Solar in Arkansas: how the rules work
How Arkansas credits the power solar panels send back to the grid, what homes there pay for electricity, and what to check when a home with solar is bought or sold.
How exported power is credited
Power sent to the grid is credited at an export rate well below retail, often tied to the utility’s avoided cost.
Act 278 of 2023 (the 'Arkansas Cost-Shifting Prevention Act') ended 1:1 net metering for new systems. Customers interconnecting after September 30, 2024 go on Entergy Arkansas' Non-Legacy Net Metering schedule. It uses instantaneous netting, so there is no kWh banking within the billing cycle: generation offsets load in real time, and every exported kWh is bought at Entergy Arkansas' estimated annual average avoided-cost rate from its tariff, reset yearly from trailing wholesale prices. Reporting in June 2026 puts that at roughly 2.5 cents/kWh, vs about 8-10 cents energy-only (local installer's figure) or ~12-13 cents all-in retail. There are one-time administrative fees for the generation meter and each aggregated meter, and customers pay for any required studies. Legacy customers keep 1:1 kWh net metering until September 30, 2040. Legacy means systems interconnected, or with complete applications, by September 30, 2024. Share basis: ~2.5 cents vs ~12 cents residential retail.
What changes for a home with solar
A savings estimate that assumes full retail credit for exported power overstates the value of that power for systems on the current rules. Power used in the home still offsets the full retail rate.
Older systems are often grandfathered on earlier, better terms for a set number of years. Which rules a particular system is on depends on its interconnection date, stated in the note above.
Electricity here costs about 13.6¢ per kWh (2026) and has risen about 2.6% a year over the last decade. A lease or PPA escalator above that pace makes the solar payment rise faster than utility rates have.
When a home with solar is sold in Arkansas
- Owned outright: proof it is paid off, the warranties, and the utility’s interconnection or net-metering agreement, which has to move into the buyer’s name.
- Loan: a payoff letter, and whether the buyer can assume the loan. Many solar loans are secured by a UCC-1 fixture filing that title will find.
- Lease or PPA: the transfer process and how long approval takes, the buyer’s credit check, the current payment or rate and its yearly increase, and a buyout quote.
- Every case: whether the export-credit terms above stay with the home after the sale, and the last 12 months of production from the monitoring app.
Have the solar contract for a Arkansas home?
Upload it and get a letter-graded report card: price, production, payment changes, value and transfer terms, measured against Arkansas’s rates and rules.
Grade a solar contractSources
- www.entergyarkansas.com/net-metering
- www.uaex.uada.edu/environment-nature/energy/solar/net-metering.aspx
- www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2023R%2FPublic%2FACT278.pdf (2023-03-02)
- www.kuaf.com/show/ozarks-at-large/2026-06-25/arkansas-solar-laws-leave-company-chasing-gro (2026-06-25)
- Electricity prices: EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B (2026) and EIA state annual averages 2014–2024
- Installed price: EnergySage marketplace, September 2026