News on Solar Examiner

Columbia, Missouri Raises Electric Usage Fees 6% Starting October 1, 2026

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The City of Columbia, Missouri, which runs its own electric utility, raised electric usage fees by 6% effective October 1, 2026. The customer charge did not change.

What changed

Usage fees: up 6%.
Customer charge: unchanged.
Revenue: the city expects about $8.6 million more per year.
Why: the city cites higher costs, including purchased capacity and energy, power production expenses and high-priority infrastructure projects.
Power Cost Adjustment (PCA): the city set the maximum PCA at 20% of the residential first-tier rate beginning Oct. 1, 2026. The PCA is a monthly adjustment that reflects the true cost of power.

What this means for your bill

A 6% increase applies to the usage portion of your bill, not necessarily your total. The city has not published a single “typical bill” figure in the announcement. Use its Utility Rates Calculator with your account number for a personalized estimate.

EIA: U.S. Residential Electricity Prices Forecast to Average 18.2¢/kWh in 2026

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s September outlook projects the average U.S. residential electricity price at 18.2 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 2026. That compares with 17.3 cents in 2025 and 16.5 cents in 2024. EIA projects 18.6 cents for 2027.

The numbers

Year	Avg. residential price (¢/kWh)
2024	16.5
2025	17.3
2026 (projected)	18.2
2027 (projected)	18.6

By our math from those figures, that is roughly +5% in 2026 and +2% in 2027. These are EIA forecast values from its September 9, 2026 release.

Home Solar Prices Edged Up 3% in the First Half of 2026, EnergySage Reports

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

EnergySage’s latest marketplace report says the median U.S. home solar price rose about 3% to $2.57 per watt in the first half of 2026 compared with the second half of 2025. These figures are before incentives. The report covers six months after the 30% federal residential tax credit ended for systems purchased after 2025.

Key figures (EnergySage data)

Median price: $2.57/W, up about 3%. EnergySage links part of that to higher labor rates.
Solar-only systems: held flat at $2.62/W versus the second half of 2025, and down 1% from the first half of 2025.
Solar plus storage: up 5% (excluding the battery itself).
Leases and PPAs: the share of installers quoting third-party ownership options rose from about 14% to about 41% during the half.
Batteries: customer interest reached 76% this half, battery prices reached $1,130/kWh, and the attachment rate fell to 31%.

What to know

EnergySage notes that new Section 232 tariffs on imported polysilicon are set to take effect December 4, 2026, which could add cost pressure to panels as soon as 2027. This is EnergySage’s own marketplace data, not a government statistic, so treat it as one data point.

OG&E Asks Oklahoma Regulators for a Base Rate Increase

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E), which serves about 917,000 customers, has asked the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to raise its average residential base rate by $23.88 a month. The request is a proposal. Nothing has been approved, and your bill has not changed.

What OG&E filed

The ask: an average residential base rate increase of $23.88 per month. Your own number could differ depending on how much electricity you use.
What drives it: per the company, new generation, grid upgrades, community programs and technology. That includes replacing two 60-year-old natural gas units at its Horseshoe Lake plant with new turbines, and replacing other units at its Tinker Power Plant.
Already preapproved: the company says it received preapproval for those projects, and their costs haven’t been included in customer bills yet.
Customer assistance: OG&E also proposes expanding its senior discount and low-income program, plus a pilot to forgive past-due balances, a choose-your-own-due-date option and a pre-pay option.

What it is not

A base rate covers the cost of building and running the system. It is separate from the fuel charge, which changes quarterly. OG&E says the request does not include costs tied to the three Google data centers it agreed in April to power, because those customers are not yet using electricity from OG&E.