Solar Panels in Erie, PA: 2026 Cost, Penelec Net Metering & Savings

Erie and the bill

Pennsylvania Electric Company, Penelec, serves Erie. It is FirstEnergy. Lake-effect snow is heavier here than in Philadelphia. Erie is the Pennsylvania city where the Michigan questions show up: lake cloud, snow, and a lower sun figure, about 3.8 peak sun hours. Penelec's rider is the export credit. A steep roof sheds snow. A low-tilt roof holds it. Do not paste a PECO production file onto an Erie house. The 2025 EIA residential average for Pennsylvania was 19.29 cents per kWh. That statewide figure is what our calculator uses. It is not the Penelec tariff. A rounded solar resource for this metro is about 3.8 peak sun hours a day.

Export credits and any SREC or REC

Penelec serves Erie, and Pennsylvania does not publish one export price for every utility. PECO, PPL, Duquesne Light, Met-Ed, and Penelec each file their own net-metering rider with the Public Utility Commission. A proposal should name that rider. Pennsylvania-sited solar renewable energy credits can be registered and sold. The spot price moves, so this page does not print one. A chart that needs the credit to work should attach the contract, not a screenshot of last month's broker bid.

Roofs, climate, permits, and HOAs

Older city houses and ranch suburbs. Wind off the lake is an exposure issue on open lots. Roof age should be checked after snow seasons. A Erie permit comes from the local building department, not from Penelec. An HOA can add its own review. This page does not quote a PA permit fee or an approval, because both depend on the address. Show winter in the model. Name Penelec. Ask for the current net-metering credit rather than a full-retail assumption.

Estimated cost range

Estimated cost range for Erie, labeled as an estimate and not a local quote: Berkeley Lab's August 2026 update put 2025 host-owned residential systems at about $3.60 per watt before incentives, about $3.00 per watt in the cash subset, and about $4.50 per watt in the loan subset. The median size in that set was 7.7 kW. Erie is about 3.8 peak sun hours a day, against about 4.0 statewide. The federal residential credit under 26 U.S.C. § 25D ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025. The IRS treats that expenditure as made when the original installation is completed.

• 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.