Utah solar has outlived its incentives and kept going. The state tax credit is gone for new installations, the federal credit ended in December 2025, and Rocky Mountain Power pays about 5.6¢ for summer exports against roughly 11¢ retail power. What survives is the honest case: cheap installs, big sun, and systems sized to what your house actually uses. EcoGen America runs that math straight, and flags every quote still selling credits that no longer exist.
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Utah used to sell solar on subsidies. The state renewable energy tax credit phased to zero for residential systems installed from 2024 on, and the federal residential credit followed it into history in December 2025. What is left is the structural case, and in Utah it is still decent.
Rocky Mountain Power compensates exported energy under net billing at 5.636¢/kWh in the summer months of June through September, with lower winter values, while the power you avoid buying is worth roughly 11¢. Every kilowatt-hour consumed behind your own meter is worth about twice what an exported one earns.
That gap writes the playbook: size to daytime usage, not to the roof’s maximum, and let the Wasatch Front’s abundant sun and some of the country’s cheapest install pricing carry the payback.
EcoGen America checks quotes for dead incentives, tests export assumptions against the actual schedule, and matches you with installers who quote Utah as it is in 2026.
Installers working Utah rooftops from Logan to St. George, licensed in-state and current on Rocky Mountain Power interconnection.
Built-in checks for expired tax credits still living in sales decks, inflated export assumptions and oversized arrays on cheap power.
Utah's case rests on real rates and real usage now. We model paybacks with zero phantom credits in the stack.
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Utah”s incentive landscape changed hard, and a surprising number of quotes have not caught up. What is still being promised versus what a 2026 buyer actually gets:
The Line You May Hear | The 2026 Reality | What It Means for You |
|---|---|---|
“Utah gives you a state tax credit” | The residential RESTC phased to $0 for systems installed 2024 and later | Any state-credit line on a new quote is fiction; strike it and re-run the payback |
“Plus the 30% federal credit” | The federal residential credit ended December 2025 | Same treatment; a 2026 purchase gets no federal credit |
“The utility pays you for extra power” | True, at 5.636¢/kWh in summer under net billing, about half of retail; winter pays less | Exports are a byproduct, not the business case; size to your own usage |
None of this kills Utah solar. It kills lazy Utah solar. Cheap installs against 11¢ power still pay, provided the system is sized for the house rather than the incentive that no longer exists.
Pull 12 months of Rocky Mountain Power bills and size to daytime usage. In a net-billing state, the right-sized array beats the biggest one.
Run what you can while the sun is up, or price a battery to move solar into the evening. Self-consumed power is worth about double exports.
Skip any pitch built on tax credits. Both the state and federal residential credits are gone; the honest math works without them.
Free 15-minute call. Real rates, real usage, zero phantom credits.
Utah Contract Checks
Post-incentive states reward line-by-line readers. These four lines first.
State credit: ended for 2024+ installs. Federal credit: ended December 2025. A quote listing either is stale on arrival.
Summer exports earn 5.636¢/kWh; winter earns less. A model using one flat generous rate flatters itself.
On cheap power with half-price exports, the oversized array is the classic Utah mistake.
Utah's low per-watt pricing can hide dealer fees inside financed totals. The cash anchor exposes them.
Four checks, any Utah quote. The good outfits pass without blinking.
Rocky Mountain Power”s net-billing schedule is the number most Utah quotes gloss. The short version:
Energy Flow | What It Is Worth | The Buyer”s Move |
|---|---|---|
Power you use as you make it | Full retail avoided, ~11¢/kWh | Maximize this: daytime loads, right-sized array |
Summer exports (Jun-Sept) | 5.636¢/kWh credit | Fine as a byproduct; poor as a plan |
Winter exports | Lower than summer | Do not let a flat-rate model hide this |
The arithmetic favors self-consumption roughly two to one. That is not a flaw in Utah solar; it is the design brief. Systems built to it pay back honestly on some of the lowest install prices in the country.
Vetted for Utah licensing, net-billing fluency, install record and complaint history.
The post-incentive math is honest, which means it is honest about the misses too:
Solid daytime load and clear sun? Utah remains one of the cheapest places in America to put panels on a roof, and the math still says yes.
Priced against Utah's honest band, with every dead credit stripped out.
15 minutes, independent. Usage, seasons, sizing, verdict.
Talk to a Utah AdvisorNo obligation. 100% free service.
Not for new residential systems. The state’s renewable energy tax credit phased down to $0 for installations from 2024 onward, and the federal residential credit ended in December 2025.
Any 2026 quote listing either credit is out of date; ask for the payback with those lines removed.
Under net billing, exported energy earns 5.636¢/kWh during June through September, with lower credit values in winter months.
Since retail power costs roughly 11¢, self-consumed solar is worth about twice what exports earn: size your system to your usage.
Often yes, on structure alone: Utah combines some of the nation’s lowest install pricing with abundant sun. A right-sized system offsetting 11¢ retail power pays back honestly, just more slowly than the subsidy era.
The buyers it no longer works for are those with small bills or little daytime usage and no battery.
Existing customers keep the program terms they enrolled under; the current net-billing schedule applies to new applicants.
If you are buying a home with panels, confirm which program the system is grandfathered into: it changes the economics you inherit.
