Is solar worth it in Maine in 2026?

How Maine pays for your solar power

Net metering at the retail rate. Maine's net energy billing credits every exported kWh against your usage kWh at the full retail rate, nets across billing periods, and zeroes unused credits after a rolling 12 months with no payout.

In the calculator, 40% of your solar output is used at home at the retail price and the rest is exported at about 100% of retail (our default for this kind of rule), so each solar kWh is worth 100% of the retail price on average. Change it if your utility pays more or less. Method

State or utility incentive	What it is worth
Maine property tax exemption for solar equipment (36 M.R.S. § 656)	Solar equipment is exempt from property tax if all of its energy is used on site (property tax years beginning on or after April 1, 2025); file a report with the local assessor by April 1 of the first year claimed

How exports are credited

Maine calls its program net energy billing. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) runs it under Chapter 313 and Title 35-A § 3209-A of the Maine statutes. Residential customers use the “kWh credit” version, which the PUC says is the only one open to them. The dollar-credit tariff rate program is for non-residential customers.

The mechanics are retail netting. The utility bills you on the difference between the kilowatt-hours it delivered and the kilowatt-hours your system delivered to the grid. If your system plus any earlier credits exceeds your use in a billing period, the excess is applied to the next bill as a reduction in your kWh usage. An exported kWh therefore offsets a used kWh at whatever your normal rate is, so this is full net metering with no statewide discount.

Credits do not last forever. Under Chapter 313 you can accumulate unused kWh credits and apply them over a 12-month rolling period. At the end of each period the leftover credits are eliminated, and you receive no compensation for them. The statute directs utilities to send the value of expired credits to low-income assistance programs by April 1 each year. Efficiency Maine summarizes it the same way: a credit, not a payout, usable within 12 months.

Credits apply only to kWh usage charges. Chapter 313 says you stay responsible for all other charges on the bill, so fixed customer and delivery charges remain after you go solar.

Versant Power (northern and eastern Maine) states that any of its customers has the right to participate. Central Maine Power customers fall under the same PUC rule. Customers of consumer-owned utilities should ask their utility for its terms.

State incentives in 2026

• Property tax exemption. Title 36 § 656 exempts solar equipment that generates heat or electricity when all of the energy is used on the site where it sits. This version applies to property tax years beginning on or after April 1, 2025, and you must file a report with your municipal assessor by April 1 of the first year you claim it.

No statewide state rebate or income tax credit for rooftop solar was found on the Efficiency Maine solar page, which describes net energy billing as the main financial benefit. Efficiency Maine’s heat pump rebates are a separate program.

The federal residential credit ended for systems installed after December 31, 2025. See the federal solar tax credit has ended.

What it means for payback

Because exports earn the full usage rate, Maine does not penalize oversizing within a year the way instantaneous net billing does. Summer surplus can offset winter use, as long as it is used within the rolling 12 months.

The risk is the opposite one. A system sized to produce well beyond your annual use will end up with credits that expire and pay nothing. Size to your yearly kWh, not above it. Maine’s winter sun is weak and snow can cover panels, so credits banked in summer matter for December through February.

Fixed charges still apply, so the bill will not reach zero. Batteries mainly add backup value here, since netting already gives full value for midday exports. See are solar batteries worth it.

Other rules worth knowing

• Customers with a system must follow the utility’s interconnection, safety and reliability requirements (Chapter 313, section M). Check the application fees with your utility before signing.
• Since December 31, 2025, the PUC may not allow new net energy billing agreements for generation on the utility side of the customer meter (PL 2025, c. 430). That limits large off-site and community projects. A rooftop system behind your own meter is a different category.
• Project sponsors that sell shared-ownership credits to residents must get explicit authorization, give standard disclosures and allow a 5-day rescission after the first bill (35-A § 3209-A).
• Co-op and municipal utility customers should confirm their own terms before assuming the rules above apply.

Berkeley Lab does not publish a Maine median from enough systems, so the calculator starts from the U.S. median of $3.60/W. Put your own quote in.