Experts advise people with a serious interest in solar sun to act quickly and carefully consider their choices to prevent headache.
In many American states, solar installations on the roof can offer financial benefits. The solar energy goes to reducing the energy consumption of the house, and all generated excess electricity can be sent back to the utility for at least some credit. In this way, a solar installation that is owned by the homeowner acts as a cover at rising utility costs.
These financial benefits have been made partly possible by the tax credit for homes, which offers a tax credit of 30% of the costs to install solar panels to homeowners in the year after installation. But with the passage of HR 1 (also known as one Big Beautiful Bill Act), the American housing tax credit ends after 2025.
Without the tax credit, people in states with a lower average electricity prices may no longer see financial benefits of installing solar panels.
So what should homeowners do if they want to benefit from the tax credit? Leaders of Solar Industry and Experts who spoke PV Magazine USA Agree on a few advice:
If you are serious to get solar panels, start the process as soon as possible
Choose the company with which you work carefully
Understand your options to claim the tax credit
When it comes to getting solar energy on time to claim the tax credit for homes, the time is essential. A Study of timelines for solar installation The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) showed that it usually takes between 70 and 112 days to go from a signed contract to the day that your utility company grants permission to exploit your system with the schedule.
Experts say that the timeline can be ambitious, given the flow of the business community that is expected to take place before the deadline.
“As homeowners wait until October to start the process, I suspect that most installers will say:” Hey, we have been booked until the end of the year, “said Kevin Conroy, president of residential solar financing financing.
Dean ChiaraValloti, Chief Revenue Officer at Solar Insure, agrees.
“The closer we get on December 31, the greater the chance that city departments and utility companies will be overwhelmed,” said Chiaravalloti. “That slows everyone. If you are planning to go solar energy, do it now – not in Q4 when everyone else is scrambling.”
Another recommendation has to do with choosing a solar panel and ensuring that they will comply with promises. Conroy advised homeowners to go with a local solar installer above a national company. Chiaravalloti added: “Choose a contractor with strong credit, at least 3 years of operations, no unsolved court cases and fixed licenses.”
Joy Seitz, CEO of American Solar & Roofing in Phoenix Arizona, goes one step further and says: “If you want to know if you should choose a company, go to their office. If they don’t have one, or if the logo at the office is different from the contract, don’t buy from them.”
Once the process has started, the decision must be whether and how to finance a solar installation should be another major care for homeowners. It is important for people to understand how their system can be eligible for the tax credit.
A provision in HR 1 replaces the formulation for which a solar installation had to be “hired at the end of the year” with language that states that all “expenses” are eligible before December 31. That change has led to some speculation that potential solar customers can pay an installation in 2025 that will be built later, but experts are skeptical or that will be the case.
Homeowners and loan providers usually do not make full payment on a solar installation until the system is fully operational and Conroy does not expect that this will be charged.
“We are not suddenly going to pay more in advance from the installers, so that the homeowner can qualify because that endangers everyone,” he said. “Our goal is that if the homeowner expects the tax credit, his system will have reached permission to operate at the end of the year to prevent confusion.”
Finally, Seitz has some advice to offer homeowners on the fence about getting solar panels this year. “I’m not going to say that the world ends and if you don’t do it today, then Solar is over,” she said. “The costs of electricity will continue to rise, and there will still be reasons to go on solar energy in the future.”
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