Solar guides
The guides answer what homeowners ask before they sign for solar, from how to compare quotes to what net metering is and where the federal tax credit stands. Each opens with its answer and names the agency, statute or tariff behind every rule.
Which guide should you read first?
Start with the guide that matches where you are in the process.
| Where you are | Read first |
|---|---|
| You have a quote in your hands | How do you compare solar quotes? |
| You are weighing a loan, a lease or a power purchase agreement | What ended with the federal solar tax credit? |
| Your roof is old or shows wear | How do you compare solar quotes? |
- My Solar Brokers
- A comparison website that connects homeowners in Pennsylvania and New Jersey with installer partners. It publishes these guides under its own name. We do not install solar.
- Installer
- A company that sells and carries out a solar project.
All the guides, grouped by what you are trying to settle
Where a rule changes by market, the guide says so and links to the market guide.
How solar works
Before you shop
How does net metering credit the power you send back?Net metering is a billing arrangement that lets certain customers reduce the electricity they are billed for by the electricity they send back to the grid during a billing period, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says. The credit rate and the year-end settlement come from your market’s rules.
Source:U.S. Energy Information Administration, Glossary, “Net metering” (undated).
How to compare quotes and the tax credit
Comparing quotes
How do you compare solar quotes?Put each quote into the same units, then ask the installer to answer any blank line in writing. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) advises comparing detailed bids from several companies, and says a bid should state in writing the system’s size and expected output, the full installation cost including any permit fees, and the equipment warranties. The guide has a printable checklist, a blank table and a worked example with made-up numbers.
Source:Federal Trade Commission, “Solar Power for Your Home” ().
Comparing quotes
What ended with the federal solar tax credit?The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says the federal residential credit is not available for property placed in service after 31 December 2025. The guide gives the IRS wording with its date, then the questions to put to an installer whose quote assumes an incentive.
Source:Internal Revenue Service, “Residential Clean Energy Credit” (page updated ).
What changed for the federal solar tax credit?
The credit equaled 30% of eligible costs
- 2022
- 2023
- 2024
- 2025
- For property placed in service after that date
The federal Residential Clean Energy Credit is not available for property placed in service after 31 December 2025, the Internal Revenue Service says. The credit equaled 30% of the costs of new, eligible clean energy property installed for a home from 2022 through that date.
Source:Internal Revenue Service, “Residential Clean Energy Credit” (page updated ).
Ask every installer which incentives a quote assumes and who claims them.
What ended and what is leftWhere do the rules change by market?
Credit for the power you send back, utility regulation, installer lookups and taxes all change by market, so each market has its own guide.
New Jersey
Find your market’s guide. Your ZIP code finds your market, and each market has its own rules.
How are the guides sourced and checked?
Every rule in a guide comes from a statute, a tariff, a regulator’s page or a federal agency’s guidance. A source line beside it names the document, and the numbered Sources list gives its date or marks it undated.
A guide’s Facts checked date, where one is shown, is the day a person last reopened its sources. The editorial policy explains how errors are reported and corrected.
Questions about the guides
Are the guides different in each market?
Most of each guide is the same everywhere: how a quote is built, what a contract line means, what the federal credit was. Where a rule changes by market, the guide says so and links to the Pennsylvania or New Jersey guide, which holds the local sources.
Can you print the checklist and the blank table?
Yes. The quote guide’s checklist and blank table are text on the page and print from it, so you can fill them in by hand for each quote. The worked example uses made-up numbers, so you can practice first. Open the printable checklist and worked example
Do the guides recommend an installer or a payment option?
No. The guides explain how to compare quotes, contracts and payment options, and where to check an installer. They name no installer and recommend no option, so the choice stays with you.
The guides explain how the pieces fit together, with sources you can open. Your own quote, contract and utility documents decide what applies to your home.
Sources
Each source was checked on 9 Oct 2026. Undated pages are marked.
- Federal Trade Commission, Solar Power for Your Home ().
- Internal Revenue Service, Residential Clean Energy Credit (page updated ).
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Glossary, “Net metering” (undated).