2024 Solar Incentives Guide for Pickerington, OH - Tax Credits & Rebates

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

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

Solar incentives are designed to make renewable energy usage more affordable through financial incentives for individuals who install solar panels on their homes. You may qualify for several types of incentives, such as discounts, cash back or credit towards your monthly utility bill, depending on your situation. Certain incentives come from your specific utility company, county or municipality, some from the state of Ohio and others from the federal government. Some broad categories of solar incentives include:

• Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): SRECs are credits that can be sold to your utility company (or other buyers) for money that normally counts as part of your taxable income. Typically, you must meet a certain (small) threshold of energy production before your solar system qualifies for SRECs or other performance-based incentives. SRECs and similar incentives are typically handled at the state level.
• Rebates: A rebate is a partial refund given after you've purchased your solar panels. These may be offered by your local utility company, your state or your county. The cash back that you get from the rebates is normally applied before calculating tax credits.
• Tax Exemptions: These may come in the form of property tax exemptions, which can let you exclude the value of your solar system when calculating the taxes you pay on your house. They may also include exemptions on sales tax at the time of purchase.
• Tax Credits: Tax credits reduce, dollar-for-dollar, the amount of income tax you owe the government. These differ from tax deductions.
• Net Metering: Don't forget to speak with your Pickerington utility company about signing a net metering agreement. This will allow you to receive credit towards your utility bill every month for the value of excess energy your solar panels generate. You could receive either a dollar-for-dollar credit or a percentage of the value.

Best Solar Financing

Blue Raven Solar

★★★★★

4.5

• Industry-leading in-house financing
• Competitive pricing
• Excellent reputation
• Doesn't offer solar batteries

Get Estimate

Best Technology

Tesla Energy

★★★★★

3.2

• Price-match guarantee
• Sleek, efficient, and durable solar panels
• Best solar battery on the market
• Some reported issues with customer service
• Customer service varies by local dealer

Get Estimate

Federal Solar Incentives

Federal incentives are the type of incentives that you are most likely to have heard of. One of the incentives many people are likely familiar with is the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC). This is a tax credit for a certain percentage of your solar system's cost.

The ITC can be credited towards the value of a solar system installed on your primary or secondary residence in the United States. The solar system has to have been installed after January 1, 2006, on a property owned by you for you to be eligible for the credit. The ITC originally paid out 30% of all system costs (panels, equipment, labor and accessories), although the amount has fluctuated over the last few years between 26-30%. The installation date of your solar system will determine what percentage you are eligible for. There is no cap on the claim amount.

To more fully understand how the ITC may apply to you, speak to your local Pickerington solar panel installation expert and request more information.

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in August 2022, made some changes to the ITC (as well as retitling it the Clean Energy Credit). The new Clean Energy Credit is valid until 2035. American homeowners can now apply for a 30% credit for solar systems that began installation after January 1, 2022, and are completed by the end of 2032. The credit will then be decreased by a few percentage points every year until it expires. The program expansion also makes credits for energy storage systems even easier to claim, starting in 2023.

Click here to learn more about the new Inflation Reduction Act. The best way to understand how the new Clean Energy Credit applies to you is to speak with your local Pickerington solar panel installers directly.

State & Local Solar Incentives

Some solar incentives are often also provided at the state and local level. Like with federal incentives, these might include rebates, tax credits and more. Incentives may be handled by your county or municipality, or by the state of Ohio. Some incentives may be available for only a limited time, while others are ongoing.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Pickerington

There are many kinds of solar incentives: those offered by the federal government, those provided by the Ohio government and those offered by local utility companies, to name a few. Solar energy utilization has grown enormously in the last 15 years, partially due to these incentives. Your local Pickerington solar panel installer can give you more information about which incentives you can apply for, and get you feeling good about making the change to renewable energy today.