Utah, 2026
The federal residential solar credit ended 31 December 2025. Utah’s state credit ended after 2023. Here is what a Utah homeowner can still get, with real numbers.
What ended
If a salesperson is still quoting you a 30% federal credit on a system you buy outright, they are quoting a credit that no longer exists.
The Residential Clean Energy Credit expired for new expenditures after 31 December 2025. If your system was installed in 2025 you may still claim it on that year’s return, and unused credit from earlier years can still carry forward.
Utah’s Renewable Energy Systems Tax Credit for residential systems phased out and is not available for systems installed in 2024 or later. At its peak it was worth up to $2,000.
Section 48E still exists, but the business that owns the system claims it, not you. That is why lease and power-purchase pitches got louder in 2026. You are trading ownership for someone else’s tax credit.
What is still real money
Rocky Mountain Power pays you to let it call on your battery during peak demand. This is the one incentive in Utah that did not shrink, and most homeowners have never heard of it.
A battery can enrol on its own if you are on a time-of-use rate. If you do have solar, the battery is expected to charge from it. This surprises people: a battery is now a reasonable purchase in Utah even with no panels on the roof.
Rocky Mountain Power keeps an approved list for Utah residential. It currently includes Tesla Powerwall 3, FranklinWH aPower X and aPower 2, SolarEdge Energy Bank, Fortress Power Envy True, and several Sonnen models. Buy off the list and the incentive does not exist.
What your exports are worth
Utah has not had true net metering for new customers in years. What you send to the grid is bought at a set rate, and that rate is about half of what you pay to buy power back.
Recalculated every year and effective 1 March. These are the rates set for 1 March 2026 and they will move again in March 2027.
Schedule 135 is the old kilowatt-hour-for-kilowatt-hour net metering. It is closed, but if you interconnected before 15 November 2017 you keep it until 1 January 2036. Do not let anyone talk you into a change that drops you off it.
Schedule 137 is net billing, and it applies to interconnection agreements filed after 30 October 2020. Exports are credited at the rate above, credits roll month to month, and whatever is left expires at your March meter reading.
Under the old rules, oversizing a system paid off, because every exported kilowatt-hour came back to you whole. Under Schedule 137 an exported kilowatt-hour is worth roughly half a purchased one, so the value is in using your own power as you make it. That favours a smaller array sized to your daytime load, a battery to move midday production into the evening, and an honest load calculation instead of a system sized to your roof. If someone is still selling you the biggest array that fits, ask them what export rate they used in the payback math.
One honest caveat
Everything above is public information from Rocky Mountain Power, the Utah Public Service Commission and the IRS, current as of September 2026. Rates and programs change, the export credit changes every March, and what you can personally claim depends on your own return. Confirm anything with a tax professional before you spend money because of it.
Get a quote
Tell us your utility and roughly what you spend on power. We’ll tell you whether the incentive math works before anyone comes out.
Free quote · no kitchen-table pitch
