Anders Alexander has worked in solar since 2013, from selling residential systems and directing installer sales teams to managing solar analysis software at EagleView and partnering on clean energy financing. He serves on the boards of the Washington Solar Energy Industries Association and Solar Washington.
Nebraska added rooftop solar more slowly last year than any other no-provider state that grew at all, up 9.3% to 24.7 MW on US Energy Information Administration data. The obvious explanation is that no company offers free panels here. The more accurate one is that Nebraska’s statute stops each utility from having to accept new solar customers once they reach 1% of its peak demand, which is the lowest ceiling of any state with a net metering cap and a constraint no financing product could remove.
The Cap Is the Constraint, Not the Financing
Free solar means a lease or a power purchase agreement, where a company owns the equipment. Per the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency, Nebraska is one of 17 states with no current residential third-party ownership offerings, and it shows the slowest positive growth among states without third-party providers.
Nebraska is one version of the story; the full free solar picture tells the other forty-nine.
But look at what section 70-2003 actually says. A local distribution utility is not required to provide net metering to additional customer-generators once the total generating capacity of all its net metered customers equals or exceeds 1% of the capacity needed to meet its average aggregate customer monthly peak demand forecast for the year.
Kansas is stepping toward 5%. Washington’s threshold is 4% of a 1996 baseline. Mississippi’s is 3%. Nebraska’s is 1%. Before you spend an evening comparing quotes, ask your utility where it currently sits against that figure, because it decides whether the arrangement is available to you at all.
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Check whether your utility still has room
Every Utility Here Is Publicly Owned
Nebraska has no investor-owned electric utilities. Power comes from public power districts, municipal systems and cooperatives, which changes both halves of this page. The customer-owned exception that removes homeowners from the rules in Kansas, Iowa, Mississippi and Montana has nothing to attach to here, because there is no other kind of utility.
Sections 70-2001 to 70-2005 apply to local distribution utilities as a class, so Omaha Public Power District, Lincoln Electric System, Nebraska Public Power District and the smaller districts and cooperatives all sit inside the same obligation. A Nebraska cooperative member has a statutory right that a Kansas cooperative member does not.
It probably also explains the absence of leasing companies better than anything else. A national third-party owner negotiates with a handful of investor-owned utilities across a state. In Nebraska it would have to negotiate with every public power district separately, for a total market of 24.7 MW.
Nebraska Pays the Balance Out Instead of Keeping It
The compensating advantage, and it is a real one. Net excess generation is credited at the utility’s avoided cost of electricity supply during the billing period, accumulates as money rather than kilowatt-hours, and any excess monetary credit is paid out at the end of each annualized period, or within sixty days if you end your retail service.
| State | What happens to unused credit at the annual reset |
|---|---|
| Nebraska | Paid out to the customer |
| Montana | Granted to the utility without compensation |
| Missouri | Expires twelve months after issuance |
Avoided cost is a wholesale measure, well below Nebraska’s statewide average residential rate of 12.16¢ per kilowatt-hour; your own district’s retail rate will differ, so this is not a reason to build large. It is a reason not to fear building slightly ahead of your usage, since the surplus is never simply confiscated. Because each utility sets its own avoided cost, there is no statewide avoided-cost figure.
Section 70-2004 also confirms that a customer-generator owns the renewable energy credits its facility generates, which is the reverse of Mississippi. Be realistic about the value: Nebraska has no state renewable portfolio standard creating demand for residential certificates, so treat it as an option that costs nothing rather than income.
You Likely Will Not Qualify If
- Your utility has already reached its 1% threshold. Past that point it is not required to add new net metering customers, and 1% is the lowest cap among the states compared here.
- You are answering a national free solar advertisement. Nebraska is among the 17 states with no current residential third-party ownership providers. Those lease and PPA contracts typically raise your monthly payment 2 to 3% every year for 20 to 25 years, an escalator that compounds whether or not your utility rate rises.
- You need more than 25 kW. That is the statutory ceiling for a qualified facility, though a utility may exceed it voluntarily.
- You are counting on the 30% federal credit. Section 25D is $0 for any purchased system whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025, and Section 48E belongs to the business owner, on terms that depend on the project’s federal deadlines, through arrangements Nebraska currently has no providers for.
- You skipped the State Electrical Division inspection or the sixty days’ notice. Both are statutory conditions of interconnection rather than paperwork an installer can waive.
One Call Before Anything Else
Nebraska inverts the usual order of operations. In most states you work out what system you want and then find out what it earns. Here, availability comes first: ask your public power district or cooperative where it stands against its 1% threshold, and get its current avoided cost figure at the same time.
If there is headroom, the arrangement underneath is reasonable and unusually fair at the year end. If there is not, no amount of shopping or financing changes the answer, which is worth knowing before rather than after. Our Nebraska incentives guide covers the statute in detail and the Nebraska installer list covers who does the work.
Nebraska Solar FAQs
No company currently offers them. Nebraska is among the 17 states with no current residential third-party ownership providers, and federal energy data puts it at 24.7 MW with 9.3% growth, the slowest positive growth in that group. The bigger constraint is not financing but the statutory 1% cap on each utility’s net metering obligation.
Under section 70-2003 a local distribution utility is not required to provide net metering to additional customer-generators once the total generating capacity of all its net metered customers equals or exceeds 1% of the capacity needed to meet its average aggregate customer monthly peak demand forecast for the year. Kansas is stepping toward 5%, Washington’s threshold is 4% of a 1996 baseline and Mississippi’s is 3%. Ask your utility where it sits before designing anything.
Nebraska has no investor-owned electric utilities at all, so a national third-party owner would have to negotiate with every public power district, municipal system and cooperative separately rather than with a handful of companies, for a total market of 24.7 MW. The 1% statutory cap on each utility’s obligation compounds that, since it limits how many customers the arrangement can ever reach.
You are paid for them. Net excess generation is credited at the utility’s avoided cost of electricity supply during the billing period, accumulates as monetary credit, and any excess is paid out at the end of each annualized period or within sixty days if you terminate retail service. Montana surrenders unused credits to the utility instead, and Missouri lets them expire after twelve months.
Yes. Nebraska has no investor-owned utilities, so sections 70-2001 to 70-2005 apply to local distribution utilities as a class, covering Omaha Public Power District, Lincoln Electric System, Nebraska Public Power District and the smaller districts and cooperatives alike. A Nebraska cooperative member has a statutory right that a Kansas cooperative member does not, subject to the same 1% cap.
Availability comes before design here. Enter your ZIP code to see who serves your address.
Ask your district for its avoided cost
References & Research Sources
The statute mechanics and market figures above come from the records below. 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 17-state count including Nebraska, and Nebraska’s 24.7 MW installed residential base at the end of 2024 with 9.3% twelve-month growth, the slowest positive growth in that group. Dated July 22, 2025. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Revised Statute 70-2003. The obligation on local distribution utilities, the 25 kW qualified facility limit, the 1% of average monthly peak demand cap, crediting of net excess at avoided cost as monetary credit, and the payout of excess monetary credits at the end of each annualized period or within sixty days of termination of retail service. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Revised Statute 70-2004. Customer-generator ownership of renewable energy credits, the State Electrical Division inspection requirement, and the sixty days’ advance notice. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- Nebraska Power Association. Public power in Nebraska. The all-public-power structure behind the page’s market analysis. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- US Energy Information Administration. Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A: Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers. The Nebraska statewide average residential rate of 12.16¢ 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 under current deadlines. Accessed August 17, 2026.
