Utah allows solar leases and power purchase agreements, so no-money-down offers here are real. They are also priced against an export rate the Public Service Commission recalculates every March 1, and which has fallen two years running. A twenty-year payment set today sits on top of a number with an annual review date, which is a different kind of risk from the one most states carry.
The Number Under the Offer Has a Review Date
Utah has not had traditional net metering for new customers since October 31, 2020. Rocky Mountain Power’s Schedule 137 Net Billing replaced it: you pay standard retail for what you consume and receive a Commission-set Export Credit Rate for what you send back. Only the second of those is reviewed annually.
Utah is one version of the story; the $0-down options across the country tells the other forty-nine.
Season | Previous export credit | From March 1, 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
June to September | 5.636¢ | 4.855¢ | Down 14% |
October to May | 4.745¢ | 4.033¢ | Down 15% |
Those come from First Revision Sheet 137.3, effective March 1, 2026, filed under Docket 26-035-T03. Against Utah’s statewide average residential price near 13.11¢ (Rocky Mountain Power’s own retail rate differs by schedule), an exported kilowatt-hour is now worth about a third of a consumed one.
Check the vintage of any Utah figure in a proposal. Plenty of current pages still quote roughly 5.7¢ summer and 4.2¢ winter, which were the rates before this March. If an offer uses those, the savings line is overstated and whoever wrote it has not refreshed their numbers this year.
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Why the Lease Case Got Stronger Here
Third-party ownership got stronger in Utah, because two things changed in its favor at once.
Section 25D, the credit a homeowner claimed on a purchase, is $0 for purchased systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025. And Utah’s own Renewable Energy Systems Tax Credit stopped covering residential solar installed in 2024 or later. So ownership has lost both of the credits that used to sit in its column, while a company may still claim the Section 48E business credit under current law for systems placed in service through 2027, with whether any value reaches your payment depending on the contract.
That is a genuine shift and it belongs in the comparison. What ownership still holds is control: no escalator, no early termination charge, nothing to negotiate when you sell the house, and no exposure to a payment that keeps rising while the export rate keeps falling.
Your Credits Expire at the March Meter Read
Export credits offset the power and energy charges on your bill and carry forward within what the tariff calls the Annualized Billing Period, which ends at your March meter read. Anything unused at that point expires.
March suits this climate reasonably well, since it arrives after a winter that draws down whatever the summer banked. The design consequence is the familiar one: build to your own annual consumption, because generation past it is bought at about 4¢ and then, if unspent, worth nothing at all.
It also gives you a specific question for any company quoting a twenty-year arrangement. What does the model assume the export rate does at each March review, and what happens to the savings if it falls another 15%.
You Likely Will Not Qualify If
- You are expecting the Utah state solar tax credit. It stopped covering residential systems installed in 2024 or later, and the wider program sunsets after January 1, 2028.
- You are counting on claiming the federal credit yourself. Section 25D is $0 for purchased systems from January 1, 2026, and under third-party ownership the company may claim Section 48E, subject to the project meeting current federal deadlines.
- Your credit history does not clear the provider’s threshold. A lease is a long financing decision by the company and turns on credit rather than on your roof.
- Your power comes from a municipal utility or a cooperative. Schedule 137 is Rocky Mountain Power’s tariff; municipals and co-ops set their own rules.
- You were quoted roughly 5.7¢ summer and 4.2¢ winter. Those were the rates before March 1, 2026 and the savings built on them are overstated.
Testing an Offer Against Next March
The annual review is the fact that should shape a Utah decision either way. It does not make solar a poor choice; it makes an export-heavy design a poor choice, because the share of production the house cannot use directly is the share exposed to a number that gets revisited every twelve months.
So ask two questions of any proposal, lease or purchase. What share of production does this design expect the house to consume directly, and what does the twenty-five year model look like if the export rate falls again next March. A proposal that cannot answer the second is a brochure rather than a model. Our Utah incentives guide covers the tariff in detail and the Utah installer list covers who does the work.
Utah Solar FAQs
Yes, in the sense that both leases and power purchase agreements are permitted, so a company can install a system at no upfront cost and own it. The Utah-specific caution is that the export rate underneath any such offer is recalculated by the Public Service Commission every March 1 and has fallen two years running, while your payment runs for twenty years or more and typically rises each year under the contract’s escalator.
From 5.636¢ to 4.855¢ in summer and from 4.745¢ to 4.033¢ the rest of the year, falls of about 14% and 15%, effective March 1, 2026 under First Revision Sheet 137.3 and Docket 26-035-T03. Against the 13.11¢ statewide average residential price, an exported kilowatt-hour is now worth about a third of a consumed one.
Its case got stronger. Section 25D is $0 for purchased systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025, and Utah’s own credit stopped covering residential systems installed in 2024 or later, so ownership lost both credits that used to sit in its column while a company may still claim Section 48E under current law for systems placed in service through 2027. What ownership keeps is control: no escalator, no termination charge and nothing to negotiate when you sell.
Yes. Export credits offset the power and energy charges on your bill and carry forward within the Annualized Billing Period, which ends at your March meter read, after which anything unused expires. March suits the climate reasonably, arriving after a winter that draws down the summer bank, but it means building beyond your annual consumption produces power bought at about 4¢ and then worth nothing.
Two things, whichever way you would pay. What share of production does this design expect the house to consume directly, since that is the share insulated from the export rate. And what does the twenty-five year model look like if the export rate falls again next March, given it has fallen two years running. A proposal that cannot answer the second is a brochure rather than a model.
Test any offer against next March, not just this one. Enter your ZIP code to see who serves your address.
Test the model against another rate cut
References & Research Sources
The export rates, credit statuses and figures above come from the records below. 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 data used for the third-party ownership landscape behind this page. Dated July 22, 2025. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- Rocky Mountain Power. Schedule 137 Net Billing Service, First Revision Sheet 137.3 (Docket 26-035-T03). The export credit fall to 4.855¢ in summer and 4.033¢ the rest of the year, effective March 1, 2026, under Rocky Mountain Power’s Schedule 137 Net Billing Service with its annual March 1 recalculation. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- Utah State Legislature. Utah Code Title 59, Chapter 10, Part 10: the Renewable Energy Systems Tax Credit. The end of coverage for residential solar installed in 2024 or later. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- US Energy Information Administration. Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A: Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers. The Utah statewide average residential rate of 13.11¢ 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 for projects placed in service through 2027. Accessed August 17, 2026.
