, and the City’s valuation-based building permit and plan-review fees.
Details and three worked scenarios are on the Myrtle Beach solar cost page, and payment routes on solar financing in Myrtle Beach.
South Carolina and Santee Cooper incentives for Myrtle Beach
Santee Cooper Solar Home rebate: a one-time $0.95 per watt AC, capped at 6 kW per meter base, for customer-owned systems installed after 1 December 2025 by a Santee Cooper Solar Electric Trade Ally, with a NABCEP-certified professional’s inspection letter.
Leased systems do not qualify, the battery portion does not qualify, and Santee Cooper keeps the renewable energy certificates in exchange. Funding is first-come, first-served.
South Carolina solar credit: 25% of the cost of a system you own, up to $3,500 or half your state tax liability a year, with ten years of carryforward (SC Code §12-6-3587, Form TC-38).
Federal: The IRS says §25D "is not available for any property placed in service after December 31, 2025." Full detail, deadlines and a stacking example are on Myrtle Beach solar incentives and the state solar tax credit page.
Net metering in Myrtle Beach: what DG-25 pays
Santee Cooper says plainly that it does not provide one-to-one net metering. The Act 62 Solar Choice tariffs that govern Dominion and Duke customers do not set Santee Cooper’s terms; its board does. Since April 2025 the rider has had no metering or standby fee and no seasonal swing in the export credit.
If a month ends with a net credit, Santee Cooper mails a check once it reaches $50 and otherwise carries it to the next bill. The minimum bill is the $20 customer charge plus the $10 rider charge plus any demand charge. Compare all South Carolina export rules on the state net metering page.
Installation and City permitting in Myrtle Beach
The order matters here.
Santee Cooper reviews the interconnection request within 10 business days, and the City’s Solar Photovoltaic Plan Review Requirements list a utility-approved interconnection request among the minimum documents for plan review, alongside building and electrical permit applications, an engineer’s structural analysis of the roof, and drawings sealed by a South Carolina professional engineer to the 2021 IRC and the 2020 National Electrical Code. A signed, notarized letter that the work matches the engineered drawings is required at final inspection.
Oceanfront single-family homes, multi-family buildings and all commercial projects also need Community Appearance Board approval, and HOA communities need an approval letter. The step-by-step timeline is on solar panel installation in Myrtle Beach.
Roof, wind and flood in Myrtle Beach
NOAA’s Storm Events Database recorded an average of 12.18 thunderstorm and high-wind events a year in Horry County from 2015 to 2025, gusts to 65 knots, 20 tornadoes, and 51 hail reports, four of them 2 inches or larger. That is why the City wants a structural analysis with every roof-mounted array.
Flood rules bite on equipment placement. The City has AE and VE flood zones and requires a home’s first floor to sit three feet above FEMA’s base flood elevation.
Put the inverter, disconnects and any battery at or above that height where the layout allows.
With a 1992 median build year, many roofs are on their second covering or due one, so settle the roof before the panels go on; re-roofing before solar covers the trade-off.
Battery options for Myrtle Beach homes
A battery has two jobs in Myrtle Beach that it does not have on a 1:1 net-metered bill: holding your 3–6 p.m. demand down so the $8.00/kW charge shrinks, and storing midday surplus that would otherwise export at 4.15¢ for use in the evening.
Hurricane-season outages are the third reason. The rebate covers only the solar portion, so the battery is paid for on its own. See solar battery storage in Myrtle Beach.
Residential vs commercial solar in Myrtle Beach
Hospitality dominates the local business base: Horry County had 1,408 accommodation and food-service establishments employing 30,879 people in 2023, a quarter of all private employment (Census County Business Patterns).
Businesses use the same DG-25 rider with a 1,000 kW cap, but on demand-billed rates such as GA-25 and GB-25.
Hotels, restaurants and retail are covered on commercial solar in Myrtle Beach; farms elsewhere in Horry County on solar for farms near Myrtle Beach.
How to choose a Myrtle Beach installer, and what to ask
We do not rank or recommend installers. These questions separate a proposal built for Santee Cooper from a generic one.
Without one, the Solar Home rebate is off the table. Santee Cooper says Trade Ally status is not an endorsement.
South Carolina splits the work across a Solar Panel Installer registration, a roofing classification and an electrical licence. Check each on SC LLR.
A proposal that assumes full retail credit for every kWh overstates savings in Santee Cooper territory.
The rebate application is due within 90 days of installation and no later than 30 November 2026.
Each adds an approval: Community Appearance Board, floodplain review, or an HOA letter.
The full checklist is on solar installers in Myrtle Beach, and repairs on solar repair in Myrtle Beach.
Every Myrtle Beach solar guide
Questions
Who is the electric utility in Myrtle Beach?
Does Santee Cooper offer net metering in Myrtle Beach?
How big is the Santee Cooper solar rebate?
Can I get the rebate on a second home in Myrtle Beach?
Do I need City approval before installing solar on an oceanfront home?
Why does the time of day matter so much on a Santee Cooper bill?
Is there still a federal solar tax credit for Myrtle Beach homeowners?
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