West Virginia solar rebates and incentives: 2025 guide

If you live in West Virginia and want to power your home with clean, sustainable energy—maybe even during a power outage—there are a couple of big incentives for going solar that can help lower the upfront costs and speed up your payback period.  

The only significant solar incentive in West Virginia is actually the federal Residential Clean Energy Tax Credit, formerly known as the ITC.

Residential Clean Energy Credit

The Residential Clean Energy Credit, formerly known as the federal investment tax credit (ITC), can reduce your solar panel system's cost by 30%. Your entire system qualifies for this incentive, including equipment, labor, permitting, and sales tax. 

You also need a high enough tax bill, though you can roll over any remaining credit year-to-year until 2035 when the ITC expires. The only time you might be eligible for a direct payment for the ITC is if you're a tax-exempt entity, like a nonprofit organization.

If you connect your solar panel system to the grid in 2025, you can benefit from net metering—the ultimate solar power incentive. 

Under net metering, the sun doesn’t need to shine all the time to get massive value from your solar panels. Your utility company (typically Appalachian, Monongahela, or Potomac Edison) essentially works like a bank account for all the energy your solar panels produce in a given month.

When the sun shines, your home’s electrical system first takes as much power as it needs from the solar panels. If the panels make any excess energy that your home doesn’t need, it gets sent back onto the grid. The utility company gives you a credit for that electricity.

When the sun isn’t shining and you need grid electricity to power your home, your utility draws against those credits. At the end of the monthly billing cycle, your credits will be settled up.

There are a few nuances to keep in mind about West Virginia’s version of net metering.

• Credits are calculated in kWh, not dollars (for now). Depending on the weather and your solar array, you could pay very, very little on your electric bill every month—but it won’t be $0, because you will still need to pay cash every month for any fixed fees, like meter connection costs. 

• Net metering credits changed in 2025 after a utility settlement. Monongahela Power and Potomac Edison customers installing solar beginning January 1, 2025,  will earn 9.3 cents per kWh for excess solar credits at the end of your billing cycle. This credit is less than the full retail rate you pay for electricity. Anyone who signed up before December 31, 2024, is grandfathered into the current, more favorable rates for 25 years. Currently, this change does not apply to Appalachian Power customers.

• Your credits can roll forward indefinitely. That is, they never expire. This is a great policy for solar owners, because it allows you to rack up hundreds or thousands of kWh of credits during the sunny months, and then use them up over the wintertime.

• The net metering rules may change in 2025. There is currently a bill in progress aiming to eliminate net metering from all utilities in West Virginia. This could significantly increase your payback period or the time it takes to recoup your solar investment. We will keep you updated on the status of this bill.

West Virginia doesn't offer any state-specific battery incentives. However, all batteries above 3 kWh in size are eligible for the 30% federal tax credit. 

Solar batteries can boost your energy independence and provide backup power during an outage. Since the future of net metering policies in West Virginia is uncertain, adding a battery to your system might help you get more value out of your solar panels.

If you're looking for solar installers in West Virginia, here are some popular suggestions: