Solar Panels in New Haven, CT: 2026 Cost, UI Net Metering & Savings

New Haven and the bill

The United Illuminating Company serves New Haven. A proposal written on an Eversource tariff is the wrong document, even though both companies use the same statewide program name. New Haven is a coastal UI city. The resource is still about 4.1 peak sun hours in our rounded figure, close to Hartford, with more salt air and a denser mix of rental housing. Owner-occupants on a sound roof are the usual candidates. Students and renters do not control the roof. UI's Residential Renewable Energy Solutions materials are the ones to read. The 2026 manual lists the same buy-all incentive at UI and at Eversource for that application year, and the netting export credit still follows the retail rate on the bill. The 2025 EIA residential average for Connecticut was 29.31 cents per kWh. That statewide figure is what our calculator uses. It is not the UI tariff. A rounded solar resource for this metro is about 4.1 peak sun hours a day.

Export credits and any SREC or REC

United Illuminating, not Eversource, serves New Haven. Both companies administer Residential Renewable Energy Solutions, and the 2026 manual lists the same $0.3289 per kWh buy-all incentive for applications received in 2026. Netting pays exports at the applicable retail rate and, for that program year, applies a $0.0402 per kWh solar energy adjustment on production. The netting REC rate in that manual is $0. Income and location adders have their own tests. This page does not decide them. A municipal utility, if the bill is one, is outside the program.

Roofs, climate, permits, and HOAs

Three-deckers, small lots, and older single-family houses. Flat and low-slope roofs need a fire-access layout. Yale-area streets are shaded. Suburban Orange and Hamden, when they are still UI, are a different roof than a downtown triple. A New Haven permit comes from the local building department, not from UI. An HOA can add its own review. This page does not quote a CT permit fee or an approval, because both depend on the address. Confirm UI versus a municipal utility if the address is outside the city. Ask for the program structure in writing. Do not paste a review from another company, or a Florida production number, onto this bill.

Estimated cost range

Estimated cost range for New Haven, labeled as an estimate and not a local quote: Berkeley Lab's August 2026 update put 2025 host-owned residential systems at about $3.60 per watt before incentives, about $3.00 per watt in the cash subset, and about $4.50 per watt in the loan subset. The median size in that set was 7.7 kW. New Haven is about 4.1 peak sun hours a day, against about 4.0 statewide. The federal residential credit under 26 U.S.C. § 25D ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025. The IRS treats that expenditure as made when the original installation is completed.

• 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.