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

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

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. These incentives may include cash back, upfront discounts or credit towards your monthly utility bill. Some incentives are handled by the federal government, some by the Ohio government and some by your specific utility company, county or municipality. Some broad categories of solar incentives include:

• Rebates: Solar rebates can be offered by your county or state, or by your local utility company. These rebates are essentially partial refunds that are applied after you purchase a solar system and before tax credits are calculated.
• Tax Exemptions: Your solar panel system might qualify for exemptions on both sales and property tax. Sales tax exemptions come into effect at the time of purchase. Property tax exemptions allow you to exclude the added value of the solar panels when you are calculating property taxes on your home.
• Net Metering: Net metering becomes relevant after your solar panels are up and running. If you've signed a net metering agreement with your Scioto 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 credit is dollar-for-dollar, while in other areas you may receive a refund equivalent to a percentage of the value.
• Tax Credits: Different from tax deductions, tax credits are dollar-for-dollar reductions in the amount of income tax that you owe the federal government.
• Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): SRECs and other performance-based incentives may be available to you if the solar system on your home produces over a specified (generally small) amount of electricity. This category of incentives is typically handled at the state level. You can sell SRECs to your utility company or other buyers, and the money you make is generally considered part of your taxable income.

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Federal Solar Incentives

When thinking about solar incentives, you probably think of federal incentives first. The solar incentive that you're most likely to have heard of is the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which provides a credit on your taxes equal to a certain percentage of your solar system's cost.

The ITC can be applied 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 owned by you for you to claim the credit. The ITC initially covered 30% of all system installation costs (panels, labor, accessories and equipment), although the covered amount has fluctuated slightly over the years between 26-30%. The amount you qualify for will depend on when your solar system was installed. There is no cap on the claim amount.

Wondering how the ITC applies to your specific situation? Contact your local Scioto solar panel installer to get more information.

In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act made revisions to the ITC, now titled the Clean Energy Credit. For solar system installations that begin after January 1, 2022, and are completed by the end of 2032, homeowners may be eligible for a credit for 30% of the total cost. This percentage will decrease annually after 2032 until the Clean Energy Credit ends in 2035. The expansion to the program also makes claiming credit for energy storage systems easier than ever before, starting in 2023.

Click here to learn more about the new Inflation Reduction Act. The best way to learn more about how the new Clean Energy Credit will apply to you is to talk with your local Scioto solar panel company.

State & Local Solar Incentives

Rebates, tax credits and more might be claimed at multiple levels. On top of federal solar incentives, there are often state and local ones, too. These solar incentives — which might be provided by your county or municipality, or by the state of Ohio — could be offered for only a limited time, or on an ongoing basis.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Scioto

There are a number of different solar incentives: those provided 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 increased enormously in the last 15 years, thanks to these incentives. If you're ready to switch over to solar energy, reaching out to your local Scioto solar panel installation expert is an excellent place to start.