Understanding Arkansas's 2024 policy shift
No state tax credit, despite past legislative attempts
Arkansas's General Assembly has considered dedicated solar tax credit legislation in past sessions, but no residential credit has passed as of 2026. This puts Arkansas behind neighboring states like Louisiana that do offer a state credit, making the property tax exemption and net metering status the two levers that actually matter for an Arkansas homeowner's bottom line. Compare against the Louisiana incentive estimator to see the difference.
The net metering change is the most important thing to understand
Arkansas moved from one of the most generous net metering policies in the country, a full one-to-one retail credit for every exported kilowatt-hour, to a net billing structure for new systems. Under net billing, excess power is credited at an avoided-cost rate that runs roughly less than half the retail rate. If you connected to the grid by September 30, 2024, you're grandfathered into the old full-retail policy, which is a meaningfully better deal than what new systems receive today. Check the rebate deadline tracker if you're weighing timing on a related decision.
The property tax exemption is a steady, if smaller, benefit
Arkansas excludes the added value your solar system gives your home from property tax assessment, similar to the exemption offered in many other states. Given that a typical system adds $10,000 to $20,000 in appraised value, this commonly saves homeowners $150 to $350 a year depending on county millage rates, and it applies whether or not you're grandfathered into the old net metering policy. That grandfathering itself runs through a fixed sunset date rather than a term that resets based on your own install date: per the Arkansas Public Service Commission's own order, legacy status holds through June 1, 2040, for everyone who qualified, regardless of exactly when in the run-up to the deadline they connected.
Batteries matter more under net billing
With exported power worth less than half of retail under the new net billing structure, storing your own daytime production for evening use through a battery becomes proportionally more valuable than it would be under full retail net metering. If you're installing new, run your numbers with and without a battery using the federal ITC calculator to see your full 2026 federal status alongside this state-level picture.
With your rebate total in hand, the combined loan and rebate timing tool shows the monthly payment on the amount you still need to borrow.