Solar Panels in Pennsylvania: 2026 Cost, Incentives & Savings

• Cash

  $3.00/W

  $23,100

  Subset classified as cash

• Middle published case

  $3.60/W

  $27,720

  All host-owned systems

• Loan

  $4.50/W

  $34,650

  Financed subset, before interest

Before incentives. A loan price here excludes interest. The federal residential credit under section 25D ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025. Berkeley Lab, U.S. Distributed Solar and Storage, August 2026 data update.

How to read Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's 2025 EIA residential average was 19.29 cents per kWh. The resource is modest. PECO serves Philadelphia. Duquesne Light serves Pittsburgh. They are not the same company, and the winter weather is not the same either.

Utilities

PECO serves Philadelphia. Duquesne Light serves Pittsburgh. PPL serves Allentown, Harrisburg, Lancaster, and much of central Pennsylvania. FirstEnergy operating companies, including Met-Ed and Penelec, serve other regions. A retail generation supplier can appear on the bill next to the delivery utility. The delivery company still handles interconnection.

Export credits and tariffs

Pennsylvania customer-generators generally have access to net metering under Public Utility Commission rules, with annual treatment that differs by utility. PECO, PPL, and Duquesne Light are not one rider. Pennsylvania also has a solar share under the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard, so solar renewable energy credits can be registered and sold. Prices move. A proposal that counts them as income needs a current contract, not a broker screenshot. We do not promise eligibility or a price. Source: Pennsylvania PUC and the AEPS program site.

Climate and roofs

Snow and short winter days are the production fact. Pittsburgh is cloudier than Philadelphia. Tree cover in older neighborhoods is the site fact.

Cities

• Philadelphia

  PECO, rowhouses, and a modest resource with a relatively high rate.

• Allentown

  PPL in the Lehigh Valley, not PECO and not Duquesne.

• Harrisburg

  PPL at the capital, with a similar resource to Allentown and a different permit office.

• Lancaster

  PPL in Lancaster County, with open agricultural edges and shaded borough streets.

• Reading

  Met-Ed, a FirstEnergy company, not PPL.

• Scranton

  PPL in the Lackawanna valley, cloudier than Philadelphia.

• York

  Met-Ed in south-central Pennsylvania, between Harrisburg and the Maryland line.

• Erie

  Penelec on the lake, with the lowest rounded resource of these Pennsylvania cities.

• Pittsburgh

  Duquesne Light, hill shade, and a cloudier resource than Philadelphia.