Maryland solar rebates and incentives: 2026 guide

Maryland is still one of the better states in the country to go solar, but the rules are changing. State grants, sales and property tax breaks, solar renewable energy certificates, and full-retail net metering can all lower your costs and shorten your payback period.

The most important change for 2026 is a deadline: Maryland's current net metering program closes to new customers in mid-2027. If you're considering solar, in Maryland, it's better to do it sooner rather than later to capitalize on the biggest ROI.

Incentives help bring solar's price tag down considerably in Maryland. Here are the major ones to know about:

What are the best solar incentives in Maryland?

Maryland Solar Access Program

The Maryland Solar Access Program was created by the Brighter Tomorrow Act of 2024. It offers rebates that help income-eligible Maryland residents install solar panels. The current round opened in July 2026. MEA anticipates up to $10 million will be available for rebates, and applications are due by May 31, 2027, though the portal may close early if requests exceed the budget.

That early closure is a real risk. The previous round accepted new applications only from July 21, 2025 to April 17, 2026, so it pays to apply early in the program year.

Who qualifies: Household income can't exceed limits that range from $136,785 for a one-person household to $257,910 for a household of eight. The program covers solar you buy outright or finance with a loan, and it also covers leases and power purchase agreements. Each option has its own disclosure form.

How much you'll get: Rebate amounts are set by MEA's Maximum Offer Calculator, which is published with each year's program documents. Check the current calculator for your project rather than relying on older per-kW figures.

Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs)

You earn one Maryland SREC for each megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity your panels produce. Utilities buy SRECs to meet the state's solar requirements. Most homeowners sell theirs through a broker, who handles the market and pays you directly.

What your SRECs are worth depends on which kind your system generates.

Standard Maryland SRECs have lost value in recent years. One exchange lists the 2026 Maryland SREC at $40. Broker offers vary by contract type. In early 2026, one major broker offered $42.50 per SREC on a variable brokerage basis, or $29.50 locked in for three years. Prices are also likely to keep falling. The penalty utilities pay for falling short of their solar requirement effectively caps SREC prices, and that cap is scheduled to decline from $45 per MWh in 2026 to $22.50 in 2030.

Brighter Tomorrow Act ("BT") SRECs are worth more. They're generated by residential systems eligible under the Brighter Tomorrow Act, and each one carries 1.5 times the compliance value of a standard SREC. They're currently listed at $60. Eligibility is limited, though. Only the first 300 MW AC of systems 20 kW and under qualify.

What that means per year: A 5 kW system in Maryland produces about 6 MWh annually. At those prices, it could earn roughly $240 a year from standard SRECs or about $360 a year from BT SRECs, depending on your broker and contract.

If you're a Pepco customer: Some Maryland homes connected to a Pepco distribution line that runs into DC may qualify for the DC SREC market, where prices are far higher. Ask your installer whether your address qualifies.

Yes, Maryland offers two tax breaks for residential solar: A sales tax exemption and some counties offer a solar property tax exemption. The solar sales tax exemption ensures that you won't have to pay a sales tax on your system, while the solar property tax exemption means you don't need to pay a higher property tax for adding solar panels to your house in eligible counties.

Yes, for now. Net metering is still Maryland's most valuable solar incentive, but it closes to new customers on July 1, 2027.

How net metering works today

Your utility tracks the electricity your system sends to the grid and the electricity you draw from it. When your panels make more power than your home uses, the extra goes to the grid, and your utility credits it against your bill. At night or on cloudy days, you draw grid power against those credits. Because credits net out over the month, nearly every kilowatt-hour your system produces is worth the full retail rate. You'll still pay your utility's fixed monthly customer charge.

Maryland's net metering program applies to all of the state's electric utilities, including BGE, Pepco, Delmarva, Potomac Edison, and the co-ops.

What happens to unused credits

By default, credits you haven't used are paid out in April. That payout uses a lower rate than retail, based on the utility's average supply cost for the prior year.

You can choose a better option. Since October 1, 2023, Maryland customers can instead have excess credits carried forward indefinitely, keeping their full value for future use. This option is opt-in, so contact your utility after your system goes live to sign up. Co-ops like SMECO and Choptank aren't required to offer indefinite rollover, so their members receive the April payout.

The 2027 deadline

In 2026, the General Assembly passed the Utility RELIEF Act (HB 1532). It keeps the current net metering tariff open to new customers only until statewide capacity reaches 3,000 MW or July 1, 2027, whichever comes first. Based on how fast Maryland has been adding solar, July 1, 2027 is the deadline that will almost certainly apply.

What replaces it: The Public Service Commission (PSC) is designing a successor program, and it's expected to pay less. The law directs that the new program provide incentives lower than those under today's net metering. The final details aren't set yet. A working group's draft framework is due by October 27, 2026, and the PSC must approve the new program by February 1, 2027.

If you already have solar: Customers on net metering as of July 1, 2027 keep the current rules for the life of their system. Though, there are exceptions. You lose that protection if you decommission the system, add panels or increase its output, sign a new interconnection agreement, or replace more than 80% of the original panels. This makes it worth sizing your system correctly from the start.

The open question: What counts as being enrolled "in time" hasn't been decided. The PSC's draft rules include three options for the cutoff: submitting an interconnection application, receiving permission to operate, or signing an interconnection agreement by July 1, 2027. Until the rule is final, the safest plan is to have your interconnection paperwork completed well before the deadline. Utility reviews can take weeks to months, so that means starting in 2026 or early 2027, not next spring.

Maryland offers one statewide battery grant today, and two larger utility programs are on the way. Utility-run virtual power plant (VPP) pilots will soon pay BGE and Pepco customers for letting their home batteries support the grid.

Residential and Commercial Energy Storage (RCES) Program

RCES is Maryland's main battery incentive. It replaced the Maryland Energy Storage Income Tax Credit, which ended by law at the close of 2024. Residential grants have been reported at 30% of installed battery costs, capped at $5,000.

Grants are first-come, first-served, and you'll need a reservation certificate from the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) before installation begins. Funding goes quickly: the first year's $2 million budget was fully requested, and the portal closed to new applications. Check MEA's website for the current round's status and terms before you apply.

Elk Neck Battery Storage Pilot

Delmarva Power offers this pilot to homes in Elk Neck, in Cecil County. It's a network of residential batteries that provide backup power to participating homes during outages and support the local grid during peak demand. Delmarva chose Elk Neck because its grid layout and geography make the area more prone to outages.

Delmarva offered up to 110 residential battery systems at no cost to customers in the community. The utility owns the batteries and uses them for grid services. In return, participants get free backup power. The pilot has been providing real results: its batteries have delivered 96,600 minutes of backup power to participating homes.

The program is limited to one small area and a fixed number of homes, and it may no longer have open spots. If you live in Elk Neck, contact Delmarva to ask whether it's still enrolling.

Pending programs: DRIVE Act virtual power plant pilots

Maryland's 2024 DRIVE Act required the state's investor-owned utilities to create pilot programs that pay owners of home batteries, EVs, and other devices for supporting the grid. The Public Service Commission has now approved VPP pilots for BGE, Pepco, Delmarva, and Potomac Edison. Timing will vary by utility, but the programs are expected to be running by summer 2027.

Here's how it works. When the grid is strained, your utility can call on your enrolled battery or bidirectional EV to cut demand or send power back to the grid. You're then paid for the verified value you provide.

BGE DRIVE Act VPP Pilot. BGE's residential bring-your-own-device program pays based on your device's nameplate capacity. Standalone batteries and bidirectional EVs earn $300 per kW per year, while batteries paired with solar earn $150 per kW per year. For example, a battery rated at 5 kW could earn about $1,500 a year as a standalone system, or about $750 a year if it's paired with solar. BGE customers can also join through a third-party aggregator. That path pays $90 per kW per year for pledged capacity, plus event payments of up to $6 per kWh, all passed through the aggregator.

Pepco DRIVE Act VPP Pilot. Pepco and Delmarva share a residential and small commercial program for batteries and EVs. It pays $300 per kW per year. Pepco is also moving its existing load management programs from EmPOWER Maryland into the DRIVE Act framework, which is meant to make enrollment simpler for customers.

Actual earnings will depend on each program's final rules, your battery's eligible capacity, and how often you take part in grid events. The pilots also help homeowners who already have solar. Utilities can't add broad new interconnection or restudy requirements for net-metered customers as a condition of joining a VPP.

Why batteries matter more after 2027

Right now, net metering credits the power you send to the grid at the full retail rate, so there's little financial reason to store your own solar power. That changes when the successor program begins on July 1, 2027, since it's expected to credit exported power at a lower value. Once it takes effect, keeping your solar power at home with a battery will be worth more. VPP payments add to the case.

If you're installing solar before the deadline, ask your installer whether adding a battery later would require a new interconnection agreement. A new agreement could cost you your grandfathered net metering status.