Idaho has 149 MW of rooftop solar and no companies offering it for free. There is a structural reason for that beyond the usual ones, and it is worth understanding: Idaho runs three completely different export regimes depending on which utility bills you, and no single no-money-down product can be priced across all three. The absence of free solar here is partly a symptom of how fragmented the state is.
No Provider, and Three Different Answers
A free solar offer is a lease or a power purchase agreement, under which a company owns the system and charges you either a monthly fee or a price per kilowatt-hour. Per the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency, Idaho is one of 17 states with no current residential third-party ownership offerings.
Consider what such a company would have to price against here. An Idaho Power customer’s exports earn roughly 15.68¢ during summer on-peak hours, which is above Idaho’s statewide average residential rate of 12.52¢ per kWh (Idaho Power’s own retail rate differs by schedule), then about 3.39¢ off-peak and 2.9¢ outside summer. An Avista customer nets kilowatt-hours at retail. A Rocky Mountain Power customer receives around 4.2¢. Those are not variations on a theme; they are three different products.
A national lease company sells one contract at one price across a territory. Idaho does not offer a territory to sell it across. That is a genuine reason the market has not arrived, and it is also a reason to distrust any offer that does show up quoting a single statewide Idaho saving.
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Buying Now Means Buying Without a Credit
Most of those 149 MW went up while a homeowner could claim 30% back federally. That ended. Section 25D is $0 for purchased systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025 under Public Law 119-21.
The credit that survives, Section 48E, is commercial. It reaches a residential roof only when a business owns the system, so it flows through exactly the lease and power purchase arrangements Idaho does not currently have providers for. An Idaho household buying panels this year does so with no federal support, and there is no alternative structure here that would carry any.
Section 48E also carries a construction-start test tied to July 4, 2026, with a shorter deadline to be switched on for anything that missed it. The shorter switch-on deadline for projects that miss the July 4, 2026 test varies by source; get the applicable date in writing from any provider. If a lease or power purchase offer does reach Idaho, check the annual escalator before anything else; most contracts raise the payment 2 to 3% every year for 20 to 25 years, which can erase the savings the first-year price implies.
The Class of 2019 Has What No Offer Can Sell You
Idaho Power customers who interconnected before December 2019 were grandfathered onto one-to-one kilowatt-hour net metering running through 2045, and that arrangement transfers with the property.
This is the most valuable thing on an Idaho roof and it cannot be bought, leased or advertised. If you are buying a house in Idaho Power territory that already has panels, establishing the interconnection date from the agreement matters more than the condition of the equipment. Nineteen more years of retail-value netting is a different asset from what a new system receives.
One genuinely stabilizing fact for everyone else: annual updates to Idaho Power’s Export Credit Rate are paused until an April 1, 2028 filing. In a policy area that moves yearly in most states, that is roughly two years of visibility, which is the kind of certainty a lease usually charges for.
You Likely Will Not Qualify If
- You are answering a national free solar advertisement. Idaho is among the 17 states with no current residential third-party ownership providers.
- You were quoted a single statewide Idaho saving. Three utilities run three different export regimes here, and a statewide figure describes none of them.
- You are counting on the 30% federal credit. Section 25D is $0 for purchased systems from January 1, 2026, and Section 48E is claimed by a business owner rather than by you.
- You are expecting an Idaho state credit to replace it. Idaho offers a deduction rather than a credit, so its value depends on your marginal rate and differs household to household.
- You hoped to join the pre-2019 grandfathered class. It closed in December 2019 and cannot be reopened.
What an Idaho Household Should Price Instead
The useful reframing here is that Idaho’s fragmentation, which keeps the lease companies out, also means the right system differs sharply by address. On Idaho Power, the tariff is asking for generation available between 3pm and 11pm in summer, which is a battery question rather than a bigger-array question. On Avista, where kilowatt-hours net at retail but credits are surrendered at year-end, the answer is to match annual consumption and not overbuild.
Neither of those is a product a national company can sell you off a rate card, which is precisely why they are worth working out with a local installer instead. Our Idaho incentives guide covers the three regimes in detail and the Idaho installer list covers who does the work.
Idaho Solar FAQs
No company currently offers them. Free solar means a lease or a power purchase agreement where a company owns the system, and Idaho is one of 17 states with no current residential third-party ownership offerings. Part of the reason is structural: three Idaho utilities run three different export regimes, so there is no single statewide product a national company could price.
Because the three are genuinely different products. Idaho Power exports earn roughly 15.68¢ during summer on-peak hours, above Idaho’s 12.52¢ statewide average residential rate, then about 3.39¢ off-peak and 2.9¢ outside summer. Avista nets kilowatt-hours at retail. Rocky Mountain Power pays around 4.2¢. Any offer quoting one statewide Idaho saving is describing none of them.
Not for a homeowner who buys. Section 25D is $0 for purchased systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025. Section 48E survives but is claimed by a business that owns the system, so it reaches households only through leases and power purchase agreements. Since Idaho has no such providers, that route is not currently open here.
The interconnection date, taken from the agreement rather than the seller’s description. Idaho Power customers who interconnected before December 2019 hold one-to-one kilowatt-hour net metering through 2045, and it transfers with the property. Nineteen more years of retail-value netting is a materially different asset from what a new system receives, and it cannot be bought or leased.
It depends which utility bills you, which is the whole point. On Idaho Power the tariff rewards generation available between 3pm and 11pm in summer, which is a battery question rather than a bigger-array question. On Avista, where credits are surrendered at year-end, the answer is to match annual consumption and avoid overbuilding. Neither is a product sold off a national rate card.
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References & Research Sources
The regimes, rates and market figures above come from the records below. The switch-on deadline for 48E projects that began construction after July 4, 2026 is still unsettled; require any provider to state a project’s deadline in writing. Capacity figures are 2024 data. Sources accessed between June 10 and August 17, 2026.
- pv magazine USA. States without residential solar third-party ownership may become holes in the market after 2025. Analysis drawing on DSIRE and US Energy Information Administration data: the 23-state and 17-state counts, Idaho included, and Idaho’s 149.0 MW installed residential base at the end of 2024. Dated July 22, 2025. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- Idaho Power. Export Credit Rate application, Orders 36048 and 36785. The move to real-time net billing, the rate structure, the pause on annual updates until an April 1, 2028 filing, and the pre-December 2019 grandfathering through 2045. Export cent values on this page are drawn from multiple filings rather than a single signed order; confirm current figures with the utility before modeling on them. Avista Schedule 63 nets retail kilowatt-hours with year-end surrender, and Rocky Mountain Power pays a time-differentiated export credit, per each utility’s filed tariff. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- US Energy Information Administration. Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A: Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers. The Idaho statewide average residential rate of 12.52¢ per kWh used on this page as labeled context. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. One, Big, Beautiful Bill provisions. The Public Law 119-21 termination of Section 25D for purchased systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025, and the availability of Section 48E to business owners of residential systems, including its construction-start test tied to July 4, 2026. Accessed August 17, 2026.
