Solar Just Beat Coal and Wind: Will That Lower Your Energy Bill?

In May 2026, solar generated more electricity than both coal and wind in the United States. That’s according to a new EIA data report, and it’s an exciting milestone. For the first time, the cheapest power source on the grid out-produced two mainstays at once.

The pipeline behind that milestone is big. Solar, wind, and battery storage are projected to add roughly 83 GW of new capacity by May 2027, while fossil and nuclear capacity actually drops by about 4.7 GW.

This is good news. Solar electricity is cheaper to produce than coal, and it’s much cleaner. When you pair it with grid-scale batteries, it becomes a round-the-clock resource. Those batteries soak up cheap midday solar power and release it after sunset, which lets solar act as “firm” power.

So here’s the question every homeowner ends up asking. If the grid is filling up with cheap solar, will my utility bill finally go down?

Probably not in the near future. And the reason is worth understanding so you can find the right strategy to lower your energy costs.

Why cheaper grid solar won’t cut your bill

Your electricity bill has two big halves. One is supply, that’s the cost of generating the electricity itself. The other is delivery, that’s the cost of building and maintaining the poles, wires, and substations that carry that power to your house.

Grid-scale solar can help lower the supply half, which is still heavily influenced by volatile natural gas prices, but delivery costs keep climbing, driven by grid upgrades, wildfire hardening, storm repairs, and aging infrastructure. Not only are these expenditures necessary to maintain a stable power grid; it’s how regulated utilities make money.

For every dollar they spend on the infrastructure to deliver electricity to your home, they earn a return on investment to keep their shareholders happy.

So even as generation gets cheaper, the delivery line on your bill pulls the total the other way. And utility providers are inherently motivated to increase these costs.

The bottom line

Join us in celebrating solar outproducing coal and wind in May. More cheap, clean solar on the grid is a win for everyone. But if you’re unhappy with your electric bill, don’t sit around waiting for utility rates to fall. That’s unlikely to happen anytime soon, because delivery costs keep rising even when generation gets cheaper.

The move that actually works is taking matters into your own hands. Put solar on your own roof, add a battery to use it when you need it most, and cut out the middle man.

In most cases, your roof can generate and deliver electricity at a much lower cost than your utility. Take 90 seconds to get your real price and see your savings potential on Solar.com.