Pricing and incentive data current as of June 2026. The federal §25D residential clean energy credit ended December 31, 2025; figures below reflect that change.
What a 2026 New York Solar System Costs at $2.77 Per Watt
A 2026 New York solar quote, before any incentives are applied, sits at $2.77 per watt installed for a competitively shopped system. The state’s average installed system size is 12.4 kW, which puts the gross before-incentive cost at $34,500 for a full-offset system on a home with average New York consumption.
Two prices matter. The competitive price is what a homeowner shopping multiple quotes and using a participating installer can expect to pay in 2026: $2.77 per watt for a homeowner-purchased residential system. The typical reported price runs higher because it includes premium-equipment quotes, door-to-door channels, and contracts signed under sales pressure. The second figure is what lands in industry transaction databases, but it is not the figure a careful shopper actually pays.
Here is what that means by system size, before any incentive.
System Size | Solar Only (Before Incentives) | Solar Plus 13.5 kWh Battery | Best Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
6 kW | $14,600 to $18,600 | $29,600 to $33,600 | Small home, partial offset |
8 kW | $19,500 to $24,800 | $34,500 to $39,800 | Average New York consumption |
10 kW | $24,400 to $31,000 | $39,400 to $46,000 | Heavier use, EV or heat pump |
12 kW | $29,300 to $37,200 | $44,300 to $52,200 | Large home, all-electric |
The per-watt basis is gross installed price before incentives, host-owned residential. The paired-battery figure assumes one 13.5 kWh battery at a New York installed cost of $15,000. Real quotes vary by roof complexity, equipment choice, electrical-panel condition, and installer.
The number on the quote and the number you pay are different in 2026. The federal credit that used to bring a New York cash buyer’s payment down by $9,000 to $10,000 expired at the end of 2025. The state and utility-level credits that survive subtract less, and one of the larger ones is structured so that only third-party-owned systems can capture it. That is why the next section matters more than the table above.
Try our New York solar cost and savings calculator!
Why §25D’s Expiration Hits Cash Buyers Hardest in New York
The federal residential clean energy credit, Section 25D of the Internal Revenue Code, ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025. The operative date is when the original installation was completed, not the date the contract was signed or paid for, and permission-to-operate timing is irrelevant. A homeowner who signed in late 2025 but whose panels were energized in February 2026 cannot claim the credit. Carryforwards from pre-2026 installs are unaffected.
What that means for a New York cash buyer: a $34,500 system that would have cost $25,000 after the federal credit through 2025 now costs the full $34,500 before any incentive runs. The cost has not changed; the available offsets have shrunk.
The §48E commercial credit survived. Section 48E is the credit a business takes when it installs solar. It still pays 30% of installed cost to the system owner, and in residential solar the system owner can be a third-party provider running a lease or power purchase agreement. The provider claims the credit; the homeowner does not, but the credit value gets passed through as a lower monthly payment.
The catch: §48E projects must begin construction by July 4, 2026, or be placed in service by December 31, 2027. Federal foreign-entity-of-concern equipment-sourcing rules also apply from 2026 forward. Providers planning to monetize the credit are filling their 2026 installation calendars now.
Two options for a New York buyer in 2026:
- Buy with cash or a loan: you pay the full $34,500 gross, get no federal credit, and rely on the state’s 25% credit (capped at $5,000) and the sales- and property-tax exemptions to bring the cost down.
- Lease or sign a PPA: the provider claims the 30% federal credit and passes some of that value through as a lower monthly payment. The state’s 25% credit still reaches you, because New York is one of the few states whose statute applies to PPA and lease contracts of at least ten years.
That second bullet is the New York-specific piece. In most states, the state-level residential credit is restricted to owned systems. New York’s is not, which is why the lease and PPA option became more competitive against owned systems in 2026 than it has ever been.
Tax Law §606(g-1): The New York Credit That Reaches Lease and PPA Customers
Three state-level benefits, plus one city-level one, still apply in 2026.
The New York State Solar Energy System Equipment Credit (Tax Law §606(g-1)) is the anchor. It is worth 25% of net system cost, capped at $5,000, nonrefundable, with a five-year carryforward. It is claimed on Form IT-255. The statute applies to owned, leased, and PPA systems of at least ten years, and that is the reason §48E pass-through deals stack value for a New York homeowner that they cannot stack in most other states. The credit is calculated on cost after any NY-Sun rebate has been subtracted.
The Real Property Tax Exemption (RPTL §487) gives a 15-year exemption on the added home value from a qualifying solar system. Counties, cities, towns, villages, and most school districts can opt out, except in NYC, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Yonkers, where school districts cannot require a PILOT. Verify with your local assessor before signing, because where the locality has opted out, a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) may apply.
The Sales Tax Exemption removes New York state sales tax (and local sales tax where the locality adopted it) on residential solar equipment at point of sale. The installer applies it; no form is needed. The parallel residential energy-storage sales-tax exemption expires June 1, 2026, so batteries purchased after that date will be taxed.
The NYC Property Tax Abatement (PTA / SEGS) stacks on top for properties inside the five boroughs. It is 7.5% per year for four years, a total of 30% of installed cost (after NY-Sun rebate), capped at $62,500 per year or $250,000 total, for systems placed in service between January 1, 2024 and January 1, 2035. A registered architect or professional engineer files the application.
The incentive most homeowners think they have, but probably do not: NY-Sun. The NY-Sun Megawatt Block program ran a standard-income residential rebate for years. The Con Edison region block closed May 29, 2025, and the Upstate region block closed December 17, 2025. The Long Island standard block closed back in April 2016. The only standard-income MW-Block dollars left sit in the niche Block 2 Solar for All adder. The Affordable Solar Residential Incentive is still funded for households at or below 80% of area median income: $0.80 per watt in Upstate and Con Edison territory, $0.40 per watt on Long Island. A 7 kW Upstate income-qualified system collects $5,600 from this incentive.
If a salesperson tells you a NY-Sun rebate is coming on a 2026 standard-income install, ask which block, in which territory, and on which dashboard. Then check the NYSERDA dashboard yourself.
How Con Edison, NYSEG, and the Pending Rate Cases Pay for Your Solar
The reason any of this works is that New York electricity is expensive and getting more expensive. The statewide 2024 residential average was 24.43 cents per kWh, the seventh-highest in the country. February 2026 hit 29.99 cents, sixth-highest. Residential prices climbed from 18.1 cents per kWh in 2019 to 24.43 cents in 2024.
What that looks like by utility in 2026:
- Con Edison (NYC, Westchester): a three-year plan approved through Dec 31, 2028, raises average electric delivery by 2.8% per year. Summer 2026 NYC residential bills are projected to rise 5.7%, with supply driving most of the change.
- National Grid Upstate (Niagara Mohawk): multi-year increase approved August 14, 2025. The residential customer saw $17.24 added per month in year one.
- NYSEG and RG&E: both filed for delivery increases of 35% to 36% in the pending DPS rate cases. NYSEG’s pending case targeted $33 added per month on a 600 kWh bill.
- Central Hudson: basic service charge rises from $21.50 to $26.00 over three years; new delivery plan effective July 1, 2025 added $9.19 per month in year one.
- Orange & Rockland: standard residential customer charge is $29 per month.
- PSEG Long Island: May 2026 power supply charge was 16.0182 cents per kWh, having moved from 12.98 cents in January to 16.59 in April. Volatility is higher than on the IOU territories.
For a solar system, every cent of utility-rate increase is a cent of higher savings on each generated kWh. A 12 kW system producing 14,000 kWh annually offsets $4,200 at the 2026 statewide rate level, and that figure rises automatically every year the rate case dockets keep moving.
The Customer Benefit Contribution is the line item most quotes do not mention. Every solar system interconnected in New York on or after January 1, 2022 pays a monthly per-kW CBC charge that cannot be netted out by generation, and the rate is recalculated annually rather than locked at interconnection. The 2026 final residential CBC rates for net-metering customers are:
Utility | NEM CBC ($/kW-mo) | VDER CBC ($/kW-mo) | 7 kW Annual Cost (NEM) |
|---|---|---|---|
Central Hudson | $1.67 | $0.84 | $140 |
Con Edison | $1.29 | $0.65 | $108 |
LIPA / PSEG-LI | $1.13 | N/A | $95 |
National Grid Upstate | $0.97 | $0.49 | $82 |
NYSEG | $1.19 | $0.60 | $100 |
Orange & Rockland | $1.00 | $0.50 | $84 |
RG&E | $1.31 | $0.65 | $110 |
The CBC is not catastrophic, but it is real. A 10 kW Central Hudson system pays $200 a year that the bill credit cannot touch. Over 20 years of net metering, that adds up to thousands of dollars a careful payback model should not pretend are not there. The 2026 utility-published rates PDF is the official source.
Snow Load, Brownstone Roofs, and the 100-Amp Panel Problem
Three categories of cost adder show up in real New York installs:
Engineering for the climate. Upstate snow load (Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany average 60-plus inches annually) requires steeper-pitch racking, snow-shedding mounts, and a structural analysis of the roof’s load. That engineering work adds a per-watt premium over a comparable low-snow install. Downstate, wind load along the South Shore and Long Island coast brings hurricane-grade racking requirements that add a comparable premium.
Building stock and roof type. New York City flat roofs in brownstone neighborhoods are crowded with HVAC equipment, skylights, and roof hatches. Landmark districts in Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights, and Greenwich Village restrict what panels can sit where. Tile, slate, metal, and cedar roofs add $0.25 to $0.75 per watt. Older roofs that need replacement first add the full cost of a new roof to the project before the solar work starts, and most insurers now require a roof rated for 15-plus years of remaining life.
Electrical-panel upgrades. A large share of pre-1980 New York homes still run 100-amp service. Most modern solar systems plus EV charging plus future load growth need a 200-amp upgrade. That electrical work is real money and rarely shows in a per-watt quote.
What pulls cost down: simple south-facing asphalt-shingle roofs; larger systems (the per-watt drops as size goes up); shopping three or more competitive quotes; sticking with NY-Sun participating contractors who handle paperwork correctly the first time.
What You Actually Pay: Payback Math on a Con Edison Roof
Take an average New York scenario: a 12 kW system at the $2.77 per watt competitive price, on a Con Edison home with 571 kWh of monthly consumption.
- Gross system cost: $33,240
- New York 25% state credit (capped): -$5,000
- Net out-of-pocket cost (cash buyer): $28,240
- Annual production: 14,000 kWh
- Annual bill offset at 24.43 cents/kWh: $3,420
- Annual CBC drag (Con Ed, 12 kW × $1.29 × 12): -$185
- Net annual return: $3,235
- Simple payback: 8.7 years
This is for a cash buyer with no federal credit available, on a Con Edison system, in a locality with the §487 property-tax exemption in effect. Payback shortens for higher-rate utilities (Central Hudson and RG&E rate-case decisions are pushing rates higher), and it lengthens for low-consumption homes or §487-opted-out localities.
The lifetime picture: net 25-year savings fall in the range of $40,000 to $55,000 on a similar system, depending on rate trajectory, panel-degradation assumptions, and battery additions. The loss of the federal credit shaved $9,000 to $10,000 off that lifetime figure for cash buyers compared with a 2025 install.
For a lease or PPA, the calculation flips. The provider claims the §48E credit and prices the monthly payment to undercut your current utility bill from day one. You do not build equity, you do not get the bill-offset upside if rates rise faster than the escalator, and the system owner collects the §487 property-tax-exemption benefit instead of you. The New York state credit can still pass to you on a properly structured ten-plus-year contract. For a deeper view of whether the long-run math beats the lease option, is solar worth it for your New York home takes the question apart by scenario.
How to Pay for Solar Without §25D in 2026 New York
Four options, each with a 2026-specific catch.
Cash purchase still produces the strongest 25-year return because you own the system and the bill offset accrues to you in full. The downside in 2026 is the loss of the federal credit; your upfront check is $9,000 to $10,000 larger than it would have been a year ago for an equivalent system.
A solar loan stretches the cost across 20 to 25 years. Marketplace data put H2 2025 median quoted loan terms at a 7.5% rate over 25 years, with most lenders requiring a FICO score of at least 650 (some accept 600). Without the federal credit available to apply as a Year 1 principal payment, the monthly figure is higher than pre-2026 quotes. Run the math: if the loan payment is not actually below your current monthly electricity bill, the “save from day one” pitch is not real.
A lease lets a third party install and own the system on your roof. You pay a fixed monthly amount that escalates annually. The 2026 advantage: the lessor claims the 30% §48E credit, and New York’s 25% state credit can still reach you on contracts of 10 years or more. The 2026 risk: the escalator. The New York Attorney General settled with Vivint Solar in 2020 over a 2.9% annual escalator that effectively wiped out the customer’s savings by year 12. If a New York lease or PPA quote shows an escalator above 2.9% per year, walk away.
A PPA works the same way but pays per kWh rather than a flat monthly fee. The same escalator caution applies. The first-year per-kWh rate has to clearly undercut your utility’s retail rate, not just match it.
Consumer protection is worse in 2026 than it was in 2025. The New York Attorney General sued Attyx in 2026 over a $275 million bait-and-switch scheme that pitched “free solar” and government programs to low-income households and seniors and folded the actual cost into inflated loan contracts. The PSC had ordered Attyx to stop New York solar marketing the year before, and the company allegedly continued operating under the name “LGCY Power.” None of that is unique to one bad actor; the §25D loss, the rise of third-party ownership, and the high-pressure sales channels that follow are creating conditions for repeat schemes.
If you are considering a zero-down offer, what zero-down solar actually means in New York walks through the contract red flags that separate a legitimate lease from a scam.
When Solar Doesn’t Make Financial Sense in New York
Not every New York roof is a good fit, and not every homeowner is in a position where the math works in 2026.
Heavily shaded roofs. Production models that look fine on paper underperform 30% to 40% when there is afternoon tree cover or NYC HVAC obstructions. A site visit, not a satellite-image quote, is the test.
Monthly usage under 400 kWh. Small systems do not dilute fixed costs enough to deliver a meaningful return. Without the federal credit, the math now stretches past 12 years for low-usage homes. Community solar is often a better fit for those households.
Planned tenure under seven years. Payback in 2026 New York runs 7 to 11 years for most cash buyers. A sale before payback locks in a loss. Leases and PPAs add sale-complexity: the buyer assumes the contract.
§487-opted-out localities. Where the locality has opted out of the property-tax exemption, the added home value can raise property taxes. Verify with the assessor before signing.
Roofs needing replacement within five years. Removing and reinstalling panels for a roof job costs $1,500 to $3,000 in pure overhead. Replace the roof first.
Municipal-utility and co-op territories (Delaware County Electric Coop, the dozens of municipal utilities outside investor-owned-utility jurisdiction). Net metering rules and rate levels vary. The savings math often does not reach the same level it does on Con Edison or National Grid.
LIPA customers without VDER access. PSEG Long Island operates its own tariff outside Public Service Commission IOU jurisdiction; the value-stack tariff that benefits some larger systems is not available in the mass-market form Upstate customers see.
What to Ask a New York Installer About NY-Sun, CBC, and PPA Escalators
The questions that separate a New York installer who will get it right from one who will not:
- Are you a NY-Sun participating contractor? Required to access any NYSERDA incentive, and a baseline signal of competence with the paperwork.
- What is the §487 status of my locality? A serious installer knows or finds out before signing. If they do not, they do not know your true cost.
- What is my utility’s 2026 CBC rate, and have you modeled it into the payback? Most quotes have not.
- If you are proposing a battery: am I enrolling in my utility’s BYOB demand-response program? The NYSERDA storage incentive ($200 to $250 per kWh) requires BYOB enrollment as of April 1, 2026.
- What is the escalator on this PPA? If it is above 2.9% per year, the contract erodes its own savings.
- Can you show me three recent completed installs of similar size in this utility territory? Local performance, not generic credentials, is what predicts your install quality.
For a closer read on specific installers with verified records, vetted New York installers we have reviewed breaks down the local market by region.
For the broader picture of which 2026 New York incentives are worth claiming, every New York solar incentive worth claiming lays out the full stack.
See What Solar Would Cost at Your New York ZIP Code
The numbers above are statewide averages, modified for utility territory. Your roof, your shading, your utility, your locality’s §487 status, and whether you add storage all change the actual cost. Enter your ZIP code to see how the 2026 New York math runs for your specific home.
Try our New York solar cost and savings calculator!
Frequently Asked Questions
In 2026, a homeowner-purchased residential solar system in New York runs $2.77 per watt installed before incentives: $16,600 for a 6 kW system, $22,200 for an 8 kW, $27,700 for a 10 kW, and $33,200 for a 12 kW. After the state’s 25% credit (capped at $5,000), an average 12 kW cash buyer pays $28,200 out of pocket.
For a purchased system, no. The federal residential clean energy credit (Section 25D) ended for installations placed in service after December 31, 2025. The federal commercial credit (Section 48E) survives and can reach you indirectly if you sign a lease or PPA, because the provider claims the credit and passes value through as a lower monthly payment.
The CBC is a monthly per-kW charge that every solar system interconnected on or after January 1, 2022 pays. It cannot be netted out by your solar generation and is recalculated annually. The 2026 rates run from $0.97 per kW per month on National Grid Upstate to $1.67 on Central Hudson. On a 10 kW system, the annual cost ranges from $115 to $200. It is a real drag, but it is not large enough to break the payback math at New York’s rate levels.
Yes. New York’s 25% state credit (Tax Law §606(g-1)) is one of the few in the country that explicitly applies to leased and PPA systems, provided the contract runs at least ten years. The credit is capped at $5,000 per taxpayer and carries forward five years. This is part of why third-party-owned systems became more competitive in 2026 New York than in most other states.
No, not for standard-income residential customers. The NY-Sun Megawatt Block standard residential incentive closed in the Con Edison territory on May 29, 2025, and in the Upstate territory on December 17, 2025. The Long Island standard block closed back in April 2016. The only remaining NY-Sun rebate is the Affordable Solar Residential Incentive for households at or below 80% of area median income: $0.80 per watt Upstate and Con Edison, $0.40 per watt Long Island.
For a cash buyer in 2026, payback runs 7 to 11 years, depending on utility territory, system size, and locality. A Con Edison 12 kW system on a home with average consumption pays back in 8.7 years at current rate levels. Payback shortens as rates climb. Leases and PPAs offer immediate monthly savings rather than payback in the traditional sense, with lower lifetime return.
The transitional Phase One net-metering enrollment carries a 20-year term that travels with the property. A new owner inherits the remaining years of the lock. Be sure your closing paperwork documents the enrollment and the date the 20-year clock started; buyers’ lenders and inspectors increasingly ask for it.
References & Research Sources
EcoGen America reviewed federal electricity data, federal tax guidance, New York State solar incentive resources, utility rate materials, property tax guidance, consumer protection resources, solar production modeling tools, and solar market research sources for this article. Sources were accessed June 2, 2026, unless another publication, release, effective, or update date is listed below.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). New York State Electricity Profile. State Electricity Profiles; 2024 data. Released November 2025. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Electricity Sales, Revenue, and Average Price, Table 5A. Federal electricity sales, revenue, and average price data table. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Residential Clean Energy Credit. Federal Section 25D tax credit guidance. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service (IRS). FAQs for Modification of Sections 25C, 25D, 25E, 30C, 30D, 45L, 45W, and 179D Under Public Law 119-21. Federal clean energy tax credit guidance. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- United States Code. 26 U.S.C. § 25D: Residential Clean Energy Credit. Federal tax code provision. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- Congressional Research Service (CRS). Section 25D Expiration and Carryforward. CRS Insight IN12611. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Form IT-255: Claim for Solar Energy System Equipment Credit. New York State solar energy system equipment tax credit form. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Real Property Tax Law § 487 Local Opt-Out Records. Local opt-out records for New York’s solar, wind, and farm waste energy system property tax exemption. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Real Property Tax Law § 487 Assessor Manual. Property tax exemption assessor guidance for solar, wind, and farm waste energy systems. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). NY-Sun Dashboards and Incentives. Solar incentive dashboard and program resource. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). 2026 Utility-Published Customer Benefit Contribution Rates. NY-Sun customer benefit contribution rate resource. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER). Distributed solar compensation and tariff resource. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Residential and Retail Storage Incentives. Energy storage incentive program resource. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Doing Solar Business in New York and the Unified Solar Permit. Solar contractor, permitting, and program participation resource. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- New York State Department of Public Service (DPS). Pending and Recent Electric Rate Cases. Electric utility rate case tracking resource. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (Con Edison). About Our Rates. Electric rate and customer billing resource. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- National Grid. Service Rates. Upstate New York residential electric service rate resource. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- PSEG Long Island. Rate Information. Long Island electric rate and tariff resource. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- New York State Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General James Sues Home Solar Power Company and Lenders for Cheating New Yorkers. Consumer protection enforcement announcement involving Attyx. Published 2026. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- New York State Office of the Attorney General. Going Solar: A Guide for Consumers. Consumer guide for New York homeowners considering solar energy. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- New York City Department of Finance. Clean Energy Systems Property Tax Abatement. New York City clean energy property tax abatement resource. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). PVWatts Calculator. Solar photovoltaic energy production modeling tool. Accessed June 2, 2026.
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Tracking the Sun. Distributed solar pricing, design, and market trend report series. Accessed June 2, 2026.
