Find out if you're eligible for $0-down solar in South Carolina!
Why You’re Seeing “Free Solar” Offers in South Carolina in 2026
Two things happened at the start of 2026 and together they explain the recent surge in free solar offers across South Carolina.
1. The 30% Federal Tax Credit Expired for Residential Solar
For years a homeowner who bought panels could take 30% back through the federal residential credit. Under the 2025 budget law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Section 25D ended for any system whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025. Buy and own panels in South Carolina in 2026, and the federal credit you collect is zero.
The one federal incentive that is still available for residential solar systems is on the business side. Section 48E, the commercial credit, still reaches a system owned by a company, and a registered solar lessor is a company. A homeowner cannot file for it. That single fact is the biggest reason behind the increase in “free solar” pitches, and it’s why solar leasing companies are advertising hard this year.
2. Rising Duke, Dominion, and Santee Cooper Bills
Higher bills make a lower monthly payment easy to sell. The statewide average residential rate reached 17.06¢ per kilowatt-hour in April 2026, which puts a 1,050-kilowatt-hour home at a $179 monthly bill.
Dominion Energy South Carolina won an approved 7.62% increase for a typical 1,000-kilowatt-hour customer, effective the first billing cycle of July 2026, and Duke Energy Progress lifted its typical bill earlier in the year. A bill climbing at that pace is exactly the pressure a “$0 electricity” pitch is built to work on.
What “Free Solar” Really Means for Your Wallet
“Free” names the upfront cost, nothing more. A system sized to a typical South Carolina home runs 8.58 kW and costs $24,016 before any financing, based on the state’s competitive installed price. A $0-down signature leaves every dollar of that price in place. It comes back as loan payments, as a fixed monthly lease fee, or as the fee folded into whichever contract you sign.
What a $0-down offer decides is three things: whose name is on the equipment, who collects the incentives it earns, and whether the monthly cost comes in below what Dominion or Duke bills you now. For the full pricing picture, see what solar costs in South Carolina.
Why South Carolina Bans the Per-Kilowatt-Hour PPA
In most states the classic $0-down structure is a power purchase agreement: a company owns the panels on your roof and sells you the electricity they make at a set rate per kilowatt-hour. South Carolina does not allow that for homeowners. A PPA is a retail sale of electricity, and only a regulated utility can sell power at retail here.
What state law does allow is a lease. The Energy Freedom Act of 2019 built a regulated solar lease program under Section 58-27-2610, which lets a certified company lease a system to a customer-generator lessee and makes the system’s output “the sole and exclusive property of the customer-generator lessee.”
That difference matters. A lease is a flat charge for the equipment; a PPA is a price per kilowatt-hour for the power, and the per-kilowatt-hour deal is off the table in South Carolina.
If a salesperson offers you a per-kilowatt-hour PPA in Columbia or Charleston, that offer alone is reason to stop the conversation. They are selling something the state does not permit.
Your Two $0-Down Options Available in South Carolina
With the PPA ruled out, a South Carolina homeowner has two ways to go solar with nothing down. They split on the question that decides everything else here: who owns the system, and so who keeps the 25% state credit.
1. The Solar Loan
A solar loan covers the full cost with nothing at signing, and you own the panels from the first day. Ownership is what lets you claim South Carolina’s 25% state tax credit, keep the export credits that post to your account, and hold whatever resale value the system adds.
The trade is the loan’s built-in fee. Lenders that advertise a low interest rate recover their margin through a dealer fee folded into the amount financed. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found these fees run 10% to 30% of the cash price, and sometimes past 50%.
On a system at that price, a 30% fee adds more than $7,000 to what you finance, and with the federal credit gone there is nothing in 2026 to offset it. Make the lender write down the cash price and the financed total on the same page, and check the difference before you agree to anything.
2. The Solar Lease
With a lease, a certified company owns the system and you pay a set monthly fee to use it. Maintenance, monitoring, and repairs are the company’s job, and the draw is a predictable bill with no equipment to manage.
The trade is ownership and the value tied to it. The company claims the federal 48E credit and prices some of that value into your monthly fee, and that credit carries its own clock: the lessor’s project has to begin construction by July 4, 2026 to lock in current terms. You cannot claim the 25% state credit, because you do not own the system.
South Carolina does hand you one thing that leasing homeowners in other states lose. The export credits post to your own utility account by statute, so a lease here does not strip your net-metering value the way it would elsewhere; the company earns its return through the fee it charges and the credit it claims, not by pocketing the credits on your bill.
Cash Purchase vs Solar Loan vs Solar Lease Comparison
Cash Purchase | Solar Loan ($0 Down) | Lease ($0 Down) | |
|---|---|---|---|
Upfront cost | $24,016 | $0 | $0 |
Who owns the system? | You | You | The company |
Federal 48E Credit (2026) | Not available | Not available | Lessor claims it |
SC 25% State Tax Credit | You claim it | You claim it | Not available to you |
Net-metering Export Credits | Post to your account | Post to your account | Post to your account |
Added financing cost | None | Dealer fee, 10% to 30% | Annual escalator |
Maintenance | Yours | Yours | Company handles it |
Best for | Owners with cash | Owners who want equity with nothing down | Owners who want a hands-off bill |
A per-kilowatt-hour PPA is not included in the table above because it is not legal for South Carolina homeowners.
Between the two options that are legal, choose the loan if you can carry the payment and want to own both the credit and the panels; choose the lease only if a hands-off bill matters more to you than the state credit.
Who Keeps The Solar Incentives?
The federal residential tax credit is gone, but South Carolina’s own support is real and every piece of it rewards ownership.
The 25% State Tax Credit. This is the one carrying the load now. Section 12-6-3587 returns “twenty-five percent of the costs incurred by the taxpayer in the purchase and installation of a solar energy system.” It is capped at $3,500 a year or half your state income tax liability, whichever is less, with any excess carried forward for up to ten years. By law the credit cannot be claimed before completion of the installation, and only the system’s owner can claim it, which is why a lease shuts you out of it.
Net Metering under Solar Choice. South Carolina replaced one-to-one net metering with Solar Choice, a net-billing setup created by the Energy Freedom Act. You still avoid the full retail rate on the solar power you use the moment it is made, but the surplus you send to the grid earns only an avoided-cost credit, 4.19¢ per kilowatt-hour at Duke Energy Carolinas under its Solar Choice tariff, against a statewide retail average of 17.06¢. That gap is why using your own power beats exporting it here. The export credit posts to your utility account whether you own the system or lease it.
The Property-tax Exemption. South Carolina exempts residential solar systems of 20 kilowatts or less from property tax under Section 12-37-220. The statute sets no ownership condition, so the exemption follows the system rather than the person who paid for it. Treat a leasing pitch that claims “the law exempts leased systems” with care; the accurate version is that the statute contains no ownership requirement at all.
The Santee Cooper Rebate. If Santee Cooper is your utility, it offers something the investor-owned utilities do not: an up-front rebate of $950 per kilowatt, capped at $5,700. It requires a Trade Ally and NABCEP-certified installer, and under the utility’s 2026 program manual it caps out at 6 kilowatts of capacity per meter and runs on first-come funding with a waitlist, so treat it as money to confirm before you count on it.
One reminder on all of this. The $3,500 annual cap and the Santee Cooper waitlist both limit how fast the money reaches you, and a pre-2019 net-metering group already lost its one-to-one credits on January 1, 2026. What is on offer today is not a promise for next year.
The full stack of credits, exemptions, and who qualifies for each runs through South Carolina solar incentives.
Who Qualifies for $0-Down Solar in South Carolina?
A $0-down offer is an approval, not a giveaway, and it turns on a few things the ads skip.
Credit and ownership. Loan and lease companies run a credit check, and the lowest fees and rates go to the strongest scores. South Carolina sets no statutory credit floor, so each lender writes its own bar. You also have to own the home; a renter cannot put a loan or lease on a roof they do not control.
Your roof and your utility. Installers check the roof’s age, slope, shading, and condition, and a coastal home in Charleston or Beaufort may need added structural work for wind loading that raises the cost. Your utility matters too: Dominion, Duke Energy Carolinas, and Duke Energy Progress all run Solar Choice, while Santee Cooper and the electric cooperatives set their own separate terms.
One more South Carolina wrinkle: the state has no law barring a homeowners association from restricting solar. If you belong to an HOA, read its recorded rules before you sign anything. A vetted local installer should confirm the roof and the paperwork on site, so start with the South Carolina solar companies that clear a licensing and track-record screen.
When “Free” Solar Is the Wrong Move
A $0-down deal is not automatically a good deal, and for some South Carolina homes it is the wrong call even after the credit checks out.
- You may move within five years. A loan leaves a balance to settle at closing, and a lease leaves a contract the buyer has to assume, and neither is a clean handoff. If a move is likely, wait or lease rather than buy.
- Your usage is low. Duke’s Solar Choice minimum bill is $30 a month and holds no matter how much you offset, so a home using under 500 kilowatt-hours a month keeps paying $360 a year that solar cannot erase. Below that level, solar rarely repays itself under Duke’s terms. Dominion’s $13.50 minimum is gentler.
- Your roof needs replacing soon. Putting panels on a roof you will replace in a few years means paying to take the array down and reset it later, a remove-and-reinstall that runs $5,000 on top of the new roof. Replace the roof first.
- The lease total tops your current bill. Add the monthly lease fee to what Dominion or Duke still charges you, minimum bill included, and set that total against what you pay today. If the combined number is higher, the contract loses you money from month one.
If you rent, your roof is shaded, or your usage is too low, community solar is the way in without panels of your own. Dominion runs a community solar option and Santee Cooper offers Solar Share, both letting you take a credit on your bill with no install. Whether owning ever pays for your specific home is the deeper question, worked through in whether solar is worth it in South Carolina.
How to Check a “Free Solar” Offer Before You Sign
South Carolina has a costly cautionary tale in its recent past, so treat every offer with suspicion until it earns your trust.
Pink Energy, formerly Power Home Solar, collapsed into Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2022 owing nearly $140 million to tens of thousands of customers and creditors, and a nine-state attorney general coalition that included South Carolina pressed solar lenders to suspend payments for the people it left behind. As of January 2026 the trustee had logged more than 6,000 claims, with no payout expected before 2027.
State law gives you specific protections on a solar lease, and they are worth using.
- A 10-day right to cancel. A South Carolina solar lease carries a 10-day unconditional cancellation window after signing, plus a separate 7-day cancellation if a permit or HOA approval falls through.
- A longer wait for older buyers. If the buyer is 70 or older, the company must wait three days before the contract can be signed, a guard against a high-pressure close.
- Written disclosure of the exits. The lessor must disclose cancellation and removal fees and any restriction on transferring the contract if you sell. Get those terms in writing and read them first.
Three more checks apply to any offer.
- Read the escalator. A lease fee that beats your bill today can climb past it. Make the company show you the fee in the tenth year and the last year of the term, in writing, before you sign.
- Confirm the license. A residential solar installer in South Carolina needs a state license through the Labor, Licensing and Regulation board, and the electrical work has to run under the right classification. Verify it before anyone climbs on your roof.
- Match the pitch to the credit flow. If an offer promises to “hand you” the net-metering credits or claims a homeowner share of the 48E credit, walk. On a lease the export credits already post to your account, and 48E belongs to the company alone.
See Whether $0-Down Solar Fits Your South Carolina Home
Whether a loan or a lease saves you money depends on your utility, your roof, your credit, and the terms in front of you. Enter your ZIP code and your current Dominion, Duke, or Santee Cooper bill to see what is available where you live and whether owning beats a lease for your home.
Find out if you're eligible for $0-down solar in South Carolina!
Frequently Asked Questions
Not in the literal sense. “Free solar” means $0 at signing through a loan or a lease, and you repay the full system cost over time. A loan adds a dealer fee that runs 10% to 30% in most $0-down offers, and a lease charges a monthly fee for the power.
No. A per-kilowatt-hour power purchase agreement is a retail sale of electricity, which only a regulated utility can do in South Carolina. Your legal $0-down options are a loan or a lease under the Energy Freedom Act.
You keep the net-metering export credits either way, because South Carolina posts them to your own utility account. You do not get the 25% state tax credit on a lease, because that credit goes only to the system’s owner.
The buyer has to qualify for and assume the lease, or you buy it out before closing. Ask for the transfer terms and any buyout cost in writing, since state law requires the company to disclose them.
Reject any per-kilowatt-hour PPA, get the escalator and every fee in writing, confirm the installer’s state license, and use your 10-day right to cancel if the deal changes. South Carolina’s Pink Energy collapse is the reason these checks matter.
Not directly for most homeowners. The state’s help comes in the form of the 25% income tax credit and a property-tax exemption, and Santee Cooper customers can add a $950-per-kilowatt rebate. None of these is a cash grant that covers the system.
Research & Sources:
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Electric Power Monthly. Federal electricity generation, sales, revenue, and price data resource, including residential electricity rates. Data for April 2026; released June 25, 2026. Accessed July 9, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Residential Clean Energy Credit. Federal Section 25D tax credit guidance. Updated July 4, 2026. Accessed July 9, 2026.
- Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration. Public Law 119-21: An Act to Provide for Reconciliation Pursuant to Title II of H. Con. Res. 14. Federal public law resource published by the U.S. Government Publishing Office, including clean energy credit provisions. Approved July 4, 2025. Accessed July 9, 2026.
- South Carolina General Assembly. Act No. 62, H.3659: South Carolina Energy Freedom Act. State solar policy legislation, including Section 58-27-2610 related to leases of renewable electric generation facilities. Signed May 16, 2019. Accessed July 9, 2026.
- South Carolina General Assembly. South Carolina Code of Laws § 12-6-3587: Purchase and Installation of Solar Energy System for Heating Water, Space Heating, Air Cooling, or Generating Electricity. State solar energy income tax credit statute. Accessed July 9, 2026.
- South Carolina General Assembly. South Carolina Code of Laws § 12-37-220: General Exemption from Taxes. Property tax exemption statute, including renewable energy resource property provisions. Accessed July 9, 2026.
- Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC. Rider RSC (SC): Residential Solar Choice. South Carolina Third Revised Leaf No. 136; Public Service Commission of South Carolina Docket No. 2020-264-E, Order No. 2021-390. Effective January 1, 2026. Accessed July 9, 2026.
- South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS). South Carolina Energy Freedom Act. Solar Choice and Energy Freedom Act consumer resource. Accessed July 9, 2026.
- Santee Cooper. Residential Solar Programs: EmpowerSolar. Solar Home rebate and rooftop solar program resource. Accessed July 9, 2026.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Solar Financing Market: Issue Spotlight. Consumer finance research report on residential solar financing. Published August 2024. Accessed July 9, 2026.
- Congressional Research Service (CRS). Expiration and Carryforward Rules for the Residential Clean Energy Credit. CRS Insight IN12611. By Nicholas E. Buffie. Published September 25, 2025. Accessed July 9, 2026.
- North Carolina Department of Justice. Attorney General Josh Stein Calls On Five Solar Lending Companies to Suspend Loan Payments and Interest for Pink Energy Customers. Consumer protection enforcement announcement related to solar lending and Pink Energy customers. Published November 22, 2022. Accessed July 9, 2026.
- Chapter 7 Trustee for Power HomeSolar, LLC, doing business as Pink Energy. In re Power HomeSolar, LLC d/b/a Pink Energy. Western District of North Carolina Bankruptcy Case No. 22-50228. Accessed July 9, 2026.
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). PVWatts Calculator. Solar photovoltaic energy production modeling tool. Accessed July 9, 2026.
