Clean energy advice for Connecticut homes, where the tariff you pick is a twenty-year decision
Connecticut asks every new solar household to choose how it will be paid — Netting or Buy-All — and that choice stays with the system for two decades.
Classic net metering closed to new Connecticut applicants at the end of 2021. In its place is the Residential Renewable Energy Solutions programme, run by Eversource and United Illuminating under rules set by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority. You pick one of its two tariffs when you apply to connect, and that year’s terms stay with the system.
That puts unusual weight on a single form. The right tariff depends on when your household uses power, whether a battery is planned and who owns the system. Our advice is independent of any one product line, so we can lay both options side by side and show you the real difference for your house.
What Connecticut homeowners are working with
Two tariffs, one choice
Netting or Buy-All, chosen with your interconnection application and fixed for twenty years.
No property tax on the added value
Homes of one to four units are exempt once the claim is filed with the town assessor.
No sales tax on the system
Equipment and installation services are both exempt under state law.
Paid to help the grid
Energy Storage Solutions pays home batteries for supporting the network over a ten-year term.
One form, two tariffs, twenty years
Under Netting, your home draws on its own solar output first and only the surplus flows out. That surplus is credited at the rate you pay for electricity, and unused credits carry forward from month to month. It rewards households that run appliances, heat pumps or a car charger while the sun is up.
Under Buy-All, the utility purchases the panels’ entire output at a fixed rate set for the year you apply, while you keep buying your household power as normal. Production and consumption are metered separately, so how you use energy at home does not change what the panels earn. Neither wins in general, but one usually wins for you — and that is worth settling before the application goes in.
Netting and Buy-All, side by side
| Netting | Buy-All | |
|---|---|---|
| Where your solar power goes | Into the house first, surplus to the grid | All of it to the utility |
| How exports are valued | Bill credits at your retail rate | A fixed rate per kilowatt-hour, set by application year |
| Rewards using power at home | Yes | No — use and output are metered apart |
| How long the terms last | Twenty years | Twenty years |
Two tax exemptions, and one date to remember
Connecticut excludes a residential solar system from property tax for single-family homes and buildings of up to four units, provided the system is sized to the home’s expected annual use. The statute says plainly that taking part in a state tariff programme, or having a third party own the equipment, does not disqualify you.
The exemption is claimed rather than automatic: a written application goes to your town assessor on or before 1 November of the assessment year, and a missed deadline waives it for that year. After the first successful claim, later years need no new application. The sales tax side needs nothing from you, because the equipment and the labour to install it are exempt at the point of sale.
Who delivers your power decides which rules apply
Eversource and United Illuminating
Both investor-owned utilities offer Netting and Buy-All under the same state framework. United Illuminating serves the New Haven and Bridgeport area along the coast, and Eversource covers most of the rest of Connecticut. Each runs its own enrolment and interconnection process, and each publishes the tariff rates for the current application year — so your address settles which team handles the paperwork.
Norwich, Groton, Wallingford and other municipal systems
A number of Connecticut towns buy power from a municipal utility instead — among them Norwich, Groton, Wallingford, Jewett City, Bozrah and two of Norwalk’s taxing districts. The state tariff programme is run by Eversource and United Illuminating, so a municipal customer works to that utility’s own interconnection and crediting terms. We check which system serves your meter before anything else is planned.
What the 2026 law changed
Public Act 26-127 keeps the current tariffs open until the end of 2028, or until regulators order a successor, whichever comes first. It also tells the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to design that successor and keep it available through 2035, with rates based on when your power is produced. Households already enrolled keep their twenty-year terms.
How a Connecticut project comes together
Most of the decisions here happen on paper before anything goes on the roof. The order we work in:
- Confirm the utility on your meter — Eversource, United Illuminating or a municipal system, because each sets the process you follow
- Book the Home Energy Solutions visit early — for homes built before 1980 it is part of enrolling, so scheduling it first keeps the application moving
- Size for the home you are heading towards — the programme allows extra capacity for a planned electric car or heat pump
- Choose the tariff and file both claims — Netting or Buy-All with the utility, and the property tax claim with your assessor
Designing for maples, colonials and a working coastline
Many of Connecticut’s loveliest streets sit under mature oaks and maples. We design around that canopy by choosing the roof faces with the clearest sky, laying out strings so a shaded corner does not hold back the rest, and modelling the sun path across the whole year rather than a single summer afternoon.
Older colonials and capes often have steep, well-oriented roofs that suit panels nicely, and where a roof is due for renewal we plan both jobs together. Along the Sound, racking is engineered for coastal wind, and batteries and inverters go where they stay dry and serviceable.
Where Connecticut projects usually go next
Battery and backup
A battery keeps essentials running through a nor’easter outage, and Energy Storage Solutions now pays enrolled batteries over ten years for answering grid calls. Explore storage
Roofs and re-fits
Plan a new roof and the array as one job. Energy-efficient roof replacement comes first, and detach and reattach covers homes that already have panels.
Charging and control
Connecticut’s sizing rules make room for a planned car, so the charger belongs in the first design. Home EV charging with smart controls makes good use of that headroom.
What Connecticut homeowners ask us
Does Connecticut still have net metering?
Not for new applicants. Systems that applied before 2022 stay on the legacy arrangement, and new systems enrol in Residential Renewable Energy Solutions instead. Its Netting tariff is the closest match: the house uses its own power first and exported surplus is credited at your retail rate.
Is anything else on the bill with Netting?
Yes. Eversource’s current Netting terms include a Solar Energy Adjustment, a per-kilowatt-hour line applied to everything the system produces, set by the year you apply. A sound savings estimate shows it openly, and we include it in every comparison we prepare.
What happens when the current programme closes?
The 2026 law keeps today’s tariffs open until the end of 2028 or until a successor takes over, and that successor is required to run through 2035. Whatever the new terms turn out to be, a system already enrolled keeps the twenty years it signed up for.
Do I need a home energy assessment before going solar?
If your home was built before 1980, a Home Energy Solutions visit is part of enrolling in the tariff programme. The visit is arranged through Energize Connecticut, and we schedule it at the very start so it never holds up the application.
From Greenwich to the Quiet Corner, if solar, a battery or an EV charger is on your list, send us your utility, the year your house was built and one month’s bill. We will compare Netting and Buy-All for your household and map out every filing that follows.