2025 Solar Incentives Guide for Asheboro, NC - Tax Credits & Rebates

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

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

Solar incentives encourage people to switch to renewable energy by offering incentives that lower the financial burden of solar panel installation and use. These incentives may include cash back, upfront discounts or credit towards your monthly utility bill. Some incentives are offered by the federal government, some by the state of North Carolina and some by your utility company, county or municipality. Types of solar incentives might include:

• Net Metering: Be sure to talk to your Asheboro utility company about signing a net metering agreement. This will allow you to receive credit towards your monthly utility bill for the value of excess energy generated by your solar panels. You may receive either a dollar-for-dollar credit or a percentage of the value.
• Tax Credits: Tax credits are dollar-for-dollar reductions that lower the amount of income tax you owe the government. (A tax credit is different from a tax deduction.)
• Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): Typically, solar systems that produce more than a specified (normally small) amount of electricity will qualify for SRECs or other performance-based incentives. SRECs and performance-based incentives in general are typically given at the state level. When you receive an SREC, you can sell it to your utility company or another buyer, and generally the money you make is normally considered part of your taxable income.
• Rebates: Solar rebates can be offered by your local utility company, or by your state or county. These rebates are essentially cash back that is applied after you pay for a solar system and before tax credits are calculated.
• Tax Exemptions: Tax exemptions can come in two forms. The first is sales tax exemption, applied at the time you purchase your solar panels. The second is property tax exemption. This allows you to exclude the value added by your solar system when calculating property tax for your home.

Federal Solar Incentives

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

The ITC can be applied to the total cost of installing a solar system, including the panels themselves as well as labor, accessories and equipment. This credit can be claimed for panels installed after January 1, 2006, on a primary or secondary residence that you own, as long as it is located in the United States. From its original value of 30% of the total cost, the credit has fluctuated slightly between 26-30%, and you may qualify for varying percentages depending on when your project was completed. There is no maximum claim amount.

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

In August 2022, the ITC (now referred to as the Clean Energy Credit) was expanded and extended by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. Homeowners can now receive a credit of 30% of the total costs of solar system installation for projects that began after January 1, 2022, and will be finished by the end of 2032. The percentage will then begin to decrease yearly until the Clean Energy Credit ends in 2035. Starting in 2023, the program expansion will also make credits for energy storage systems even easier to claim.

More information about the new Inflation Reduction Act can be found here. Your local Asheboro solar panel installation experts can answer any questions you have and explain how the new Clean Energy Credit will apply to you.

State & Local Solar Incentives

In addition to those provided at the federal level, there are often also state solar incentives. Rebates, tax credits and more can be offered at a more local level. The incentives — which may be given by your county or municipality, or by the state of North Carolina — may be offered for only a limited time, or on an ongoing basis.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Asheboro

There are a number of different solar incentives: those provided by local utility companies, those provided by the federal government and those provided by the North Carolina government, to name a few. Solar energy use has grown enormously in the last 15 years, thanks to these incentives. When you're prepared to make the change to solar energy, getting in touch with your local Asheboro solar panel installation expert is an excellent place to start.