Find out what Maryland programs are available to you!
*Net-metering terms, SREC values, and tax-exemption rules for Baltimore Gas & Electric, Pepco, Potomac Edison, and Delmarva customers current as of June 2026, per Maryland’s net-metering statute, the Utility RELIEF Act (HB 1532), and Maryland Public Service Commission filings.
Do Maryland Solar Incentives Still Pay in 2026?
They do, but the value now comes from tax rules and billing credits, not a rebate check.
Maryland has never run a large rebate-check program, and the one federal payment that mattered most, the 30% residential tax credit, ended on December 31, 2025. What is left works through tax policy, utility billing rules, and a performance market, with no check in the mail.
Maryland’s benefits fall into three classes: the permanent automatic exemptions, the valuable-but-closing net-metering credit, and the upfront grants that have already run dry.
Incentive | How It Works | Who Collects It | Reliability and Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
Net Metering (PUA §7-306) | Exported power nets against your usage at the retail rate; surplus rolls forward month to month | Homeowner / whoever pays the utility bill | Closing to new systems under HB 1532 (3,000 MW cap or July 1, 2027) |
Sales-tax Exemption (§11-230) | Removes Maryland’s 6% sales tax on solar equipment at purchase | Homeowner | Permanent, automatic |
Property-tax Exemption (§7-242) | Added home value from solar is exempt from real property tax | Homeowner | Permanent, automatic |
Maryland SRECs | Each 1,000 kWh produced earns one certificate you sell on the state market | System owner (the installer on a lease or PPA) | Active, but the price is volatile; owner only, not on a lease or PPA |
Federal Tax Credit (Section 25D) | The old 30% residential credit on a purchased system | No one, for 2026 purchases | Ended December 31, 2025 |
Federal Tax Credit (Section 48E) | The commercial clean-electricity credit the company that owns the system can claim | The leasing company | Available on lease and PPA systems |
MEA Solar Access Grant | Income-limited upfront grant, $750/kW up to $7,500 | Eligible lower-income homeowners | FY26 funds exhausted; closed |
Community Solar | Subscribe to a share of an offsite project for bill credits | Subscriber | Live and permanent |
The Federal Solar Tax Credit Ended for 2026 Purchases
For most of the past decade, the federal government covered 30% of a home solar system through the Residential Clean Energy Credit. That era is over for anyone buying a system this year. That splits the federal picture by ownership: a purchased system gets no credit in 2026, while a third-party-owned system can still capture the commercial one.
If You Buy or Finance, the 25D Credit Is Gone
The 30% residential credit (Section 25D) ended for any system installed after December 31, 2025. If you pay cash or take a solar loan in 2026, there is no federal tax credit to claim on the purchase. A system finished and operating before that deadline can still claim the credit on a 2025 return, and any unused portion carries forward, but a 2026 install does not qualify.
That change matters more in Maryland than the headlines suggest, because the state’s fundamentals carry the case on their own: a 22.2¢/kWh rate, full-retail net metering, and two permanent tax exemptions. The federal credit lowered the price, though Maryland solar stands on the state’s own economics.
If You Lease or Sign a PPA, the Federal Credit Goes to the Provider
Third-party ownership is the one option that still touches federal money. On a solar lease or a power purchase agreement, the company that owns the panels can claim the commercial clean-electricity credit and may fold some of that value into your monthly rate. The credit goes to the owner, and the same company also keeps the system’s SRECs.
That trade, lower upfront cost in exchange for handing the tax benefit and the certificates to a financier, is the core of a lease-or-PPA contract; the mechanics are in our Maryland free-solar guide.
Net Metering Is Maryland’s Most Valuable Solar Incentive
For a Maryland homeowner who owns the system, no other benefit matches net metering. A high electricity rate only pays out when the power you export is credited back at that same rate.
Under Maryland’s net-metering rules (Public Utilities Article §7-306), a single meter nets the power your panels export against the power you draw: monthly netting offsets your usage at the retail rate, any surplus rolls forward as a kilowatt-hour credit, and whatever is left is cashed out each April at the lower generation rate. You still pay a fixed monthly customer charge whether or not you generate.
One part deserves attention: the annual reconciliation. Each billing month, your exported kilowatt-hours are netted against the kilowatt-hours you draw from the grid, and any surplus rolls into the next month as a credit counted in kilowatt-hours, which holds its value as rates rise. Since the credit is denominated in energy, a kilowatt-hour banked in May offsets a kilowatt-hour drawn in December even if the retail rate has climbed in between. That rollover runs on a twelve-month cycle. Any credit still unused at the April true-up is paid out in cash, but only at the lower generation rate, not the full retail rate you earned against your usage all year, which is why sizing a system to match your yearly usage beats overbuilding it. A 2023 change under Senate Bill 143 lets you skip the April cash-out and instead carry the surplus forward indefinitely as a kilowatt-hour credit, which suits most homeowners who prefer to bank spring and summer production for winter use.
The §7-306 rules govern Maryland net metering (the four big utilities plus the co-ops and municipals), but the credit is worth more on the utilities that charge the most. Baltimore Gas & Electric, the state’s largest utility, sets the benchmark retail rate that most systems offset. Pepco and Delmarva, the Exelon utilities serving the Washington suburbs and the Eastern Shore, carry comparable retail rates, while Potomac Edison customers in western Maryland pay a lower per-kilowatt-hour rate that stretches the payback on an identical system. Since the credit tracks each utility’s retail rate, the same array delivers a different annual bill offset depending on which territory your address sits in.
Each utility also runs its own interconnection queue, though the five-business-day meter-swap requirement under HB 1532 applies across all four, so the administrative timeline is similar no matter who serves you. As Maryland rates keep climbing, the credit you earn for each exported kilowatt-hour grows with them. Whether solar pays off in Maryland turns on which utility’s rate the credit offsets.
The HB 1532 Deadline That Makes Timing Matter
Full-retail net metering is the benefit worth acting on, because Maryland has set a date to end it for new systems. The Utility RELIEF Act (HB 1532), signed in May 2026, closes new entry to full-retail net metering at the earlier of a 3,000 MW statewide cap or July 1, 2027.
The cap is already filling. The Public Service Commission reported the state at 51.23% of the 3,000 MW limit as of June 30, 2025, with a large community-solar pipeline that could fill the rest before the calendar deadline arrives. The Commission must publish the replacement program by February 1, 2027, and it is written to pay new systems less for their exported power.
The protection for homeowners is grandfathering. A system interconnected before the cutoff stays on full-retail net metering for its operating life, even after the rules change for everyone who comes later. The same law also caps residential solar permit fees at $500 and requires utilities to handle the meter swap within five business days, two changes that trim the friction of connecting in time.
Milestone | Date | What It Means for You |
|---|---|---|
Cap reaches 51.23% | June 30, 2025 | Over half of the 3,000 MW of full-retail net metering is already claimed |
Replacement program due | February 1, 2027 | A lower-paying replacement is finalized before the door closes |
New full-retail enrollment ends | 3,000 MW cap or July 1, 2027 | New systems after this point get the successor rate |
Existing systems grandfathered | At interconnection | Full-retail credits locked in for the life of the system |
Maryland’s Permanent Solar Tax Exemptions
While the cash programs come and go, two Maryland tax exemptions have stayed put for years. Neither requires an application, and neither has a funding cap that can run dry mid-year. They are the most dependable part of the entire stack.
The 6% Sales-Tax Exemption
Maryland exempts solar energy equipment from the state’s 6% sales tax under Tax-General Article §11-230. The exemption is applied at the point of sale, so your installer does not charge tax on qualifying equipment.
On the representative $21,239 system, that removes $1,274 from the price up front. It needs no paperwork and does not depend on any annual budget, and it is one piece of what solar costs in Maryland.
The 100% Property-Tax Exemption
Solar raises a home’s market value and in most cases a higher property value means a higher property tax bill. Maryland prevents that. Under Tax-Property Article §7-242, the added value a solar system brings to your property is exempt from real property tax. You get the resale benefit of the system without the annual tax penalty, and the exemption applies automatically for as long as the equipment is in place.
Maryland SRECs Pay Real but Variable Income
Maryland is one of the states where your system earns tradable certificates on top of bill savings. They are worth understanding, and worth treating with caution, because the income pays out but its price rises and falls.
Every 1,000 kWh your system produces earns one Solar Renewable Energy Certificate, registered through PJM-GATS and sold on the Maryland market. Most homeowners sell through an SREC aggregator or broker, which handles the registration and bidding for a fee instead of leaving you to track and sell each certificate yourself.
The state’s renewable portfolio standard carries a 14.50% solar carve-out, so utilities must buy certificates to comply with it. The representative 7.78 kW system generates 11,141 kWh a year, which works out to 11 certificates, worth $440 at the current $40 spot price.
Treat that $440 as upside, since the amount shifts from year to year. The Maryland SREC price trades on one small, low-volume market and has fallen over the years as supply grew, so the figure that holds today may not hold in five years.
A separate Certified Brighter Tomorrow market carries a higher compliance ceiling of $67.50 per certificate for systems certified under that program and installed within its window and sub-caps, set at the $45/MWh statutory 2026 base multiplied by 1.5. One caution that catches homeowners off guard: on a lease or PPA the financier keeps the certificates.
The MEA Cash Grants Are Closed for 2026
Maryland did run upfront grant programs, and not all of them have stayed open. For a 2026 buyer, the cash grants are closed, and counting on money that is no longer there is the fastest way to misjudge a quote.
The Maryland Solar Access Program paid $750/kW up to $7,500 to households at or below 150% of the state median income. Its FY26 budget was claimed in full, and the portal is closed; a FY27 cycle is expected in summer 2026.
The Residential and Commercial Energy Storage grant, which covered batteries, exhausted its FY26 funding as well. The state energy-storage income-tax credit, once worth up to $5,000, expired on December 31, 2024 and was not renewed.
That leaves no upfront state grant for the typical 2026 buyer. If a salesperson quotes you a Maryland rebate that drops the price today, ask exactly which program it comes from and confirm the funding is open before you sign.
Community Solar for Renters and Unsuitable Roofs
Not every Maryland household can put panels on a roof. Renters, condo owners, and homes with heavy shade or aging roofs are shut out of an installed system, and for them the state runs an alternative that works.
Maryland’s community solar program is permanent, and signing up is straightforward. You pick a project operating in your utility territory and subscribe to a share sized to your annual usage, with no hardware on your roof and no installation to schedule. A share is sized to your own consumption, so the credits offset your bill without building up value you cannot use. The credits that share produces then appear on your monthly bill.
Since January 1, 2026, consolidated utility billing means those credits land on your regular BGE, Pepco, Potomac Edison, or Delmarva statement instead of arriving as a separate invoice, so there is one bill to read and one payment to make. Subscribers see 5% to 25% off the portion of their bill the subscription covers, and because nothing is bolted to your roof, changing your mind carries no stranded cost: you can cancel without penalty, which keeps the option low-risk for renters who may move.
The program also reserves at least 40% of each project’s capacity for low- and moderate-income subscribers, who are guaranteed a minimum level of bill savings and are not subject to the credit check a rooftop loan would require, which removes two of the barriers that keep renters and fixed-income owners off solar. Projects operate across all four investor-owned territories and are accepting subscribers now.
Who Collects Each Incentive? Owners vs Lease/PPA
Maryland’s incentives are generous on paper, but each one carries conditions. Knowing which apply to your home before you sign keeps a quote honest.
Who Qualifies for Maryland Solar Incentives?
If you own your home and BGE, Pepco, Potomac Edison, or Delmarva serves it, a purchased system collects the full set: net metering, the sales-tax exemption, the property-tax exemption, and SRECs. The two tax exemptions apply whether you pay cash or finance.
The rest of the incentives depend on ownership, because the tax exemptions and the SRECs go to whoever owns the equipment. If buy or take a loan and they are yours, while a lease or PPA hands the certificates and any federal credit to the company that owns the panels. Net metering covers systems up to 200% of your baseline annual usage, so a system scaled to your yearly consumption clears the rule comfortably.
Who Doesn’t Qualify?
Renters and condo owners have no roof to install on, so an owned system and its incentives are off the table; community solar is the option that still works for them.
An aging roof is the next obstacle: if yours is within several years of replacement, the cost to remove and reset an array can erase the savings, so re-roof first, then install. A Maryland-specific trap waits at the deadline: interconnect after the HB 1532 cap fills or the July 1, 2027 cutoff and you never get full-retail net metering, only the lower successor rate.
Below 250 kWh a month, the bill solar can offset is small and fixed connection costs eat the return, which makes community solar a better fit than ownership. A lease or PPA can still lower your monthly bill, but the SRECs, the federal credit, and the resale value of the incentives stay with the provider, so read who keeps each benefit before signing, and start by vetting Maryland solar installers.
Are You Eligible for Maryland Solar Incentives?
Which benefits you can claim depends on your utility, your roof, and whether you own or lease. Enter your ZIP code to see which Maryland programs, net-metering terms, and exemptions fit your address, and whether connecting before the HB 1532 cutoff is within reach for your home.
Find out what Maryland programs are available to you!
Frequently Asked Questions
No, Maryland does not have a state solar tax credit. The state energy-storage income-tax credit expired on December 31, 2024. The state benefits that remain are the sales-tax exemption, the property-tax exemption, SREC income, and net metering.
Maryland SRECs trade at $40 each on the current spot market. A 7.78 kW system earns 11 a year, which comes to $440 at that price. The market is small and the price has trended down over time, so treat the income as variable upside you cannot bank on.
No, the 30% residential credit (Section 25D) ended for systems installed after December 31, 2025. A leased or PPA system can still access the commercial clean-electricity credit, but that benefit goes to the company that owns the panels.
HB 1532 closes new enrollment in full-retail net metering at the earlier of a 3,000 MW statewide cap or July 1, 2027. A lower-paying successor rate takes over after that. A system interconnected before the cutoff keeps full-retail credits for its operating life.
Yes, through community solar. Renters and condo owners can subscribe to a share of an offsite project and receive credits on their utility bill, with savings of 5% to 25% on the covered portion and no equipment to install. At least 40% of each project is reserved for low- and moderate-income subscribers.
No. Under Tax-Property Article §7-242, the home value a solar system adds is exempt from real property tax. The exemption is automatic and lasts as long as the system is installed.
Not for 2026. The Maryland Solar Access Program and the Residential and Commercial Energy Storage grant both exhausted their FY26 funding and are closed. A FY27 cycle is expected in summer 2026, so re-check the MEA portal before relying on either one.
References & Research Sources: EcoGen America reviewed Maryland utility commission materials, net energy metering reports, state legislation, state tax exemption statutes, federal tax guidance, renewable energy portfolio standard research, community solar resources, solar access program materials, and energy storage grant program resources for this article. Sources were accessed July 13, 2026, unless another publication, release, effective, or update date is listed below.
- Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC). U.S. EIA Corrects Maryland Electricity Price Data. Public Service Commission news release regarding corrected residential electricity price data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Published June 3, 2026. Accessed July 13, 2026.
- Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC). Net Energy Metering in the State of Maryland. Public Utilities Article § 7-306(j) report. Revised November 20, 2025. Accessed July 13, 2026.
- Maryland General Assembly. House Bill 1532: Continuing the Next Generation Energy Act; Utility RELIEF (Reducing Energy Load Inflation for Everyday Families) Act. 2026 Regular Session enrolled bill. Accessed July 13, 2026.
- Maryland General Assembly. Tax-General Article § 11-230: Exemption for Solar Energy Equipment. Sales and use tax exemption statute for solar energy equipment. Accessed July 13, 2026.
- Maryland General Assembly. Tax-Property Article § 7-242: Solar Energy Property. Property tax exemption statute for solar energy property. Accessed July 13, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Residential Clean Energy Credit. Federal Section 25D tax credit guidance. Page last reviewed or updated July 4, 2026. Accessed July 13, 2026.
- Maryland Department of Legislative Services. Introduction to the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard. Office of Policy Analysis report on Maryland’s renewable energy portfolio standard. Published September 2025. Accessed July 13, 2026.
- Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC). Community Solar Program. Maryland community solar program resource, including consumer information, subscriber organization guidance, and program background. Accessed July 13, 2026.
- Maryland Energy Administration (MEA). Maryland Solar Access Program. Fiscal Year 2026 residential solar photovoltaic rebate program resource. Program offering period: July 21, 2025, through April 17, 2026. Accessed July 13, 2026.
- Maryland Energy Administration (MEA). Residential and Commercial Energy Storage Program. Fiscal Year 2026 energy storage grant program resource for residential and commercial battery energy storage systems. Last budget update May 11, 2026. Accessed July 13, 2026.
