Solar Panels in Connecticut: 2026 Cost, Incentives & Savings

• Cash

  $3.00/W

  $23,100

  Subset classified as cash

• Middle published case

  $3.60/W

  $27,720

  All host-owned systems

• Loan

  $4.50/W

  $34,650

  Financed subset, before interest

Before incentives. A loan price here excludes interest. The federal residential credit under section 25D ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025. Berkeley Lab, U.S. Distributed Solar and Storage, August 2026 data update.

How to read Connecticut

Connecticut's 2025 EIA residential average was 29.31 cents per kWh, among the higher state averages in the country. The rounded statewide solar resource we use is 4.0 peak sun hours a day, a New England figure, not a Sun Belt figure. Eversource and The United Illuminating Company split most of the state. Winter cloud and snow matter more here than hurricane design.

Utilities

Eversource (The Connecticut Light and Power Company) serves most of Connecticut, including Hartford, Stamford, Danbury, and much of Norwalk. The United Illuminating Company (UI), part of Avangrid, serves the greater New Haven and Bridgeport coast. Municipal utilities are outside both of those companies. They include South Norwalk Electric and Water, the Third Taxing District in East Norwalk, Wallingford Electric Division, Norwich Public Utilities, and Groton Utilities. The name on the bill decides the tariff.

Export credits and tariffs

New residential solar on Eversource and UI is handled under the Residential Renewable Energy Solutions program, which the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority describes as the successor to legacy net metering and to the Connecticut Green Bank's Residential Solar Investment Program. Public Act 19-35, codified at Connecticut General Statutes § 16-244z, authorized the tariffs. The utilities administer them. A customer who qualifies chooses a buy-all structure or a netting structure. The program manual version 2026.1, effective January 1, 2026, lists a buy-all incentive of $0.3289 per kWh for applications received in 2026 at both utilities, and a netting export credit at the applicable retail rate, with a solar energy adjustment of $0.0402 per kWh on netting production and a $0 netting REC rate for that program year. Those figures are a published tariff for a calendar year. They are not a promise that a house qualifies, that an adder applies, or that a later year will match. Municipal utilities set their own rules. Connecticut General Statutes § 12-81(57) is the Class I renewable-energy property-tax exemption. Ask the town assessor how it is applied. This page does not promise an assessment change.

Climate and roofs

Winters are cloudy, and snow sits on flat and low-pitch roofs longer than on a steep one. Summer humidity drives some air conditioning, but the annual bill is not a Florida cooling bill. Coastal Fairfield and New Haven counties see more wind and salt air than Hartford. Tree shade in older towns often cuts more production than the difference between 4.0 and 4.1 peak sun hours.

Cities

• Hartford

  Eversource in the capital, with a high state rate and a modest New England solar resource.

• New Haven

  UI on the central coast, not Eversource, with older roofs and harbor weather.

• Stamford

  Eversource in lower Fairfield County, with newer towers downtown and suburban roofs north of the parkway.

• Bridgeport

  UI in the state's largest city, with older housing and a coastal roof.

• Norwalk

  Three utilities inside one city: Eversource, South Norwalk Electric and Water, and the Third Taxing District.

• Danbury

  Eversource in the western hills, with suburban roofs and more winter weather than the coast.

• Waterbury

  Eversource in the Naugatuck Valley, with older industrial-city housing and a Connecticut rate.

• Greenwich

  Eversource at the New York line, with large roofs, trees, and a Connecticut tariff.