Washington D.C. Solar Incentives (2026): Credits You Sell, Under a Price Cap That Falls

What does Washington D.C. give a solar home, and who ends up with it?

Three things are worth real money to a District home. None of them is paid upfront.

Area median income is the middle household income for the Washington area. Free rooftop systems from Solar for All are on a waitlist, so they are not in this table.

What is a D.C. SREC worth, and how far will the price cap fall?

District law makes every electricity supplier get a set share of its power from solar systems in or serving the District. The share is 5.0% in 2026 and rises to 15% in 2041. A supplier proves it by buying SRECs. Your system earns one SREC for each 1,000 kWh it makes.

Nobody sets the price. Buyers and sellers do. The Public Service Commission (PSC), the District’s utility regulator, reported a price of around $370 as of mid-April 2026. Its table shows $373 in April 2026 and $424 in April 2025, so the price fell over that year.

Example: a system that makes 5,000 kWh in a year earns 5 SRECs. At around $370 each, that is about $1,850.

The law also sets a cap. A supplier that is short of SRECs pays a fee for each missing kWh instead. No supplier will pay more for an SREC than that fee. The fee is written into the law for every year, and it drops by $20 per SREC each year until 2033.

The cap is a ceiling, not a promise. The market price can sit well below it.

Watch out: An SREC does not last forever. It is valid for 5 years from the date the power was made. After that it cannot be sold to a supplier.

Buy, lease or Solar for All: who keeps the SRECs on a D.C. roof?

The law does not hand the SRECs to the homeowner. The contract does, or does not.

• You buy the system with cash or a loan: you own the system, so you can certify it and sell the SRECs, unless the contract gives them to the installer. If it does, ask what you get in return, as a dollar figure.
• You lease, or sign a power purchase agreement (PPA): a PPA means a company owns the panels on your roof and you pay it for the power. The contract decides who keeps the SRECs. Read that clause before you compare a lease with a purchase.
• You get a free Solar for All system: the program’s contract decides who keeps the SRECs. Ask before you sign the Homeowner Agreement.
• You keep the SRECs: you can sell them to an electricity supplier directly or through a broker, or let your installer handle the sale under your contract. Ask what fee is taken from each SREC.

Watch out: A home that makes about 7.7 SRECs a year has a lot riding on one sentence in the contract. Find the words “renewable energy credits” or “environmental attributes” and see whose name follows.

How does Pepco credit solar power you do not use?

Pepco delivers electricity to District homes. Its solar customers are on net metering: the meter counts the power you take from the grid and the power you send out, and you pay for the difference. The PSC sets the rules.

Solar power you use at home lowers your bill right away. If your panels make more than you use in a month, the extra goes on your next bill as a credit in kWh. Example: send out 100 kWh more than you use in June, and 100 kWh come off a later bill. Credits carry over from month to month.

Each December, Pepco looks at the whole year. Power you made above 100% of your yearly use is paid at the generation rate only. That is the supply part of your rate, without the delivery charges, so it is worth less. If that credit is more than $25, Pepco refunds it. If it is $25 or less, it carries over.

Do you buy your supply from another company and only your delivery from Pepco? The rules still give you kWh credits from Pepco. The supply part is credited at the rate in your supplier’s contract. Ask that supplier, in writing, how it bills solar customers.

• Size limit: a home system can be sized for up to 200% of your past year of use. The legal maximum for any system is 1,000 kW.
• What credits do not cover: charges that are not counted per kWh, such as the monthly customer charge. You still pay those.

Watch out: A bigger system makes more SRECs, but power above your yearly use earns only the generation rate. Ask your installer to show both numbers for the system size in your quote.

Is D.C. Solar for All taking new households?

Solar for All is the District’s program for households with an income at or below 80% of area median income, or that receive help from a federally approved assistance program. The law keeps it running until the end of fiscal year 2032. It has two parts, and they are not equally open.

What if you rent in the District, or your roof belongs to a condo or co-op?

• Paid community solar, any income: a Pepco customer can subscribe to a community solar project in the District. Pepco puts the credits on your bill, and the project sends its own bill for the subscription. DOEE says subscribers save 5% to 15% a year on average. That is an average, not a guarantee. The PSC does not regulate subscription prices. A subscription can cover up to 120% of your past year of use.
• Condo, co-op and homeowners associations: since July 17, 2018, an association cannot ban solar on your own property or on a roof that covers only your unit, even if that roof is a common element (D.C. Code 8-1774.51). It can still set reasonable rules that are not about looks, and it can say no on other shared areas.

Watch out: With a community solar subscription you do not own a system, so you earn no SRECs.

What does District tax law say about solar equipment?

Very little that helps a homeowner. DOEE, the District’s energy department, says on its solar page that the District does not offer tax incentives at this time.

One exemption is in the law. Solar energy systems are exempt from the District’s personal property tax under D.C. Code 47-1508(a)(11). That is a tax on movable equipment. It is separate from the real property tax on your house. Before you install, ask the Office of Tax and Revenue how it values a home with solar panels when it sets your real property assessment, the value your house is taxed on.

Money from selling SRECs may count as taxable income. Ask a tax professional how to report it.

When D.C. solar money goes to someone else, or to no one

• Your contract gives the SRECs away. If a lease, a PPA or a purchase contract assigns the SRECs to the company, the company sells them. You have solar, and the District’s main incentive is not yours.
• The system is never certified. Only a system certified by the PSC earns SRECs. A new system can count power back to January 1 of the year it is certified. A system certified in January can go back one more year. Power made before that earns nothing. Production must also be reported at least twice a year.
• You plan on today’s price for the whole life of the system. The cap is $440 for 2026, $300 from 2033 and $100 from 2042. The market price was already below the cap in mid-April 2026.
• Your system is much larger than your use. Power above 100% of your yearly use is paid at the generation rate only, not as a full kWh credit.
• You are counting on a free Solar for All roof this year. Every rooftop application goes on a waitlist until further notice. Being eligible does not set an install date.

Pepco, the PSC and the SREC registry: who files what in D.C.

1. Before you sign: read the SREC clause. It should name who owns the SRECs, who registers the system and what fee is taken on each sale.You.
2. Before switch-on: the Pepco application. Your installer applies to Pepco for interconnection, the utility’s permission to connect, and for net metering. Pepco installs a two-way meter.Your installer.
3. After installation: certify the system with the PSC. The application goes through the PSC’s online RPS Portal and must include as-built drawings of the system. The PSC decides within 30 business days unless it asks for more information. It then assigns a certificate number.Your installer, a broker or you.
4. Open the tracking account. SRECs are created and tracked in GATS, the tracking system for energy credits in the regional power grid. Your production must be recorded there at least twice a year, from a meter or inverter that measures output accurately.The SREC owner or its broker.
5. Sell the SRECs. Sell to an electricity supplier, directly or through a broker. Each SREC is valid for 5 years, so you can wait, but the cap falls each year.The SREC owner.

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