Incentives & Rebates

The federal ITC allows homeowners to claim 30% of their solar panel system costs as a tax credit on their federal taxes. In order to qualify, your solar system must have “expenditures made” by December 31st, 2025. While interpretations of “expenditures made” vary, the safest option is to have your system installed and operating by December 31st, 2025. If utility delays prevent full interconnection, you may still qualify as long as installation is complete. Keep all receipts and installation records in case of an IRS audit. Here is Energy Sage’s FAQ with more information.

If you purchased a solar system either with cash or a solar loan, you are eligible for this tax credit (if you sign a solar lease or PPA for the system, you are ineligible).

If you do not have a large enough tax bill to claim the entire credit in one year, then one will receive credits equal to their tax liability.

Costs that are eligible for the tax credit include solar panels, additional solar equipment (e.g. inverters, wiring, mounting hardware), labor costs for installation, and energy storage systems. Costs that are ineligible for the tax credit include roof repairs, roof replacements, or tree trimming or removal.

You can find more information here: https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/residential-clean-energy-credit

The SMART program is an incentive program for solar projects in Massachusetts, which provides compensation for solar projects if they meet certain criteria.

There is still some allocation in SMART 2.0, but SMART 3.0 is the most recent version of the program that is currently in development and is expected to come out soon.

To qualify for SMART 3.0, a project must provide documentation to show that on-site construction did NOT begin before June 20, 2025, but the current SMART 2.0 program will remain open for applications until December 21, 2026. To qualify for that, the project must provide documentation to show that on-site construction began before December 31, 2025.

Most residential projects would most likely be under 25 kW, and those projects will have a fixed incentive level of $0.03/kWh under SMART 3.0. Projects under 25 kW that serve low-income customers will have a fixed incentive level of $0.06/kWh.

There are adder incentive values available for certain projects based on location, offtakers, and more.

Link here for more information: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/smart-30-program-details

Net metering is a renewable rate program in Massachusetts that allows customers to offset their energy use and transfer energy back to their electric companies via their systems in exchange for a bill credit.

One must be serviced by Eversource, National Grid, or Unitil to participate in net metering.

Customers who net meter are billed for their net consumption of electricity, which is calculated by the total electricity consumed in a month subtracted by the total electricity generated in a month.

If your net consumption is positive, meaning your electricity generated covers only a portion of your consumption, you would pay the remaining balance to your electric company. The energy generated would show up as a net meter credit subtracted from your balance.

If your net consumption is negative, you would not owe anything as the net metering credit would appear on your bill.

Net metering credits do not expire and will roll over to the next billing period.

Link here for more information: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/net-metering-guide

If you are a Massachusetts resident and install a system on your primary residence, you qualify for the MA Residential Energy Credit worth 15% of your solar panel system cost, up to $1,000, that is applied towards your MA state income tax bill.

The amount of the energy credit claimed by the taxpayer in a taxable year may not exceed the taxpayer’s personal income tax liability for that year, but a taxpayer may carry-over any excess credit amount for up to three succeeding taxable years.

Net metering is a renewable rate program in Rhode Island that allows customers to offset their energy use and transfer energy back to the electric company via their systems in exchange for a bill credit. Participants can receive bill credits for up to 125% of the on-site consumption during a billing period.

One must be serviced by Rhode Island Energy to participate in net metering.

Customers who net meter are billed for their net consumption of electricity, which is calculated by the total electricity consumed in a month subtracted by the total electricity generated in a month.

If your net consumption is positive, meaning your electricity generated covers only a portion of your consumption, you would pay the remaining balance to your electric company. The energy generated would show up as a net meter credit subtracted from your balance.

If your net consumption is negative, you would not owe anything as the net metering credit would appear on your bill.

You cannot participate both in net metering and the Renewable Energy Growth (REG) program.

Link here for more information: https://energy.ri.gov/renewable-energy/net-metering

The REF Small-Scale Solar Program provides up to a $5,000 max incentive per project towards renewable energy installations for residential homes. Depending on the size of the system, a grant amount is calculated, subtracted from the total project cost, and then awarded to the installer upon the completion and successful inspection of the project.

Through this program, there is also an Energy Storage Adder grant that is a max $2,000 per project.

There are two more upcoming scheduled grant rounds: for small-scale, September 12, 2025, and October 24, 2025. These rounds will open at 9:00 AM and close at 5:00 PM the same day.

You cannot participate in both the Renewable Energy Fund (REF) Small-Scale Program and the Renewable Energy Growth (REG) program.

Link here for more information: https://commerceri.com/renewable-energy-fund/

This program allows participants to sell the energy generated by their solar systems at fixed prices over the course of 15 to 20 years, depending on the project size, and it is available to homeowners and small commercial customers for projects 25 kW and smaller.

For residential customers, the account owner will receive a bill credit for energy and the system owner will be paid the remaining Performance-Based Incentive (PBI), which are funded through the REG program on customers’ bills, are set by the RI Distributed Generation Board, and are approved by the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission.

The program year opens on April 1st each year and is available on a first come, first serve basis until the program is fully subscribed or until March 31, 2026, the end of the program year.

To qualify, residential customer projects must be located at a customer residence that receives electric service under the Basic Residential Rate A-16 or Low-Income Rate A-60, and projects can neither be operational at time of application nor under construction, except for site work that is less than 25% of the total project cost.

You cannot participate in both the REG program and net metering.

You cannot participate in both the Renewable Energy Growth (REG) program and the Renewable Energy Fund (REF) Small-Scale Program.

Link here for more information: https://energy.ri.gov/renewable-energy/wind/renewable-energy-growth-program-reg-program