Put in what you actually used last year and this will tell you what a system would cost, what it should make, and roughly how long it takes to pay back. Our own prices, and every assumption written down underneath.
Your annual kilowatt-hours are printed on your BC Hydro bill. If you do not have it handy, use the bill estimate instead.
A typical Prince George house on electric heat uses 15,000 to 25,000. On gas heat, 8,000 to 12,000.
This changes how much of your own solar you use as you make it. Electric heat means a bigger array whose output still lands in summer, when the heating is off.
Since July this is the single biggest lever on the numbers. Power you use as it is generated is worth the full retail rate; power you export earns 10 cents.
A battery moves midday generation into the evening, so more of it offsets your own load instead of being exported.
We work backwards through BC Hydro’s two-step residential rate to get your kilowatt-hours.
System size
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Roof space
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approximate
Installed cost
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before rebate
After BC Hydro rebate
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less $5,000
Produces
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kWh a year
First-year saving
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—
Over 25 years
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saving, with rate rises
Pays for itself in
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with 3% rate rises
Payback assumes BC Hydro’s rates keep rising about 3% a year, which they have. Held flat at today’s rates it would be —. The 10¢ export credit is set by BC Hydro’s self-generation rate and is not assumed to rise, so only the power you use in the house benefits from future rate increases.
This is an estimate built from averages. A real quote comes from your actual bill, your roof and your panel, and it is free.
Until July 2026, BC Hydro’s net metering meant a kilowatt-hour you exported was worth the same as one you bought. Sizing a system to cover 100% of your annual use made straightforward sense.
The Self-Generation rate changed that. Power you export now earns 10 cents, credited monthly. Power you use in the house as it is being made still saves you the full retail rate, up to 14.08 cents. So a kilowatt-hour used at home is worth about 40% more than one sold back.
Instinctively that sounds severe, and in most places it would be. Here it is not, and it is worth being straight about why: 10 cents is close to the 10.97 cents you pay on the first tier. Move the toggles above from a quiet house on electric heat to a busy shop with a battery and the annual saving changes by about five percent. In a province where power costs 25 cents, that same change would have been brutal.
So the headline is not the rate change. It is this: British Columbia has some of the cheapest electricity in North America, which is why solar here pays back slowly. A grid-tied array on an ordinary house is a 15-to-20-year proposition and always was. What genuinely moves that number is going off grid, where the comparison is not the grid rate but the cost of running a line; a property with real daytime load; or simply deciding that power which keeps working when the grid does not is worth something the arithmetic will not show you.
Switch the battery toggle on and the payback gets longer, not shorter. That is the right answer, and better seen here than worked out afterwards.
At BC’s rates a battery does not pay for itself by shifting power around. It adds roughly $14,000 to $22,000 before the extra rebate, and it buys you maybe twenty dollars a year in better self-consumption. As a savings device the arithmetic simply does not work in this province.
What it does buy is a house that keeps running when the line comes down. Furnace fan, well pump, freezer, internet. Around Prince George, Mackenzie and Fort St. James that is not a small thing, and plenty of people decide it is worth paying for on its own terms. We will quote you one gladly. We will just never tell you it pays for itself.
| Factor | Effect |
|---|---|
| South-facing, unshaded roof | Best case. North-facing slopes can lose a third or more. |
| Roof age | If the roof is within about five years of replacement, do both at once. Taking an array off and putting it back costs real money. |
| Daytime consumption | The single biggest lever under the new rate. Shops, pumps and EV charging during the day improve payback more than extra panels. |
| Ground mount versus roof | Costs more to build, but you get the right angle and can clear snow. Often the better answer on an acreage. |
| Panel and service capacity | An older 100 A service may need upgrading. We check this before quoting, because it is the thing that most often surprises people. |
Want the real number instead of an estimate? Send us a recent BC Hydro bill and we will size it against your actual consumption, check your roof and service on site, and put the rebate paperwork through for you. Snow, drift zones and ground mount design is the longer version.
Get a free quote or call (250) 532-2873. Nechako Solar is a licensed BC electrical contractor, licence LEL0204111, and a member of the Home Performance Contractor Network (HPCN). You can check that in the HPCN directory.
How accurate is this solar savings calculator?
It sizes a system to cover about 90 per cent of your annual consumption, assumes 1,100 kWh a year for every installed kilowatt in Northern BC, and prices it against our own 2026 installed ranges. It is an estimate built from averages. A real quote comes from your actual bill, your roof and your electrical panel, and it is free.
What solar rebate can I get in BC in 2026?
BC Hydro pays up to $5,000 on a solar installation and up to $5,000 more on a battery enrolled in BC Hydro’s Peak Saver program, or up to $1,500 without it. Since 1 June 2026 the rebate is only paid when the work is done by a member of BC Hydro Home Performance Contractor Network. Nechako Solar is a member.
Does BC Hydro still offer net metering?
No. Net metering closed to new customers on 1 July 2026. The Self-Generation rate that replaced it credits exported power at 10 cents per kWh on every bill, and the old annual kWh bank is gone. Power you use in the house as you generate it is still worth the full retail rate.
How long does solar take to pay for itself in Prince George?
For most homes in Prince George the calculator lands between about 9 and 13 years after the BC Hydro rebate. Houses with daytime load, such as a shop, an EV charger, a well pump or a heat pump, sit at the shorter end because more of the output is used at full retail instead of being exported at 10 cents.
Does adding a battery shorten the payback?
No. A battery adds cost without adding much saving, so it lengthens the payback. It is bought so the lights stay on during an outage, not to make the numbers work.
Do solar panels work through a Prince George winter?
Yes, although most of the year production lands between March and September. The calculator works from an annual figure, so the short winter days are already accounted for in the result.
