2025 Solar Incentives Guide for Bay Village, OH - Tax Credits & Rebates

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

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

Solar incentives mitigate the cost of installing a solar panel system on your home. This category of financial incentives is intended to encourage more people to switch their home over to renewable energy. Incentives may include things like discounts, cash back or monthly utility bill credits. Some incentives are handled federally, while others are offered by the Ohio government or your specific utility company, county or municipality. Categories of solar incentives include:

• Rebates: A rebate is a partial refund after the purchase of your solar system. Rebates might be offered by your local utility company, your state or your county. The rebates are usually applied before calculating tax credits.
• Tax Credits: Tax credits decrease, dollar-for-dollar, the amount of income tax you owe the government. These are different from tax deductions.
• Tax Exemptions: Your solar system might qualify for exemptions on both sales and property tax. Sales tax exemptions are effective at the time of purchase. Property tax exemptions allow you to ignore the value added by your solar panels when calculating property taxes on your house.
• Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): SRECs and other performance-based incentives might be available to you if you have a solar system that produces more than a specified (generally small) amount of electricity. Performance-based incentives are typically handled by the state government. You can sell SRECs to your utility company or other buyers, and the money you make is typically considered part of your taxable income.
• Net Metering: You may be able to sign a net metering contract with your Bay Village utility company, that may apply to all or a percentage of the excess electricity that is generated by your solar panels. Your utility company will then subtract this value from your utility bill each month.

Federal Solar Incentives

When thinking about solar incentives, federal incentives may be the first thing that comes to mind. The Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit, or ITC, is likely the most commonly known federal solar incentive. The ITC provides you with a tax credit for a set percentage of your solar system's cost.

The ITC originally covered 30% of the cost of solar system installation, although that number has fluctuated slightly over the years between 26-30%. The percentage you qualify for will depend on when your solar system was installed. The total cost of installation includes the panels themselves as well as the cost of equipment, labor and accessories. There is no maximum amount you can claim. The ITC can be applied to solar systems installed after January 1, 2006, on your primary or secondary residence. The residence must be owned by you and in the United States.

Reaching out to your local Bay Village solar panel installer is the best way to learn more about how the ITC applies to your situation.

In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act made revisions to the ITC, now titled the Clean Energy Credit. Homeowners are now eligible for 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 credit percentage will then decrease on a yearly basis until the Clean Energy Credit expires in 2035. The expansion to the program also makes it easier to get credit for energy storage systems, starting in 2023.

More information about the new Inflation Reduction Act can be found here. Your local Bay Village solar panel company is the best resource for answering your questions about the new Clean Energy Credit and how it will apply to you.

State & Local Solar Incentives

In addition to federal solar incentives, there are often also state ones. Rebates, tax credits and more may be available at a more local level. These incentives may be offered by the Ohio government, or by your county or municipality. Some incentives may be ongoing, while others are available for a limited time.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Bay Village

Solar incentives may be provided by your local utility company, the Ohio government or the federal government. The growing number of available solar incentives has contributed to a large increase in solar energy use in the last 15 years. We recommend talking to your local Bay Village solar installation expert for more information about these incentives and to be sure that you're getting all the money you can for your solar panels.