'Payback' period for residential solar rooftop down to 3 years, says think tank

Energy think tank Ember on Thursday said the payback period — or the time for savings on electricity bills to equal or exceed the cost of installing rooftop solar power systems in homes — has decreased to 3.1 years in May 2026, compared to four years in May 2025.

In a news release, Ember, citing its analysis, said the decline in payback period for residential solar rooftop was on the back of increase in retail electricity prices while panel costs have declined.

Moreover, the think tank said payback time for commercial rooftop have also dropped from three years to 2.3 years; while for industrial, it went down from 3.9 years to 3.1 years year-on-year.

According to Ember, its analysis found that Meralco’s retail electricity prices in May 2026 were 17% higher for residential customers, 18% higher for commercial customers and 14% higher for industrial customers compared with a year earlier.

With this, the think tank said the Philippines now has the costliest residential electricity price in Southeast Asia, the second-highest commercial price and the third-highest industrial price.

GMA News Online reached out to Meralco for comment. The story will be updated once a response is received.

“The economics of rooftop solar are more attractive than ever, and its rapid rise is inevitable,” said Dave Jones, chief analyst at Ember and lead author of the report.

“The government has an opportunity to carve its own path on rooftop solar, to pull the Philippines out of fossil dependency and onto a path of cheap, abundant electricity.”

Ember said that its report estimates that rooftop solar capacity in the Philippines has nearly doubled from 721 megawatts (MW) in early 2025 to around 1,300 MW by early 2026, still only 1% of the country’s theoretical rooftop potential of 106,000 MW. — LA, GMA News