Is solar worth it in New York?
At New York’s average rate of 27.5¢/kWh and about 1200 kWh per kW of panels a year, a typical home pays back its system in roughly 8.4 years on electricity savings alone — no federal credit, which ended for buyers at the end of 2025 — then keeps saving. Run your own numbers below.
Sources: EIA · NREL · IRS. No federal credit — it ended 31 Dec 2025.
Independent estimate for guidance only — not a quote or advice. New York’s 25% state tax credit (capped at $5,000) still applies and matters more than ever now the federal credit has ended.
What drives solar payback in New York
New York homeowners pay about 27.5¢/kWh, which is 9.1¢ above the national average. A rooftop here generates roughly 1200 kWh per kW each year — below the typical US figure. On exports, New York offers full retail net metering: New York’s 25% state tax credit (capped at $5,000) still applies and matters more than ever now the federal credit has ended.
New York electricity price trend
Average residential rate, monthly, May 2023 – Apr 2026. Up 44% over the period.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Electric Power Monthly · range 20.47–29.99¢/kWh
A worked example
For a New York home with a $241/month power bill (typical household usage at New York’s rate):
That nets out to a payback of about 8.4 years — shorter than simply dividing net cost by year-one savings, because power prices climb ~2.5%/yr so your savings grow each year. Assumes 3.00 $/W installed before incentives and a typical 40% self-consumption; your actual cost, roof and usage will differ — adjust the calculator above.
Who supplies your power in New York
New York is served by six investor-owned utilities: Con Edison (New York City and Westchester), National Grid (upstate), NYSEG and Rochester Gas & Electric (RG&E), Orange & Rockland (O&R), and Central Hudson. Long Island is covered by LIPA, with the grid run by PSEG Long Island. There are also a handful of municipal systems, such as those in Rockville Centre, Freeport and Massena. All the investor-owned utilities operate under the same state rules set by the Public Service Commission, so the core net-metering and incentive framework is broadly consistent statewide, though upfront incentive levels and the monthly grid-connection charge vary by utility territory.
What you’re paid for what you export
Interconnect a rooftop system in New York in 2026 and you lock in essentially full retail net metering for 20 years: exports offset your bill at close to the rate you pay, and unused credits roll forward from one month to the next. Against electricity at around 27 cents/kWh, that arrangement does serious work. The wrinkle is the Customer Benefit Contribution (CBC) — a fixed monthly charge scaled to system size, roughly a dollar per kW of capacity in 2026, varying by utility. It isn't frozen at interconnection; it gets recalculated each year, though the rules cap how quickly it can climb. Keep it in perspective: the CBC is a modest, predictable nibble, nothing like the wholesale rewrite California imposed with NEM 3.0. For a typical home the grid here still functions as close to a free battery.
New York incentives & taxes in 2026
New York's state stack is one of the strongest going. The headline is a 25% personal income-tax credit capped at $5,000 — non-refundable, but any unused portion carries forward for up to five years. NY-Sun adds an upfront discount on top: a declining per-watt ‘megawatt block’ incentive, typically in the low hundreds of dollars per kW, paid straight to your installer and taken off your price. Block funding is regional and runs thinner in some territories — Con Edison's among them — so what's on the table depends on where you are; NYSERDA publishes the live block status. Round it out with a full state sales-tax exemption on residential solar equipment and a 15-year real-property-tax exemption on the value the system adds to your home, and the state is carrying more of the load than almost any other.
The 30% federal credit ended on 31 December 2025 and can now only reach a homeowner indirectly through a lease or PPA. Check the current state and utility programs on DSIRE’s New York list, then type any incentive into the calculator above to see how it shortens your payback.
What solar costs in New York
Where you live in the state moves the price. High labour, permitting and interconnection costs push New York City and Long Island toward the expensive end; upstate installs come in cheaper. Across the state you're looking at roughly $2.80 to $3.40 per watt — about what the rest of the country pays — which prices an 8 kW system at $23,000–$27,000 before incentives. Sticker price isn't your price, though: the NY-Sun rebate and the sales-tax exemption both come off the top, so the cheque you actually write is usually meaningfully smaller.
The honest verdict for New York
Few states make the 2026 case as well as New York. Power at nearly 27 cents/kWh makes every kilowatt-hour you generate valuable, net metering still credits exports at close to retail, and the state stack — the 25% credit up to $5,000, NY-Sun money, both tax exemptions — does real work on payback. The CBC charge nibbles at the return and install prices are only average, but most homes still land at an 8–11 year payback, which very little of the country can better.
Sources for this page
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