Indiana solar rebates and tax credits calculator

Summary of Indiana solar incentives 2021

Indiana is set to phase out net metering, a rule that makes your utility credit you for all the power you produce but aren’t able to use onsite. This solar benefit gets cut for all people who install solar after 2022, so now is a great time to install home solar to lock in your credits. Read on to discover all your need to know about home solar policy, incentives, and savings in the Hoosier State.

Federal solar investment tax credit

The federal solar investment tax credit will have the biggest impact on the cost you will face to go solar in Indiana

This perk is commonly known as the ITC, short for “Investment Tax Credit”. If you install your photovoltaic system in 2020, the federal tax credit is 26% of the cost of your solar panel system. This is 26% off the entire cost of the system including equipment, labor and permitting.

Example: If your solar energy system costs $20,000, your federal solar tax credit would be $20,000 x 26% = $5,200.

The federal tax credit falls to 22% at the end of 2022.

Net energy metering in Indiana

With net metering in some states, you get full retail rate credit for the amount of electricity you send back into the grid with your solar panels.

Net Metering requires your utility to monitor how much energy your solar power system produces and how much energy you actually consume, and make sure you get credit for the surplus.

Current Indiana net metering standards call for surplus energy production to be applied as a credit on your next monthly bill. Credits can be carried over indefinitely, but there are no provisions forcing the utility to cut you a check if you continually run a surplus. However, the program is set to expire at the end of 2022, so it’s important to get enrolled in the program before that date arrives!

Overall the net metering incentive in Indiana is pretty good. 40% of current net metering capacity is reserved for residential use, you shouldn’t have any problems getting into the program.

Indiana solar rebates

Indiana does not currently offer any rebates for people who purchase solar panels for their home. Thankfully, the state does offer tax exemptions to help make solar power more attractive.

Solar tax exemptions

First up, you are 100% exempt from all property taxes associated with the increase in home value caused by installing a solar power system. And there is an increase. That’s going to save you a pretty nice chunk of change every year.

You also are exempt from all sales tax (that’s 7% here) on the purchase of your solar power system, which is a really nice benefit in a state without much going for it in terms of solar policy. However, the actual law for solar sales tax exemption states you need to be selling this energy to qualify for a sales tax exemption.

Technically, with net metering, you are selling power back to the utility, but you may want expert opinion on the matter in Indiana, particularly if you don’t see a sales tax exemption on your solar installation quote. If all this is sounding complicated and discouraging, don’t worry – the solar installers we partner with can take care of all these details for you and make sure you save the most money possible. Start by calculating your potential savings with solar power.

NIPSCO feed-in tariff

If you’re lucky enough to live in an area served by NIPSCO, you can enroll in a special program to get excess credit for your solar power. Under this program you can install a solar system up to 10 kilowatts in size, and either elect to sell all the electricity back to NIPSCO at a rate of $0.15 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), OR you can declare a kWh allotment to sell back to NIPSCO at this rate, while using the rest for yourself.

With going electric rates at $0.12/kWh, you can stand to make some additional money with this program and also cover your electric usage. For more details on how this program works, check the NIPSCO Feed-in Tariff Website.

Useful links

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