There is no federal tax credit for residential solar in 2026. That doesn’t mean solar is not a lucrative, on-site energy investment for homeowners. In order to understand it’s value, it is important to understand how solar works.
- Solar energy produced on your roof is first consumed by the loads in your home
- – You are not using the more expensive grid kilowatt-hour, which is a savings
- – Any solar energy not being used by your home will then go to your battery
- – Once your battery is full, or if you don’t have one, that surplus solar energy will then go back out to the grid for a monetary credit, which is then also applied to offset you electric bill
- The demand for electricity is increasing due to AI, EVs adn the shift to electrification
- – Electricity Rates Continue to rise and Utah homeowners have experienced this firsthand
- When you invest in solar energy, you are buying 25+ years of kilowatt-hours all at once
- – You lock in a cost for those kilowatt-hours produced
- – As utility rates increase, so do the savings from your solar energy investment
- If your goal is to maximize savings, then you want a system that is designed where your home consumes most of that solar energy produced. You want to minimize what is being exported
- TOU, or Time of Use: This is a new residential rate that has been used in many other states
- – As of now, Rocky Mtn Power On Peak is from 6 PM – 10 PM, M-F
- – The cost of kWh during this time frame is $0.32 cents per kWh
- – A partial solar array on a west-facing roof is beneficial with this rate
- – Battery storage starts to make economic sense with this rate (use energy from the battery during 6-9 PM).
- – The cost of a battery kWh can range from $0.19 – $0.22 vs. a TOU kWh from the grid at $0.32 cents.
- – A battery also provides backup power when the grid goes down.
