2023 Solar Incentives Guide for Prairie, OH - Tax Credits & Rebates

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

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 in place to encourage more homeowners to convert their home partially or fully to renewable energy. Incentives may include things like discounts, cash back or monthly utility bill credits. Some incentives are offered by the federal government, while others are provided by the Ohio government or your specific utility company, county or municipality. Categories of solar incentives include:

• Tax Exemptions: These may come in the form of property tax exemptions, which can let you ignore the value added by your solar panels when paying taxes on your home. You could also look for exemptions on sales tax at the time of purchase.
• Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): SRECs are credits that can be sold to your utility company (or other buyers) for cash that normally counts as part of your taxable income. In most cases, a certain (small) threshold of energy production must be met before your solar system qualifies for SRECs or similar performance-based incentives. Incentives like these are generally handled at the state level.
• Rebates: A rebate is a partial refund after the purchase of your solar panels. These could be offered by your local utility company, your state or your county. The discount that rebates offer is normally applied to the price of solar panels before calculating tax credits.
• Net Metering: Don't forget to talk with your Prairie utility company about signing a net metering contract. This will allow you to get a credit towards your utility bill every month for the value of excess energy your solar panels generate. You may receive either a dollar-for-dollar credit or a percentage of the value.
• Tax Credits: Tax credits lower, dollar-for-dollar, the total amount of tax you owe the government. These are different from tax deductions.

Federal Solar Incentives

Federal incentives are the type of incentives that you are most likely to have some knowledge of. An incentive that most people are likely familiar with is the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC). This incentive is a tax credit for a specific percentage of the cost of your solar system.

The ITC applies to solar panels installed on your primary or secondary residence in the United States. The solar panels must have been installed after January 1, 2006 on a property you own for you to claim the credit. Initially, the ITC applied to 30% of all costs (panels, labor, accessories and equipment), although this amount has fluctuated over the last few years 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 Prairie solar panel installation expert can offer more information about the ITC and how it applies to your situation.

In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act expanded and extended the ITC, now called the Clean Energy Credit. The new Clean Energy Credit extends until 2035. You are now eligible for a 30% credit for solar systems installed between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2032. This credit will then be decreased by a few percentage points every year until its expiration. Starting in 2023, the expansion to the program will also make it easier to get credit for energy storage systems.

More information about the new Inflation Reduction Act can be found here. The best way to fully understand how the new Clean Energy Credit might apply to you is to reach out to your local Prairie solar panel installers with your questions.

State & Local Solar Incentives

There are often also state solar incentives in addition to those provided by the federal government. Rebates, tax credits and more might be available at a more local level. Some incentives are ongoing, while others may only be available for a limited time. Incentives might be given by the Ohio government, or by your county or municipality.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Prairie

There are a variety of solar incentives: those offered by local utility companies, those offered by the federal government and those offered by the Ohio government, to name a few. The use of solar energy has grown tremendously in the last 15 years, partially due to these incentives. It is a good idea to talk to your local Prairie solar installation company to learn more about these incentives and to make sure that you're getting all of the money you can for your solar panels.