Missouri solar rebates and incentives in 2026

• WHAT THE STATUTE STILL SAYS: section 137.100 lists property exempt from taxation for state, county or local purposes, and subdivision (10) reads in its entirety "Solar energy systems not held for resale"
• WHY IT DOES NOT WORK: in Johnson v. Springfield Solar 1, LLC, 648 S.W.3d 101, decided August 9, 2022, the Missouri Supreme Court held that subdivision unconstitutional under article X, section 6 of the Missouri Constitution, which limits tax exemptions to specifically enumerated property. The Revisor of Statutes prints the holding as an annotation directly beneath the section
• THE STATE TAX COMMISSION'S OWN ANSWER FOR A HOUSE: its assessor manual asks what happens when a taxpayer has solar panels installed on the roof of a home to generate power for use in and around the home, and answers that "In the assessor's discretion based upon the facts known to the assessor, the solar panels could be considered to be a fixture of the home if attached to the home. The value of the fixture would be contributory to the overall value of the residential property and not valued separately"
• So a Missouri rooftop system can add to the assessed value of the home, it is generally not assessed as a separate line, and the outcome turns on a locally elected assessor's discretion rather than on a statewide rule
• The Commission is explicit that there is no methodology in statute: "While no current statute specifically provides a methodology for assessment and taxation of solar energy systems, county officials may look to general statutes governing the assessment and taxation of real property and personal property and relevant case law to help guide them"
• WHAT THE LEGISLATURE DID INSTEAD, AND WHY IT DOES NOT HELP A NEW BUYER: Senate Bill 4 of 2025, signed and effective August 28, 2025, amended sections 137.010, 137.080 and 137.115 to create a new subclass of tangible personal property covering solar panels, racking systems, inverters and related equipment installed in connection with solar photovoltaic energy systems as described in section 144.030.2(46), assessed at five percent of true value — but only for systems "that were constructed and producing solar energy prior to August 9, 2022," the date of the decision. It is a grandfather for systems already running, not a rule for anyone installing now
• A task force was created to fix this: section 393.1072 established the Task Force on Fair, Nondiscriminatory Local Taxation Concerning Solar Energy Systems, which was to report before December 31, 2022. That section expired December 31, 2022 by its own terms
• NOT VERIFIED HERE: how individual county assessors are in fact treating residential rooftop systems in 2026. The Commission's guidance is discretionary by design and we did not survey counties
• NOT VERIFIED HERE: whether the 2025 personal property subclass can reach a residential rooftop system that was producing before August 9, 2022. It cross-references a sales tax provision written around purchases by a company, and the Commission's own guidance treats residential rooftop panels as a fixture of real property rather than as personal property

Authority: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 137.100(10), held unconstitutional by Johnson v. Springfield Solar 1, LLC, 648 S.W.3d 101 (Mo. banc 2022); cf. §§ 137.010, 137.080, 137.115 as amended by S.B. 4 (2025)

What we saw: Section 137.100 read on 2026-07-29 from the Revisor of Statutes of Missouri, version effective 28 Aug 2013. Subdivision (10) is printed in the operative list of exempt subjects and reads, in full, "Solar energy systems not held for resale." The annotation printed beneath the section reads verbatim: "(2022) Section exempting solar energy systems not held for resale from property taxation is unconstitutional under article X, § 6 limitation of tax exemptions to specifically enumerated property. Johnson v. Springfield Solar 1, LLC, 648 S.W.3d 101 (Mo.banc)." The State Tax Commission of Missouri's Assessor Manual chapter 7.11, "Assessment of Solar Property," revision date March 8, 2023, read as a PDF the same day, opens: "On August 9, 2022, the Missouri Supreme Court issued its decision in Brent Johnson, et al., v. Springfield Solar 1, LLC, et al., (SC99441) holding that the exemption for 'solar energy systems not held for resale' under Section 137.100(10) is unconstitutional." Its Question 1 and Answer 1 are quoted in the eligibility list above verbatim. The manual also states that the task force under section 393.1072 issued its report and that "no such legislation was enacted or effective as of the January 1, 2023, reassessment date." Sections 137.080 and 137.115 read the same day: 137.080 lists as new personal property subclass (7) "Solar panels, racking systems, inverters, and related solar equipment, components, materials, and supplies installed in connection with solar photovoltaic energy systems, as described in subdivision (46) of subsection 2 of section 144.030, that were constructed and producing solar energy prior to August 9, 2022", with amendment history ending "A.L. 2025 S.B. 4"; 137.115 assigns that subclass "five percent." Section 393.1072 read the same day carries "6. This section shall expire on December 31, 2022." Senate Bill 214 of 2025, which would have set a $500 per megawatt liability cap and a new assessor valuation rule from January 1, 2026, was second read and referred to committee and did not become law; section 137.077, which that bill would have created, does not exist in the Revised Statutes.

• THE PROPOSITION C SCHEDULE RAN OUT FIRST. Section 393.1030.4 sets the statutory rebate by operational date: two dollars per watt on or before June 30, 2014, stepping down through fifty cents, then twenty-five cents per watt between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020, and "zero cents per watt for systems becoming operational after June 30, 2020"
• THE REPLACEMENT STATUTE HAS ALSO EXPIRED. Section 393.1670, enacted in 2018, required electrical corporations to pay fifty cents per watt for systems operational between January 1, 2019 and June 30, 2019 and twenty-five cents per watt for systems operational after June 30, 2019 through December 31, 2023. Subsection 7 reads: "This section shall expire on December 31, 2023"
• It was capped at twenty-five kilowatts per system for residential customers and one hundred fifty kilowatts for non-residential, and each utility had an aggregate dollar ceiling: twenty-eight million dollars for corporations with a million or more Missouri retail customers, eight million for those between two hundred thousand and a million, seven million for those at or below two hundred thousand
• THE PRICE OF TAKING ONE, IF YOU DID: as a condition of the rebate the customer transferred to the utility all right, title and interest in the renewable energy certificates associated with the system for ten years. Both Evergy Missouri tariffs still carry that clause, and it is the only circumstance in which a Missouri customer-generator does not own their own certificates
• THE STATUTE DOES NOT FORBID A FUTURE ONE. Section 393.1030, now printed effective August 28, 2025 from A.L. 2025 S.B. 4, carries in subsection 4 the sentence "Nothing in this section shall prevent an electrical corporation from offering rebates after July 1, 2020, through an approved tariff." The mandate is dead; a voluntary tariff rebate is expressly permitted. So the accurate statement is that no Missouri investor-owned utility currently offers one, not that the law prohibits one
• Ameren Missouri's rebate ran on the same statute and the same schedule, twenty-eight million dollars over five years, fifty cents per watt for the first half of 2019 and twenty-five cents per watt thereafter, capped at twenty-five kilowatts for a residential customer, with $0.4 million in the final 2023 year
• THE DEADLINE WAS OPERATIONAL, NOT CONTRACTUAL. Ameren's own pages state that a system had to be installed, with Sections E and F and any municipal inspection submitted, before December 31, 2023, and that systems not meeting those requirements by that date are not eligible
• NEITHER STATUTE REACHED A MUNICIPAL OR A COOPERATIVE. Both bind an "electrical corporation". Columbia Water and Light still pays a solar rebate today, which is why the blanket statement that Missouri utility rebates are dead is wrong as a statewide claim
• NOT VERIFIED HERE: whether any Missouri rural electric cooperative offers a solar rebate of its own. The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives site carries no rebate list and no solar incentive page, and individual cooperative sites were not swept one by one

Authority: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 393.1670 (expired December 31, 2023); Mo. Rev. Stat. § 393.1030.4

What we saw: Re-fetched on 2026-09-13: Ameren Missouri's "2019-2023 SOLAR REBATES" document is still live and still prints the schedule "January 1, 2019-June 30, 2019 -- $0.50 per watt" and "July 1, 2019-December 31, 2023 -- $0.25 per watt", a maximum residential system size of 25 kW, and funding of $28 million over five years with $0.4 million in the final 2023 year. No date is printed on the PDF itself. Ameren Missouri's customer-owned solar pages name no rebate available today. Section 393.1030 was re-read at the Revisor the same day and is now printed effective August 28, 2025 from A.L. 2025 S.B. 4; its subsection 4 permits a voluntary tariff rebate after July 1, 2020. Recorded deliberately after a plan assumption was checked and failed: Ameren's "Smart Inverter Rebate" of $300 per kW-DC and $300 per kWh is an Ameren Illinois program, offered to DS-1, DS-2, DS-3 and DS-4 Illinois rate classes, and the June 1, 2026 five-rate-option change sits inside the Illinois Rider NM discussion. Neither belongs on a Missouri page. Section 393.1670 read on 2026-07-29 from the Revisor of Statutes of Missouri, version effective 28 Aug 2018. Subsection 1 verbatim: "For systems becoming operational between January 1, 2019, and June 30, 2019, the solar rebate shall be fifty cents per watt, and for systems that become operational after June 30, 2019, through December 31, 2023, the solar rebate shall be twenty-five cents per watt." Subsection 7 verbatim: "This section shall expire on December 31, 2023; provided however, that after such expiration, the electrical corporation shall be entitled to recover any remaining regulatory asset balance as provided in subsection 2 of this section." Section 393.1030.4, read the same day in the version effective 28 Aug 2025, ends its rebate schedule "and zero cents per watt for systems becoming operational after June 30, 2020" and continues "Nothing in this section shall prevent an electrical corporation from offering rebates after July 1, 2020, through an approved tariff", and conditions any rebate on the customer transferring "all right, title, and interest in and to the renewable energy credits associated with the new or expanded solar electric system ... for a period of ten years". Evergy Missouri West's complete filed tariff (P.S.C. MO. No. 1) was downloaded from evergy.com and its table of contents read in full: no solar rebate schedule appears; the sole rebate schedule listed is "Commercial EV Charger Rebate CECR 161". Evergy Missouri Metro's complete filed tariff (P.S.C. MO. No. 7) contains "SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC REBATE PROGRAM, Schedule SR, 393.1670 RSMo (2019-2023)", issued August 27, 2018 and effective October 15, 2018, whose condition 6 reads: "The System or expansion of an existing System must not become operational until after December 31, 2018 and must become operational on or before December 31, 2023." Ameren Missouri's own "2019-2023 SOLAR REBATES" document, read as a PDF the same day, states the rebates are "part of the Smart Energy Plan (SB564)", "$28 million dollars over 5 years", "January 1, 2019-June 30, 2019--$0.50 per watt", "July 1, 2019-December 31, 2023--$0.25 per watt", and "Maximum solar system size for a solar rebate for a Residential customer is 25 kW". Ameren's current customer-owned solar FAQ answers the question "Are there Solar Rebates?" only with a link for customers who already submitted applications to check status. CONTRADICTING SOURCE, RECORDED DELIBERATELY: Evergy's own help center page "What is the Solar Power Rebate?", read the same day, still states in the present tense that "The solar power rebate encourages an investment in solar technology by providing a rebate per watt of solar energy generated. The rebate is available for residential and business customers in Missouri", with no dates and no amount. Evergy's main private solar and net metering program page describes only net metering and parallel generation and mentions no rebate.

• WHAT THE HELP PAGE SAYS: "The solar power rebate encourages an investment in solar technology by providing a rebate per watt of solar energy generated. The rebate is available for residential and business customers in Missouri." No amount, no cap, no status, no end date
• WHAT THE FILED TARIFF SAYS: Evergy Missouri West's complete tariff book, P.S.C. MO. No. 1, has no solar rebate schedule in its table of contents. The solar and storage schedules on file are the Solar Subscription Rider, the Low-Income Solar Subscription Pilot Rider, the Renewable Energy Rider, the Renewable Energy Program Rider, the net metering interconnection agreement, Parallel Generation Contract Service, the Customer Capacity Rider and the Residential Battery Energy Storage Pilot
• Evergy Missouri Metro's filed tariff, P.S.C. MO. No. 7, still prints Schedule SR, the Solar Photovoltaic Rebate Program, headed "393.1670 RSMo (2019-2023)", but its own condition 6 requires that a system "must become operational on or before December 31, 2023". The sheet is on file; its window is shut
• The companion help page "Why are Solar Power Rebates only offered in Missouri?" is also present tense: "The rebate program is mandated for Missouri investor-owned utilities, such as Evergy, as part of Missouri's Proposition-C referendum." The mandate it refers to is the one that fell to zero cents per watt after June 30, 2020
• The page the help center forwards to for rebate detail, Evergy's renewable resources page, contains no rebate detail
• NOT ESTABLISHED: whether Evergy intends to file a voluntary rebate tariff under section 393.1030.4, which expressly permits one. Nothing on file says so

Authority: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 393.1670 (expired December 31, 2023); Mo. Rev. Stat. § 393.1030.4

What we saw: Read on 2026-09-13. The help page is still live, carries no date, and describes the rebate entirely in the present tense with no amount, no cap and no end date. Evergy Missouri West's complete filed tariff PDF, P.S.C. MO. No. 1, was re-fetched the same day and its schedule list read in full: no solar rebate schedule appears. The tariff book's adoption notice is dated September 6, 2019, effective October 7, 2019. Evergy Missouri Metro, P.S.C. MO. No. 7, and its Schedule SR were not re-read on 2026-09-13; the account of Schedule SR here is carried forward unchanged from the 2026-07-29 read of the complete Metro tariff, in which condition 6 reads "The System or expansion of an existing System must not become operational until after December 31, 2018 and must become operational on or before December 31, 2023." The URL https://www.evergy.com/manage-account/rates-and-regulations/tariffs returns 404; the Missouri West tariff PDF was reached directly.

• Liberty's Missouri solar page states it verbatim: "As of Aug. 6, 2023, Liberty no longer offers solar rebates."
• For applications received and completed before that date, "the Customer-Generator System must be operational before Dec. 31, 2023"
• NET METERING CONTINUES. It runs under Tariff Schedule NM; the application sits in the Net Metering Rider on Liberty's Missouri Electric Rate page, and completed forms go to Liberty, ATTN: ENERGY SERVICES/NET METERING, PO Box 127, Joplin MO 64802
• NOT VERIFIED HERE: Liberty's avoided fuel cost figure, which sets what its net metering customers are paid for exported power beyond a billing period. The Net Metering Rider PDF was identified but not read

Authority: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 393.1670 (expired December 31, 2023)

What we saw: Read on 2026-09-13 from Liberty's own Missouri solar page. Verbatim: "As of Aug. 6, 2023, Liberty no longer offers solar rebates." For applications received and completed before that date, "the Customer-Generator System must be operational before Dec. 31, 2023." The page names Tariff Schedule NM as the continuing net metering tariff and gives the mailing address Liberty, ATTN: ENERGY SERVICES/NET METERING, PO Box 127, Joplin MO 64802. The Net Metering Rider PDF at central.libertyutilities.com/uploads/MO_ELE_4.12_NM%202-2025.pdf was identified on the page but not read in this pass, so Liberty's avoided fuel cost figure is still not established.

• Limited by its own tariff to fifty residential customers, in Evergy Missouri West territory only. Evergy Missouri Metro has no equivalent schedule
• IT IS NOT A REBATE: "Evergy will own, install, maintain, and operate a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) on the Customer's premise," and the participant is billed $10.00 per month for it
• Evergy may operate the battery for self-consumption, for charging when energy costs less off-peak, and to manage system load during peak usage — so the dispatch decisions are the utility's, not the household's
• The customer must own the residential property where the battery is installed, and the service must be single phase 120/240V AC meeting the technology provider's electrical and code requirements
• If a participant leaves before the pilot concludes the battery is redeployed to another eligible customer
• THE DATE THAT CLOSED IT: "The RBES Pilot Program is capped at $2.5 million through December 31, 2025." That date has passed
• Evergy was required to file a report at the end of the first quarter of 2026 addressing the pilot's learning objectives, and is barred from filing for any residential battery pilot, any expansion, or any cost recovery for a residential battery program until that report is filed
• NOT VERIFIED HERE: whether Evergy filed that first-quarter 2026 report, what it concluded, and whether any successor residential battery program has been proposed since. The tariff sheet remains on file and we did not find a cancellation

Authority: Evergy Missouri West Schedule RBES, P.S.C. MO. No. 1 Original Sheet Nos. 163 and 163.1, filed under ER-2022-0130

What we saw: TWO SOURCES, RECORDED SEPARATELY BECAUSE THEY DISAGREE. The tariff, re-fetched 2026-09-13: Schedule RBES is still in the Missouri West table of contents as "Residential Battery Energy Storage Pilot RBES", and condition 8 caps the pilot at $2.5 million "through December 31, 2025". The live marketing page at evergy.com/ways-to-save/programs-link/battery-storage-program, read 2026-09-13 and carrying a 2026 copyright, is still soliciting applications: it offers a "FREE 16 kWh home battery storage system valued at $18,000" for a "$10 monthly program fee", says installation began "in Spring of 2024", and says the pilot "ends in 2026". It describes the pilot as running in "both Kansas and Missouri" and does not name Metro or West, and the pilot's own description sites the 50 systems "across Evergy's Missouri jurisdictions with the goal of an equitable customer participation in the MO Metro and MO West service territories", so naming it after the Missouri West tariff book that carries it is right as a cite and may understate its reach. STILL OPEN: whether Evergy filed the first-quarter 2026 report that condition 6 requires. Original tariff read on 2026-07-29 from Evergy Missouri West's complete filed tariff PDF, Original Sheet Nos. 163 and 163.1, issued December 2, 2022, effective January 1, 2023, stamped FILED Missouri Public Service Commission 01/09/2023, ER-2022-0130, YE-2023-0105. Availability verbatim: "This voluntary pilot Program is limited to 50 residential customers meeting the Eligibility requirements below." Programme provisions verbatim: "Evergy will own, install, maintain, and operate a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) on the Customer's premise." Monthly billing: "BESS System $ 10.00 per month". Eligibility item 1: "Customer must own the residential property at which the BESS will be installed". Programme condition 6: "The Company will file a report at the end of the first quarter of 2026 that outlines the results of the pilot and directly addresses the learning objectives that were initially identified." Condition 7: "The Company will not file for any residential battery pilot, expansion of the existing pilot, or otherwise request recovery of a residential battery program until after the report subject to subparagraph 6 above is filed." Condition 8: "The RBES Pilot Program is capped at $2.5 million through December 31, 2025. Shareholders will cover the cost of EM&V." The schedule appears in the tariff's table of contents as "Residential Battery Energy Storage Pilot RBES 163 - 163.1".

• Terminated by section 70506(a) of Public Law 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025
• An expenditure is treated as made when the original installation is completed, so paying in 2025 for a system finished in 2026 does not qualify
• Unused credit from a system completed on or before December 31, 2025 still carries forward — file Form 5695 with the 2025 return to preserve it
• Listed here because Missouri has no state income tax credit to replace it: the Department of Revenue's 2025 MO-1040 instruction booklet runs to fifty-three pages, enumerates every credit claimable on Form MO-TC by alpha code and administering agency, and contains the word "solar" zero times
• Worth knowing in Missouri specifically: section 386.890.13 subjects the sale of a generation unit to Missouri's merchandising practices law and authorizes the attorney general to make rules on mandatory seller disclosures. A 2026 pitch still quoting a 30% federal credit, a state property tax exemption or a utility rebate is describing three things Missouri buyers no longer have

Authority: 26 U.S.C. § 25D(h)

What we saw: Read at uscode.house.gov and matched at Cornell LII. § 25D(h): "The credit allowed under this section shall not apply with respect to any expenditures made after December 31, 2025." § 25D(e)(8)(A) treats an expenditure as made when the original installation is completed. § 25D(c) carries excess to the succeeding taxable year; 2025 Instructions for Form 5695 (dated January 22, 2026) state the unused portion carries to 2026 and that the form should be filed even if the credit cannot be used in 2025. The Missouri Department of Revenue's 2025 MO-1040 Individual Income Tax Long Form instruction booklet was downloaded from dor.mo.gov on 2026-07-29 and searched in full: 53 pages, zero occurrences of "solar". The word "energy" occurs once, in the Form MO-TC credit table, as the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' "Processed Wood Energy" credit, alpha code WEC.