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Connecticut Solar

Connecticut is in the Northeastern United States and has the highest per-capita income in the country. The small but populous state is home to the cities of Hartford and Bridgeport. Connecticut state government policies favor solar tax incentives. High energy-prices, strong solar incentives and encouraging utility policies make Connecticut a favorable place for businesses and residents to install solar panels and battery systems.

Connecticut Solar Incentives

Connecticut provides multiple solar energy rebates and incentives that help to reduce the overall cost of solar systems. Our EnergyPal Advisors can help you navigate all of the solar incentives available in Connecticut and also apply them to the available solar panel offerings.

In summary, Connecticut provides these main solar incentives:

• At times, a solar renewable energy credit (SREC) that for example, starts at $0.036 per kWh and falls to $0.003 per kWh over 25 years. Please check with your EnergyPal Advisor for current status of this CT incentive.
• Through the Residential Solar Investment Program, homeowners can earn a rebate of $0.463 per watt for solar system installations.
• No sales tax on solar panels, systems and related equipment.
• No property tax on any increase in property value from installing solar.

Connecticut Rebates and Tax Breaks

Here are more details about the incentives available in Connecticut:

• The Residential Solar Investment Program (RSIP), which is administered by the Connecticut Green Bank, is the principal solar incentive in the state. Residential property owners who belong to this incentive program can earn a rebate of $0.463 per watt for solar system installations up to 10 kW through the Expected Performance-Based Buydown (EPBB). Homeowners who prefer to lease a solar system can benefit from a performance-based incentive (PBI).
• The Sales and Use Tax Exemption is a tax break where you don’t pay any sales tax on solar panels, systems or related equipment in Connecticut.
• The Property Tax Exemption for Renewable Energy Systems provides a tax break where you won’t pay additional property taxes if your property value increases when you add a solar system (and with solar, your property value does go up!).
• The Solar for All program helps homeowners of low to moderate income convert to solar bysubsidizing power purchase agreements subsidizing power purchase agreements (PPAs). A PPA is similar to leasing a solar system that is installed on your home. You get cheaper electricity without the upfront cost or maintenance responsibility.

Other Solar Energy Incentives

The US federal government helps residents and businesses pay for their solar systems. The federal investment tax credit (ITC) allows for a tax deduction of 26% of the cost of a solar system currently. Tax credits can be rolled over if you can’t use the whole credit this year. The ITC cannot be claimed for solar leases or power purchase agreements (PPAs) where the third party financier takes the credits themselves, but that is typically baked into a reduced lease/PPA monthly for you. For the actual US government bill, see 4908 of the HR 133 (It’s a giant file, so watch out!).

If you purchased a $20,000 system, your savings from the federal tax credit would look like this:

$20,000 X 0.26 = $5,200 savings

And you savings from the state rebate would look like this:

9000 X $0.463 = $4,167 savings

So if you spent $20,000 on that system, your actual cost would go down to $10,633 after both incentives.

Utility Policies

Utility policy factors determine what your utility provider pays you for the excess power you produce and what you save on your power bill by reducing electricity usage. Connecticut gets a high score for utility policies.

Net Metering and Interconnection Policy

One important policy for solar customers is called Net Metering. Net Metering is a billing mechanism that allows solar customers to push electricity to the grid for credit that can be used later, like at night when your solar panels aren’t generating power. This incentivizes people to go solar, provides clean energy for others to use and prevents waste. Some states have poorer net metering policies than others, meaning that credits may not be able to be rolled over to the next month or year, or that you don’t earn full watt-for-watt credit for your excess energy.

Connecticut’s Net Metering program is favorable. You are paid the full retail amount for your excess energy in the form of a bill credit. Credits can be carried over into the next month but expire at the end of the year, when you are paid at a lower cash-out rate.

Solar Setup Fees

You must submit an interconnection application to connect your inverter to the grid. The fee for this is $200. There is no fee for the installation of a bi-directional meter, which you need to use the Net Metering program.

Electricity Prices

Electricity prices in Connecticut are on the high end. Usually you don’t want high prices, but with solar, the higher the prices, the more you save, and the more economical a solar system becomes.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, the average total cost of electricity in Connecticut is $0.214 per kWh for residents. The national average for all states is $0.134 per kWh, ranging from $0.967 to $0.288 per kWh.

Rate Design

Rate designs are comprised of monthly fees and either a flat or tiered rate you pay for electricity. Good rate designs, which save you money when you conserve energy, are tiered and have low fixed monthly fees. Poor rate designs have flat rates and high fixed monthly fees.

Connecticut is above average when it comes to the quality of its electricity bill rate design. It has many tiered rate programs and low fixed fees (around $10 per month). Its optional time-of-use electricity rate plan, where your rate is lower during the day, also benefits solar-battery customers.

You still pay fixed monthly fees when you go solar because you are still tied to the grid. Being tied to the grid is a good thing, because otherwise you might not have power at night or if your system stopped working suddenly. Even if you go off of the grid and rely on a battery source, the high cost of the battery would not outweigh the low monthly fee and the savings obtained from a net metering program.

PACE Programs

PACE stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy and is a financing program for solar projects that is tied to the home instead of the homeowner. The PACE program is not available in Connecticut for homeowners.

Other Energy Financing

Solar systems can be financed by bank loans, solar installer financing, new home mortgages, energy loans and home equity loans or lines of credit. Cash works too.

Talk to your EnergyPal Advisor about financing solar options in Connecticut. We regularly source the best deals and terms for our customers.