Unsurprisingly, EnergySage’s solar market saw significantly increased traffic in the second half of 2025, following July’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which eliminated residential tax credits on December 31, 2025. EnergySage saw a 205% year-over-year increase in the number of homeowners actively working with installers and a record number of customer inquiries over the previous 30-day record. Most installers reported that they would reach annual capacity by October 2025, creating supply constraints and forcing both installers and homeowners to make atypical decisions.
These details and more were revealed on the 22nd “EnergySage Intel: Home Electrification Marketplace Report,” released today. The biannual report analyzed millions of transaction-level data points from homeowners shopping energiesage.com between July and December 2025 for solar panels, inverters, batteries, heat pumps and other electrification upgrades from companies operating in all 50 states and Washington, DC
Other insights from the latest report include:
Solar and storage prices rose modestly due to overwhelming demand
Solar prices rose just 0.4% to $2.49/W in the second half of 2025, while storage prices rose 3.6% to $1,074/kWh, with increases concentrated later in the year after installers reached capacity. Even during the end-of-year rush, competitive prices persisted, indicating that market transparency is limiting price inflation.
“When demand exceeds supply, it often results in panic pricing across any sector,” said Emily Walker, Director of Insights at EnergySage. “But market transparency has acted as a brake on inflation: When buyers can see what competitive prices look like, it’s hard to keep costs from rising, even under historic demand.”
Supply limitations led to diversification of equipment as availability outweighed preference
The wattage of the panels has become lower for the first time in years, because installers considered the available stock more important than the ideal specifications. The recently dominant range of 450 to 460 W fell from 33% to 26% of quotes, while the range of 430 to 440 W rose from 8% to 30%. REC, the consistent solar market leader on EnergySage, dropped from 43% to 20% market share. The fragmentation reflects a market that prioritizes installation timelines over equipment optimization.
“Installers and homeowners have become much more flexible when it comes to equipment to meet the tax credit deadline,” Walker said. “Being installed before the cut-off date was more important than system preference, creating opportunities for alternative solar panel brands and models to gain market share.”
Battery confirmations fell as homeowners prioritized securing solar incentives
National battery dependency fell from 41% to 38% even as interest remained broadly stable, only falling from 74% to 73%. The pattern was even more evident in the high-end storage markets, with California dropping from 79% to 71% attachment, Texas from 61% to 53%, and Hawaii from 100% to 85%. The gap between interest and purchase suggests that many homeowners have postponed storage investments to take advantage of expiring solar incentives, leaving significant opportunity for renovation in the future.
“The dip in battery confirmation was not a decline in interest, but a delayed adoption,” Walker said. “Thousands of new solar households are now prime candidates for storage retrofits, and that wave is just beginning.”
Contractors positioned for integrated electrification growth
A survey of EV charger installers found that 55% generate less than 25% of revenue from chargers alone, demonstrating business diversification across multiple electrification products. The findings indicate that homeowners are increasingly approaching solar, storage, EV charging and HVAC upgrades as a coordinated strategy rather than isolated purchases.
“We see the market moving from buying a point-solution clean energy product to designing a home energy system,” Walker said. “The question homeowners are asking installers has fundamentally changed: it’s not just ‘Should I buy an EV charger or solar panels?’ — it’s ‘How do I design a home energy system that gives me control over my costs and my power?’ And installers are responding to that change by diversifying their offering.”
The industry is now entering a post-incentive phase for purchased residential solar systems, where financing flexibility, product diversification and operational adaptability will determine long-term competitiveness. With the tax credit for purchased systems eliminated, third-party ownership (TPO) options such as leases and power purchase agreements (PPAs) – which remain eligible for the tax credit through 2028 – are already gaining market share on EnergySage. EnergySage will track that data in the next Marketplace report.
“Federal incentives have been driving the home electrification market for decades, and it has succeeded,” said Naman Trivedi, Group CEO of EnergySage and VP Home Energy at Schneider Electric. “But the forces shaping the next chapter are bigger and more enduring: unprecedented demand for electricity, rising energy rates, extreme weather events and grid stresses all result in the desire for energy independence. Homeowners are increasingly motivated by savings, resilience and control, and that combination is more powerful than any incentive.
“We are moving from an incentive-driven point solution market to an integrated home energy market,” Trivedi added. “The companies that succeed will be the ones that help households manage their energy, not just install equipment.”
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