For St. Louis homeowners

Solar installation in St. Louis, Missouri. One city, two building departments.

The City of St. Louis is an independent city, not part of any Missouri county, with its own Building Division separate from St. Louis County next door. Ameren Missouri serves both sides of that line, and so does Missouri's net metering statute. But your permit gets filed with a different office depending on which side of the line your roof sits on. We check that first, before anything else.

City or county, we file the right permit. St. Louis City and St. Louis County are separate governments with separate Building Divisions. We confirm which one applies to your address before filing anything.
Ameren Missouri, verified rate. 12.2 cents per kWh blended, checked directly against Ameren's own published tariff this week, not an estimate copied from a competitor's site.
Older housing stock welcome. Brick two- and four-families, Central West End courtyard buildings, South City bungalows. We quote panel upgrades and roof complexity honestly upfront.

Licensed in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois and Colorado

Free St. Louis solar quote

Free · 60 sec

Josh or Tori personally replies · usually same day. Honest numbers for your St. Louis home. No credit pull. No pressure.

Why St. Louis is a solar fit

Missouri's second-largest metro, with a permitting quirk most sites skip.

The City of St. Louis has roughly 273,000 residents within its own boundary, and the surrounding St. Louis County metro pushes the region well past a million. What makes St. Louis unusual isn't population, it's governance: the city has operated as an independent city since 1876, separated from St. Louis County government entirely. That single fact determines which building department reviews your solar permit.

PopulationIndependent city, not part of any Missouri county. Separate Building Division from St. Louis County.~273,000

UtilityAmeren Missouri, nearly citywide. Same utility as most of St. Louis County.AMEREN MISSOURI

Blended residential rateVerified against Ameren's own MO.P.S.C. Schedule No. 6 tariff this week. See our disclosures page for the full derivation.12.2¢/kWh

Net meteringRSMo 386.890, 1:1 retail credit within the billing cycle, 100 kW residential cap.EASY CONNECTION ACT

Completed 9 kW Solar Assure rooftop solar installation in St. Louis, Missouri — 9 kW install · St. Louis, Missouri

A real St. Louis install

This 9 kW system is actually up on a St. Louis roof, not a stock photo.

We would rather show you a real install than invent a story about one. This is a completed 9 kilowatt Solar Assure system, installed in St. Louis, Missouri, on Ameren territory. It is the same photo on our homepage, not a different one staged for this page. If you want to see more of our actual work, our reviews page points you to Google and Facebook, where we can't edit what customers say.

The permitting quirk

City or county? It changes who reviews your permit.

This is the single most common point of confusion for St. Louis-area solar, and almost nobody explains it clearly.

City of St. Louis

An independent city with its own Building Division

The City of St. Louis has been governed separately from St. Louis County since 1876, a arrangement sometimes called "the Great Divorce." It is legally an independent city, meaning it is not part of any Missouri county. Rooftop residential solar in the city requires a building permit and an electrical permit through the city's own Building Division. The city's sustainability office directs residents to review local permitting, inspection and zoning policy before installing, and separately promotes Set the PACE St. Louis financing and a regional group-purchasing program called Switch Together. We could not confirm a specific permit fee or review timeline directly on the city's own site this week, so we do not publish one here; your actual permit cost shows up in your Solar Assure quote once we've filed for your specific address, not as a guessed number.

St. Louis County

A separate government for the surrounding suburbs

St. Louis County is a distinct government from the city, with its own permit process for the suburbs that ring it. Rooftop solar requires a building permit and an electrical permit, filed with a site plan through the county's electronic permit system. Ground-mounted systems additionally need zoning review, since the county treats them as accessory structures subject to setback and lot-coverage rules. The county's own guidance notes that subdivision trustees may separately restrict or prohibit panels, so a deed-restricted St. Louis County neighborhood can mean an HOA or trustee review running in parallel with the county permit. Missouri's HOA solar law, RSMo 442.404, still applies: trustees can set reasonable conditions, but cannot ban panels outright, and the Missouri Supreme Court's January 23, 2026 ruling in Eikmeier v. Granite Springs confirmed that protection applies retroactively, even to older covenants.

Practically, this means two houses a block apart, one just inside the city line and one just outside it, go through different permit offices for what is otherwise the identical Ameren Missouri, RSMo 386.890 solar install. Solar Assure confirms which jurisdiction applies to your specific address before filing anything, so you are not the one figuring out which building department to call.

Where we install

St. Louis neighborhoods we work in.

St. Louis housing stock runs from turn-of-the-century brick two- and four-family flats to postwar bungalows to newer infill construction. Here is what we see most often.

Central West End Tower Grove South & The Hill Soulard Dogtown South City North City

Central West EndDense, historic, some of the city's most architecturally distinctive housing near Forest Park. Courtyard buildings and larger single-family homes both appear here. Roof complexity varies widely; we assess each one individually rather than assuming.NEAR FOREST PARK · HISTORIC

Tower Grove South & The HillClassic St. Louis brick bungalows and two-families, many built in the early 1900s to 1930s. Compact lots, simple gable rooflines that generally suit solar well. Electrical panel upgrades are common on older homes here.SOUTH CITY · 1900S-1930S BRICK

SoulardHistoric riverfront neighborhood with 19th-century rowhouses. Some fall under historic district review; we handle that paperwork alongside the standard city permit when it applies.HISTORIC DISTRICT · ROWHOUSES

DogtownTight-knit South City neighborhood, mostly single-family brick homes on modest lots. Straightforward rooflines, generally efficient installs once the electrical panel is confirmed adequate.SOUTH CITY · SINGLE-FAMILY

South City (broader)The largest share of our City of St. Louis installs. Mix of brick bungalows, two-families, and postwar construction. Ameren territory throughout, City of St. Louis Building Division permitting.CITY OF ST. LOUIS PERMITTING

North CityHistoric housing stock, including some of the city's oldest brick construction. Same Ameren Missouri rate and RSMo 386.890 net metering as the rest of the city. We quote every address the same way, regardless of neighborhood.CITY OF ST. LOUIS PERMITTING

How a St. Louis install works

From first call to energized system in 8-12 weeks.

We're based in Lake Saint Louis, about 40 minutes west of the City of St. Louis. Here's the actual timeline.

Free analysisWe pull your roof from satellite, review your Ameren bill, and model 25 years of production specific to your St. Louis address. You see projected savings before committing. No credit pull.

Permits & prepWe confirm City of St. Louis or St. Louis County jurisdiction, pull the correct building and electrical permits, file the Ameren Missouri interconnection application, and handle any HOA, trustee, or historic-district review. Typically 3-5 weeks.

Install in 1 dayInstall crew arrives with tier-1 panels, Enphase microinverters, and optional Franklin aPower 2 battery. Most homes have solar up by sundown.

Ameren interconnectionWe coordinate the city or county building inspection, then Ameren Missouri's meter exchange. System energizes and begins net metering.

Common questions

Questions St. Louis homeowners actually ask.

What electric utility serves St. Louis, Missouri?

Ameren Missouri serves nearly all of the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County. Ameren's published residential tariff (MO.P.S.C. Schedule No. 6) sets a summer flat rate of 15.60 cents per kWh and a winter tiered rate of 10.62 cents for the first 750 kWh and 7.14 cents above that. Blended across a typical year, that works out to approximately 12.2 cents per kWh, the figure Solar Assure uses in St. Louis payback math, verified directly against Ameren's own tariff sheet.

Is St. Louis City different from St. Louis County for permitting?

Yes, and this trips up homeowners more than anything else. The City of St. Louis is an independent city, not part of any Missouri county, with its own Building Division. St. Louis County is a completely separate government that permits the suburbs surrounding the city. A homeowner one block on either side of the city-county line files with a different building department, even though both are Ameren Missouri territory and both follow the same Missouri net metering statute. We confirm which jurisdiction your address falls under before filing anything.

What permits does the City of St. Louis require for solar?

Rooftop residential solar in the City of St. Louis requires a building permit and an electrical permit, handled through the city's Building Division. The city's own sustainability office directs residents to review local permitting, inspection and zoning policy before installing, and separately promotes Set the PACE St. Louis financing and a regional group-purchasing program called Switch Together. We could not confirm a specific permit fee amount or review timeline directly on the city's own site this week, so we do not quote one here; your Solar Assure quote includes the actual permit cost for your address once filed, not an estimate.

What permits does St. Louis County require for solar?

St. Louis County requires a building permit and an electrical permit for rooftop residential solar, filed through an electronic building permit application with a site plan. Ground-mounted systems additionally require zoning review and are treated as accessory structures subject to setback and lot-coverage rules. The county's own guidance notes that subdivision trustees may separately restrict or prohibit solar panels, so an HOA or trustee review can run alongside the county permit in deed-restricted neighborhoods. We check both the county permit requirements and any HOA covenant before filing.

Does Missouri HOA law protect St. Louis County solar installs?

Yes. RSMo 442.404, Missouri's HOA solar access law, prohibits homeowners associations statewide, including St. Louis County subdivisions, from banning solar panels outright. HOAs may still enforce reasonable aesthetic conditions. On January 23, 2026, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Eikmeier v. Granite Springs that a rear-roof-only HOA rule was not a permitted reasonable restriction, and confirmed the statute applies retroactively to covenants written before the law passed. We prepare the architectural review packet and cite the statute directly for any deed-restricted property.

How does net metering work for St. Louis Ameren customers?

Ameren Missouri credits solar exports at the full retail rate during each billing cycle under RSMo 386.890, the Missouri Easy Connection Act, up to a 100 kilowatt residential system size cap. Production that exceeds your usage in a given month banks forward as a kilowatt-hour credit; any credit still unused at the annual true-up is paid out at Ameren's avoided-cost rate, which is lower than retail. For most St. Louis homes, sizing the system close to actual annual usage captures the most retail-rate value.

What does solar cost in St. Louis?

Solar Assure prices St. Louis installs at $2.50 per watt installed. A typical St. Louis home needs an 8 to 12 kilowatt system, so gross cost before financing runs roughly $20,000 to $30,000 depending on system size, roof complexity, and whether an electrical panel upgrade is needed. At Ameren's blended 12.2 cent per kWh rate and Missouri's 1,350 kWh per kW annual production figure, a typical 10 kW St. Louis system pays back in approximately 14 years; see our full Missouri solar payback math for the worked calculation.

Is the federal solar tax credit still available for St. Louis homeowners in 2026?

No, not for cash or loan purchases. The 30 percent federal residential solar tax credit under Internal Revenue Code Section 25D expired December 31, 2025 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Systems placed in service in 2026 or later do not qualify. The separate commercial credit under Section 48E remains available through 2027 for third-party-owned leases and power purchase agreements, a different ownership structure than the systems Solar Assure sells.

A fun fact about your city

You live near a park bigger than New York's Central Park.

Forest Park, home to the 1904 World's Fair and today's Saint Louis Zoo, Art Museum, and History Museum, covers about 1,300 acres, roughly 500 acres more than Central Park. The Gateway Arch, completed in 1965, stands 630 feet tall and remains the tallest man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere. St. Louis was founded in 1764 as a French fur-trading post, more than a decade before American independence, and has operated as a legally independent city separate from any county since 1876. None of that changes your solar math, but it is a reminder that the housing stock here, brick two-families built for streetcar-era workers, courtyard buildings near Forest Park, postwar South City bungalows, spans well over a century of construction styles, and every one of them gets its own honest roof assessment from us, not a template guess.

Josh founded Solar Assure in Lake Saint Louis, about 40 minutes from the City of St. Louis, to bring residential solar to Missouri families without the high-pressure tactics of national sales organizations. He personally handles system design and the initial quote for every customer, including City of St. Louis and St. Louis County installs on Ameren Missouri territory. The founders personally handle every project from first quote to interconnection.

Written by

Joshua Hayeslip

Founder and CEO, Solar Assure LLC · Licensed in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois and Colorado

Last updated September 24, 2026

Related Guides

More on going solar with Solar Assure

Ameren Missouri Rate-Lock GuideRate trajectory, net metering math, and why locking in a fixed rate matters Missouri Net Metering LawRSMo 386.890 explained in plain English Missouri HOA Solar LawRSMo 442.404 and the 2026 Eikmeier Supreme Court ruling Missouri Solar Payback 2026Full worked math, 8/10/12 kW scenarios across Ameren, Evergy, Columbia W&L Missouri Solar Cost Guide2026 system-by-system breakdown across all Missouri cities Solar in Lake Saint LouisSolar Assure's hometown, 40 minutes west of the City of St. Louis Solar in ChesterfieldWest county's wealthiest city, HOA approvals handled Free Solar Cost CalculatorYour roof, your bill, your savings in 60 seconds