2025 Solar Incentives Guide for Pittsburg, KS - Tax Credits & Rebates

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

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

The phrase "solar incentives" refers to a range of financial incentives implemented to make installing and using solar panels more affordable. This is done to encourage people to switch to renewable energy. Incentives can include things like discounts, cash back or credit on your utility bill each month. Some incentives are provided by the federal government, while others are handled by the state of Kansas or your specific utility company, county or municipality. Some solar incentives you might qualify for are:

• Tax Credits: Tax credits are dollar-for-dollar reductions that lower the amount of income tax you owe the federal government. (This is different from a tax deduction.)
• Rebates: A solar rebate is a partial refund after the purchase of your solar system. These may be offered by your local utility company, your county or your state. The cash back that you get from the rebates is normally applied before calculating tax credits.
• Tax Exemptions: These might come in the form of property tax exemptions, which would allow you to ignore the value of your solar system when paying taxes on your house. They may also include exemptions on sales tax at the time of purchase.
• Net Metering: Net metering is an incentive you can get once your solar panels are up and running. If you have in place a net metering agreement with your Pittsburg utility company, it will subtract the value of the excess energy produced by your solar system from your monthly utility bill. In some areas, this is a dollar-for-dollar credit, while in others you might make back a percentage of the value.

Federal Solar Incentives

When thinking about solar incentives, you likely think of federal incentives first. A federal incentive that most people are probably familiar with is the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC). This is a tax credit for a given percentage of the cost of your solar system.

The ITC covers solar systems installed after January 1, 2006, and under this program you can deduct from your taxes a percentage of the total cost of solar panels, labor, accessories and equipment. This credit can be claimed on solar panels installed on a primary or secondary residence that you own in the United States. The original amount you could claim was 30% of the total cost, although depending on when the project was completed, your credit may range from 26-30%. There is no maximum amount you can claim.

To best understand how the ITC will apply to your situation, reach out to your local Pittsburg solar panel installation expert and ask for more information.

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. With the new provisions, solar installation projects that are completed between 2022 and 2032, can qualify for a 30% tax credit. This percentage will then decrease slightly each year until the current Clean Energy Credit expires in 2035. Starting in 2023, the expansion will also make credits for energy storage systems even easier to claim.

Click here to learn more about the new Inflation Reduction Act. Your local Pittsburg solar panel installer can answer any questions you have and explain how the new Clean Energy Credit may apply to you.

State & Local Solar Incentives

Tax credits, rebates and more might be claimed at multiple levels. In addition to federal solar incentives, there are often state and local ones as well. The incentives — which might be given by your county or municipality, or by the state of Kansas — might be offered for only a limited time, or on an ongoing basis.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Pittsburg

There are a number of different solar incentives: those given by local utility companies, those provided by the federal government and those given by the Kansas government, to name a few. The use of solar energy has increased enormously in the last 15 years, thanks to these incentives. If you're prepared to make the change to solar energy, talking to your local Pittsburg solar panel installation expert is a great first step.