Utah solar rebates and incentives: 2024 guide

Want to power your home with clean, renewable energy? There’s plenty of sunshine in Utah to help you go solar—and big rebates and incentives can help you save thousands on the cost of installation and speed up your payback period, too.

The single biggest solar incentive in Utah is actually a federal tax credit.

Residential Clean Energy Credit

The Residential Clean Energy Credit, formerly known as the federal investment tax credit (ITC), can reduce your solar panel system's cost by 30%. Your entire system qualifies for this incentive, including equipment, labor, permitting, and sales tax.

When you file your federal income taxes, you can claim this incentive as a credit towards your federal tax bill. Just keep in mind that to qualify for the ITC, you need to purchase your system either with cash or a solar loan–if you lease your system, you won't be eligible. 

You also need a high enough tax bill, though you can roll over any remaining credit year-to-year until the end of 2034 when the ITC expires. The only time you might be eligible for a direct payment for the ITC is if you're a tax-exempt entity, like a nonprofit organization.

What about the Utah state solar tax credit?

Utah previously offered a tax credit of up to $2,000 for installing solar panels. But as of the end of 2023, that credit has expired and is no longer available, according to the Utah Office of Energy Development.

In addition to the federal tax credit, Utah also offers a state sales tax exemption for solar panel systems. Utah’s sales tax is 6.1%, which is a significant chunk of change in the context of a multi-thousand dollar solar array.

Utah doesn't offer a state-wide net metering program. The largest utility in the state, Rocky Mountain Power, instead offers a reduced benefit known as net billing.

Under net billing, you’ll earn some cash credit toward your energy bill when you send excess electricity from your solar panels to the grid. For RMP customers, it’s about 5.6 cents per kWh during the summer, and 4.7 cents per kWh during the rest of the year. That’s about half the retail rate that RMP charges for electricity that you buy from them.

The credits are calculated instantaneously, rather than at the end of a monthly billing cycle like a more consumer-friendly net-metering program would be. So the most value you can get from your solar power is to either use it at home instantaneously, or store it in a solar battery, before it gets sent to the grid.

However, customers of the City of St. George and Murray City municipal utility companies are eligible for full net metering. It’s really the ultimate incentive for rooftop solar, even more than big rebates and tax credits. 

Under net metering, the sun doesn’t need to shine all the time to get massive value from your solar panels. Your electric utility company essentially works like a bank account for all the energy your solar panels produce in a given month.

When the sun shines, your home’s electrical system first takes as much power as it needs from the solar panels. If the panels make any excess energy, it gets sent back onto the grid, and your utility company gives you full credit for all of it on your energy bill. 

When the sun isn’t shining and you need grid electricity to power your home, the utility company just starts drawing against your credits. You won’t pay for electricity until those credits run out.

Batteries can make good financial sense as part of a home solar system in Utah. The state’s net billing policy incentivizes solar owners to hoard as much of their own solar power as possible, rather than sending it to the grid.

The best solar battery incentive in Utah is actually a federal tax credit. All batteries above 3 kWh in size are eligible for a 30% credit, just like solar panels.

Rocky Mountain Power does offer a storage rebate under the Wattsmart Battery Program. If you install a solar and storage system that includes one of their approved batteries, RMP will pay you $400 per kW of power, up to $2,000. (Note that this is not the same thing as kWh of energy storage!) For at least the following three years, they’ll credit your energy bill with an additional $15 per kW of power each year. You can use your battery as a source of backup power for your home, and / or to capture solar energy during the daytime then use that free energy during the evening or at night to avoid paying standard prices for grid electricity.  

The catch: RMP stipulates that they are entitled to draw energy out of your battery daily—and they do not stipulate that they will directly compensate you for the energy that they take. They’ll leave you with at least 10% of your capacity at all times, though that may not go very far during an outage. 

Is it a fair deal? It depends on how often RMP taps the battery, and how much energy they draw. The limited testimonials we’ve found from RMP customers who (claim to) participate in the Wattsmart program indicate that RMP doesn’t use the battery all that much or often, even during the summer.