2025 Solar Incentives Guide for Riverbank, CA - Tax Credits & Rebates

What Solar Tax Credits, Incentives, and Rebates are Available in Riverbank?

Source: https://www.dsireusa.org/

The term "solar incentives" refers to financial incentives designed to encourage the adoption and use renewable energy by making installing and using solar panels more affordable. Incentives might include things like discounts, cash back or credit towards your monthly utility bill. Some incentives are provided by the federal government, while others are offered by the California government or your utility company, county or municipality. You might qualify for any of the following types of solar incentives:

• Rebates: Solar rebates can be provided by your local utility company, or by your county or state. These rebates are essentially cash back that is applied after you pay for solar panels and before tax credits are calculated.
• Tax Exemptions: Your solar panel system may qualify for exemptions on both sales and property tax. Sales tax exemptions come into effect at the time of purchase. Property tax exemptions let you ignore the value that solar panels add when you are calculating property taxes on your house.
• Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): SRECs can be sold to your utility company (or other buyers) for money that typically becomes part of your taxable income. Typically, a certain (small) threshold of energy production must be met before your solar system is eligible for SRECs or other performance-based incentives. These kinds of incentives are typically handled at the state level.
• Net Metering: Net metering factors in once your solar system is up and running. If you have a net metering agreement with your Riverbank utility company, it will subtract the value of the excess energy produced by your solar system from your utility bill each month. In some places, this is a dollar-for-dollar credit, while in other areas you may receive a refund equivalent to a percentage of the value.
• Tax Credits: Different from tax deductions, tax credits reduce, dollar-for-dollar, the amount of income tax that you owe the government.

Federal Solar Incentives

When thinking about solar incentives, federal incentives might be the first thing that comes to mind. It's likely that you've heard of the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit, or ITC. The ITC is a tax credit that reduces your taxes by a certain percentage of the money you spend on solar panels for your home.

The ITC can be credited towards the value of solar panels installed on your primary or secondary residence in the United States. The solar panels have to have been installed on a property you own after January 1, 2006, for you to claim the credit. Initially, the ITC applied to 30% of all costs (panels, equipment, accessories and labor), although the covered amount has fluctuated slightly over time between 26-30%. The amount you qualify for will depend on when your solar system was installed. There is no cap on the amount you can claim.

Your local Riverbank solar panel installer can give you more information about the ITC and how it might apply to your situation.

The ITC has been renewed and expanded following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022. It's also now called the Clean Energy Credit. The Clean Energy Credit is valid until 2035. Any solar installation project that is completed between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2032, may qualify for a 30% tax credit; this amount will then decrease slightly each year until the end of the current program. Starting in 2023, the program expansion will also make claiming credit for energy storage systems easier than ever before.

Click here to learn more about the new Inflation Reduction Act. Your local Riverbank solar panel installation expert is the best person to answer your questions regarding the new Clean Energy Credit and how it may apply to you.

State & Local Solar Incentives

Some solar incentives are often also provided by state and local governments. Similar to federal incentives, these might include rebates, tax credits and more. The incentives — which may be provided by your county or municipality, or by the state of California — might be offered for only a limited time, or on an ongoing basis.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Riverbank

There are many kinds of solar incentives: those provided by local utility companies, those offered by the federal government and those offered by the California government, to name a few. The use of solar energy has increased enormously in the last 15 years, partially due to these incentives. We recommend talking to your local Riverbank solar installation company to learn more about these incentives and to be sure that you're getting all the money you can for your solar panels.