Eversource and United Illuminating all-in rates and 2026 RRES Netting and Buy-All tariff values current as of July 2026, per PURA Docket 25-08-02, the utilities’ 2026 RRES filings, and the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel’s July 2026 Standard Service advisory.
Solar is worth it for most Connecticut homeowners who plan to stay in the home past year eight. A 6.45 kW system, the average size for a four-bedroom house, costs $17,853 and pays for itself in 6.5 to 9.0 years, depending on your utility and which of the state’s two 20-year tariffs you elect at interconnection. That election cannot be undone.
Connecticut stopped enrolling new residential systems in traditional net metering on December 31, 2021. Every system energized since then runs on one of two fixed tariffs under the Residential Renewable Energy Solutions program, known as RRES: Netting or Buy-All. You choose once, at interconnection, and the rate holds for 20 years.
The federal residential credit is gone for 2026 purchases, and Connecticut has no state solar tax credit or cash rebate. What remains is a 6.35% sales-tax exemption, a battery incentive, and some of the highest electricity prices in the country.
The Two RRES Tariffs: Netting and Buy-All
Every new Connecticut residential system elects one of two compensation structures at interconnection, irrevocably, for the full 20-year term set by PURA Docket 25-08-02. Residential systems are capped at 25 kW.
Netting: Full Retail Credit, Minus the Solar Energy Adjustment
Under Netting, exported kilowatt-hours earn credit at the full retail rate, supply and delivery together, and unused credits roll forward indefinitely. Connecticut then charges 2026 enrollees a Solar Energy Adjustment of $0.0402 per kWh on every kilowatt-hour the array produces, not only on what you export. Homeowners who enrolled in 2025 pay $0.005 and keep that rate through 2039.
A battery does not dodge the adjustment, and neither does using more of your own output during the day, because the charge applies to everything the array produces.
Buy-All: The Utility Buys Every Kilowatt-Hour
Under Buy-All, the utility purchases 100% of your output at $0.3289 per kWh, renewable energy certificates included, and you buy every kilowatt-hour your household uses at the retail rate. That purchase rate sits above what either utility charges for power, which is unusual, and it is locked for two decades.
Low-income households add $0.055 per kWh under Buy-All and $0.035 under Netting. Homes in economically distressed municipalities add $0.0275 under Buy-All and $0.0175 under Netting. Connecticut’s other solar incentives and exemptions sit outside the tariff and do not change which one you elect.
Solar Payback in Connecticut by Utility and Tariff
A 6.45 kW system matches the 695 kWh a month the average Connecticut household uses. It produces 8,346 kWh a year, costs $17,853, and has no federal credit to subtract. Run it through both tariffs in both territories and four answers come back.
Utility and Tariff | Year-One Benefit | Payback (Simple / Break-Even) | 20-Year Net |
|---|---|---|---|
Eversource, Netting | $1,989 | 9.0 yr / 7.6 yr | +$53,400 |
Eversource, Buy-All | $2,745 | 6.5 yr / 6.6 yr | +$34,500 |
United Illuminating, Netting | $2,314 | 7.7 yr / 6.7 yr | +$64,200 |
United Illuminating, Buy-All | $2,745 | 6.5 yr / 6.6 yr | +$34,500 |
Buy-All returns the same $2,745 in both territories because the tariff rate is set statewide. Netting does not, because it credits at whatever your utility charges: Eversource’s all-in rate is 27.85¢ and United Illuminating’s is 31.75¢, a gap of 3.90¢ that compounds into $10,800 of extra return over the term.
Simple payback divides net cost by first-year benefit. Break-even year adds the retail rate climbing 5.62% annually and panels losing 0.5% of output a year, which is why Eversource Netting breaks even in year 7.6 despite a 9.0-year simple payback. For the installed price behind these figures, see what a Connecticut solar system costs.
Why Buy-All Pays Faster and Netting Pays More
Only one of the three rates in this calculation changes over time. The Buy-All purchase rate is fixed for 20 years. The Solar Energy Adjustment is fixed for 20 years. The retail rate is not, and it has risen 5.62% a year over the past five.
Netting is tied to that rising retail rate, so its value compounds. Buy-All revenue is flat from the first year to the twentieth. Buy-All therefore wins the early years and loses the term.
Annual Rate Escalation | Eversource Netting | United Illuminating Netting | Buy-All, Either Utility |
|---|---|---|---|
4.62% | +$45,700 | +$55,400 | +$34,500 |
5.62% | +$53,400 | +$64,200 | +$34,500 |
6.62% | +$62,100 | +$74,200 | +$34,500 |
Even at the low escalation case, Netting clears Buy-All in both territories. Buy-All earns its place on the shorter horizon: it recovers the purchase price 2.5 years sooner in Eversource territory and 1.2 years sooner at United Illuminating.
One risk appears on neither table. The tariff term ends at year 20, and PURA has not set what replaces it. Docket 25-02-14 remains open. Treat years 21 onward as unpriced rather than as a continuation of the tariff you elected.
Who Gets the Strongest Return From Rooftop Solar
Your utility, your ownership horizon, your roof, and your tariff election set the return.
United Illuminating customers staying past year eight. At 31.75¢, Netting returns $64,200 over the term, the strongest owned-system outcome in the state.
Eversource customers with a 12-year horizon or longer. The 9.0-year simple payback asks for more patience, and $53,400 over 20 years rewards it.
Homeowners who want the purchase price back soonest. Buy-All recovers the purchase price in 6.5 years in either territory, at a rate that cannot fall.
Roofs that fit the full 6.45 kW unshaded. Return here is driven by production and changes little with system size, so what limits you is usable south-facing area, not household consumption.
How much power you use during the day does not matter under either tariff. Netting credits an exported kilowatt-hour at the same rate you would have paid for it, so using it and selling it are worth the same. Buy-All sells all of it. Connecticut has no break-even self-consumption share, which inverts the usual net-billing advice.
When Waiting Beats Buying: Fixed Fees, Roofs, and Historic Districts
Three situations should stop a Connecticut purchase.
Usage below 250 kWh a month. Fixed costs do not scale down with a sub-2 kW system: $346 in application and meter fees at Eversource, $548 at United Illuminating, plus a monthly customer charge of $9.62 or $13.02 that solar never removes. Payback stretches past 12 to 15 years. Shared Clean Energy Facilities, the state’s income-restricted community solar program, credits $0.025 per kWh of average monthly usage and needs no roof.
A move inside five years. Break-even falls between year 6.6 and year 7.6, so selling before then hands the rest of a 20-year tariff to the buyer. A lease or PPA transfers with the home; a purchase recovers only what it has already earned.
A roof with under ten years of life left. Removing and reinstalling an array for a re-roof adds $1,500 to $4,000, erasing a year or two of credits. Replace the roof first.
A historic district commission cannot refuse solar on appearance alone. Conn. Gen. Stat. §7-147f provides that “no application for a certificate of appropriateness for an exterior architectural feature, such as a solar energy system, designed for the utilization of renewable resources, shall be denied unless the commission finds that the feature cannot be installed without substantially impairing the historic character and appearance of the district.” A commission has to clear that bar before it can refuse.
Paying Cash, Using Smart-E Loan, or Signing a Lease
Paying Cash
A cash purchase produces the figures in the tables above with no interest to add. Connecticut’s 6.35% sales-tax exemption on solar equipment and installation is already reflected in the installed price, claimed with Form CERT-140 at purchase under Conn. Gen. Stat. §12-412(117).
Financing Through Smart-E Loan
The Connecticut Green Bank’s Smart-E Loan lends up to $50,000 with nothing down and no dealer fee, at 6.99% to 7.99% APR for solar across 5-to-15-year terms. Up to a quarter of the loan can fund non-energy work, which is how homeowners bundle a re-roof into the loan. The 0.99% rate advertised through Energize CT covers heat pumps, and solar does not qualify for it.
Leasing or Signing a PPA
A third party owns the system, claims the Section 48E business credit, and prices some of that value into your rate. Section 48E belongs to the owner of the equipment. Treat any salesperson offering a 30% credit on a 2026 purchase as a warning sign, because the residential Section 25D credit is unavailable for expenditures made after December 31, 2025. Review how $0-down solar works in Connecticut before signing.
Is a Solar Battery Worth It Under RRES?
Storage will not shorten a Connecticut solar payback, and under one tariff it works against you. Under Netting, exports already earn the full retail rate, so holding a kilowatt-hour to use later is worth exactly what selling it was worth. Under Buy-All, exports earn 32.89¢ against a retail rate of 27.85¢ or 31.75¢, so self-consuming stored power gives up money.
Storage still earns its place two ways: keeping selected circuits alive during an outage, and Connecticut’s Energy Storage Solutions incentive. Since April 1, 2026, new enrollees receive $30 per kWh at enrollment, or $130 per kWh on grid-edge circuits, plus ten years of Active Dispatch performance payments at $300, $450, or $550 per kW-year, capped at the lesser of $16,000 or half the system cost. A 13.5 kWh battery adds a modeled $13,500 to the installed price, so incentives and resilience carry it alone. Replace that modeled figure with a written quote before committing to equipment.
Vetting a Connecticut Installer: PV-1 Licenses and AG Actions
Connecticut licenses solar work specifically. The Department of Consumer Protection issues the PV-1 Solar Electric Contractor license and the PV-2 journeyperson license, alongside the E-1 and E-2 electrical licenses. Verify any company at eLicense.ct.gov before paying a deposit.
Attorney General William Tong has an active enforcement record here. That office sued Sunrun, Bright Planet Solar, and Elevate Solar Solutions in July 2024 over forged signatures, impersonated consumers, non-permitted work, and non-functioning systems. Vision Solar accepted a $5 million stipulated judgment in Hartford Superior Court and later filed for bankruptcy. Solar Wolf Energy was barred from doing business in the state by court order.
Ask three questions before signing: which RRES tariff the quote assumes and why, whether the production estimate already subtracts the Solar Energy Adjustment, and who honors the workmanship warranty if the installer closes. Start comparing Connecticut solar companies with license status.
Should You Go Solar in Connecticut?
Yes, if you will own the home past year eight and your roof can carry a full-size array. United Illuminating customers electing Netting see the strongest 20-year outcome at $64,200. Eversource customers reach the same shape of result more slowly, at $53,400. Anyone who wants the purchase price back quickly, or who doubts Connecticut rates keep climbing, should elect Buy-All and its flat $2,745 a year.
Not yet, if you use under 250 kWh a month, expect to move inside five years, or need a new roof first. Those conditions can change.
Before requesting a quote, settle four things: your utility and its current all-in rate, how long you plan to stay, your roof’s remaining life and unshaded area, and whether you value speed of recovery or size of return. Your tariff election follows from those four, and you make it only once.
See Which RRES Tariff Fits Your Connecticut Home
Enter your ZIP code to model Netting against Buy-All using your own utility territory and electricity use, with the Solar Energy Adjustment and Connecticut’s interconnection fees included.
Frequently Asked Questions
For most homes, yes. Connecticut retail rates run 66.2% above the national average, and both RRES tariffs credit output at or above retail, so the 6.5-to-9.0-year payback holds with no federal credit in the calculation. That loss is already inside the $17,853 net cost used here.
Netting, if you plan to hold the home for the full 20-year term: it returns $53,400 to $64,200 depending on your utility. Buy-All, if you want the purchase price back fastest at 6.5 years, or if you expect Connecticut retail rates to level off. The election is irrevocable.
It is a $0.0402 per kWh charge applied to every kilowatt-hour a 2026 Netting system produces, not only to exports. No battery and no change in daytime usage avoids it. Buy-All systems do not pay it, and 2025 enrollees pay $0.005 through 2039.
Connecticut has not decided. PURA has set no successor compensation and Docket 25-02-14 is still open, so every figure on this page stops at year 20. Reject any quote that models 25 years of full retail credit.
A 6.45 kW system at $17,853 returns $1,989 in year one under Netting, a 9.0-year simple payback, or $2,745 under Buy-All, a 6.5-year payback. Rising retail rates pull the Netting break-even forward to year 7.6.
No. The municipal utilities serving Wallingford and Norwich cover a combined 4% of Connecticut households and sit outside RRES. Their terms are set locally, so confirm export credit and interconnection rules with the municipal utility before sizing a system.
Sources
References & Research Sources
EcoGen America reviewed the sources below for this article. Sources were accessed August 5, 2026, unless another publication, release, effective, or update date is listed below.
- Connecticut PURA, Residential Renewable Energy Solutions Program. Accessed August 5, 2026.
- Eversource, Connecticut Residential Solar Incentives (RRES). Accessed August 5, 2026.
- Eversource, Connecticut Residential Solar FAQ. Accessed August 5, 2026.
- United Illuminating, 2026 RRES Program Update for Developers. Accessed August 5, 2026.
- Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel, July 2026 Standard Service Rate Advisory. Accessed August 5, 2026.
- Connecticut Department of Revenue Services, Special Notice 2010(9.1), Sales and Use Tax Exemption. Accessed August 5, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, Section 25D Termination FAQ. Accessed August 5, 2026.
- Connecticut Green Bank, Energy Storage Solutions Program Updates. Accessed August 5, 2026.
- Connecticut Green Bank, Smart-E Loan. Accessed August 5, 2026.
- Eversource, Shared Clean Energy Facilities Program. Accessed August 5, 2026.
- Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, Solar Energy Work Licensing. Accessed August 5, 2026.
- Connecticut Attorney General, Attorney General Tong Sues Sunrun. Accessed August 5, 2026.
- Connecticut Attorney General, New Developments to Hold the Solar Industry Accountable. Accessed August 5, 2026.
- Connecticut General Assembly, Conn. Gen. Stat. §7-147f, Chapter 97a, Historic Districts and Historic Properties. Accessed August 5, 2026.
