Every claim on this page checked against primary sources on
Ohio solar incentives
Ohio has no state solar tax credit, and unusually good answers to almost everything else. A rooftop system is exempt from property tax with no expiry date in the statute — the same benefit California has, except California's dies on January 1, 2027. Net metering still credits at full retail for every kilowatt-hour you offset. And Ohio's rule states that the renewable energy certificates your panels generate are your property unless you contract them away.
The catch has a date on it. Ohio's renewable portfolio standard requires 8.5% "by the end of 2026" and the statutory benchmark table contains no year after that. The certificates stay yours; the mandate that gives them a buyer is scheduled to run out.
Does Ohio have net metering, and what is it worth?
Yes, and it is better than most states have left — but it splits in two at the point where your generation exceeds your usage. Up to your own consumption, Ohio is true retail net metering: the utility measures net electricity over the monthly billing cycle and bills you for the difference, so a kilowatt-hour your panels offset avoids the whole retail rate including delivery. Above your consumption, the surplus converts to a monetary credit at the energy component of the utility's standard service offer only — the PUCO states that "Net metering customers are not credited for distribution or transmission services provided by the electric utility." Those credits carry forward indefinitely on future bills but are never cashed out, and the PUCO warns they "are associated with your current premise and may be lost if you relocate or stop taking service from the electric utility." You must size the system to no more than 120% of your requirements, you have to request the tariff after interconnection rather than being enrolled automatically, and rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities are not required to offer net metering at all.
Verified against primary sources on .
Ohio has no state solar tax credit — the Department of Taxation's 2025 instruction booklet walks through every line of the Schedule of Credits and across sixty-four pages the words "solar" and "energy" do not appear once. What Ohio does have is a property tax exemption with no expiry date, real monthly net metering at retail rates for the electricity you offset, and something no other state on this site offers a homeowner: by rule, the renewable energy certificates your panels generate are your property, and Ohio's retail choice market means you can shop the price someone pays you for exports. The catch is dated. Ohio's renewable portfolio standard runs "by the end of 2026" and the benchmark table stops there — with the solar-specific carve-out already zeroed since 2020. The certificates stay yours; the mandate that gives them a buyer is scheduled to end.
| Program | What it pays | Status | Ownership | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio net metering | Bill credit | Open now | Buy or lease | |
| Ohio property tax exemption for energy facilities of 250 kW or less | No tax owed | Standing law | Buy or lease |
What Ohio actually gives you
Two standing entries, and that is the honest count. Ohio has no rebate programme and no state tax credit — but both of these are unusually durable compared with what the last three states on this site offer.
Ohio net metering
Bill creditRetail value for generation that offsets your own monthly consumption; monthly surplus credited at the energy component of the utility's standard service offer, which differs by utility and changes with each competitive procurement
Real monthly net metering at retail for everything you offset — and a generation-only credit, never paid in cash, for anything above that.
When: Standing rule. The current version of the net metering rule took effect April 8, 2024.
Who qualifies, in full
- Available from every Ohio electric distribution utility, which must develop a standard net metering tariff and make it available on request and on a nondiscriminatory basis
- The net metering tariff "shall be identical in rate structure, all retail rate components, and any monthly charges" to the tariff you would be on if you were not a customer-generator — so no solar-only rate class and no solar-only monthly fee
- A net metering system must use solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas or hydropower, or a microturbine or fuel cell
- You must size the system so as not to exceed 120% of your electricity requirements at the time of interconnection, based on the average supplied over the previous three years; the utility must calculate or estimate that figure for you on request
- The system must be located on your premises, which may include a contiguous lot notwithstanding easements or rights-of-way
- A customer who hosts or leases third-party-owned generation equipment on their premises is expressly treated as a customer-generator, so a lease or PPA does not disqualify you
- Metering is a single meter capable of registering flow in each direction. If your existing meter cannot do that, or needs reprogramming, that cost is yours — but if it is already capable and needs no setup, the utility may not charge you for a new meter, setup or reprogramming
- The utility may not impose any charge "that relate[s] to the electricity the customer-generator feeds back to the system"
- If your system meets the National Electrical Code, IEEE and Underwriters Laboratories standards, the utility may not require compliance with additional safety or performance standards, may not require you to perform or pay for additional tests, and may not require you to purchase additional liability insurance
- Once interconnected you must request the utility's net metering tariff — it is not automatic
- Co-ops and municipal utilities are not required to offer net metering at all
- NOT VERIFIED HERE: the current standard service offer energy rate at each of the four investor-owned utilities. Those rates are set by competitive procurement and change, which is why no cents-per-kilowatt-hour figure is published on this page
Authority: Ohio Rev. Code § 4928.67; Ohio Admin. Code 4901:1-10-28
What we saw: Rule read in full at codes.ohio.gov on 2026-07-28; page shows Effective April 8, 2024 and "Last updated March 10, 2026". Verbatim (B)(8)(c): "when the electric utility receives more electricity from the customer-generator than it supplied to the customer-generator over a monthly billing cycle, the excess electricity shall be converted to a monetary credit at the energy component of the electric utility's standard service offer that continuously carries forward as a monetary credit on the customer-generator's future bills. The electric utility shall not be required to pay the monetary credit, other than to credit it to future bills, and the monetary credit may be lost if a customer-generator does not use the credit or stops taking service from the electric utility." Verbatim (B)(6)(b): "A customer-generator must size its facilities so as to not exceed one hundred twenty per cent of its requirements for electricity at the time of interconnections." Verbatim (B)(9): "In no event shall the electric utility impose on the customer-generator any charges that relate to the electricity the customer-generator feeds back to the system." Verbatim (A)(3): "A customer that hosts or leases third party owned generation equipment on its premises is considered a customer-generator." Verbatim (B)(2): a CRES provider "may offer net metering contracts to its customers... at any price, rate, credit, or refund for excess generation... A CRES provider is not required to enter into any net metering contract with any customer." Ohio Rev. Code § 4928.67, read the same day (effective July 31, 2008, S.B. 221 of the 127th General Assembly), supplies the identical-rate-structure requirement at (A)(1) and the prohibition on extra standards, tests and insurance at (D). The PUCO's own consumer page, read the same day, states: "The energy you produce is credited at the energy rate of the electric utility's standard service offer. Net metering customers are not credited for distribution or transmission services provided by the electric utility," and "Credits are associated with your current premise and may be lost if you relocate or stop taking service from the electric utility," and that co-ops and municipal utilities "are not required to offer net metering, but some may do so."
Administered by Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
Checked against Ohio Admin. Code 4901:1-10-28 on
Ohio property tax exemption for energy facilities of 250 kW or less
No tax owedAny fixture or other real property included in an energy facility with an aggregate nameplate capacity of 250 kW or less is exempt from taxation, for installations completed on or after January 1, 2010
A rooftop system in Ohio is exempt from property tax outright — no capacity worry at residential scale, and unlike California's version, no expiry date written into it.
When: No expiry. Applies to installations completed on or after January 1, 2010.
Who qualifies, in full
- Applies to "any fixture or other real property included in an energy facility with an aggregate nameplate capacity of two hundred fifty kilowatts or less"
- Construction or installation must be completed on or after January 1, 2010
- The 250 kW ceiling is roughly twenty-five times a typical residential system, so in practice no home installation approaches it
- "Energy facility" and "nameplate capacity" take their meanings from Ohio Rev. Code § 5727.01
- No sunset or termination date appears in the subsection — a direct contrast with California, whose equivalent exclusion becomes inoperative on January 1, 2027
- A separate, older subsection exempts solar, wind or hydrothermal systems completed between August 14, 1979 and December 31, 1985 that meet guidelines under § 1551.20; that one is of historical interest only
- NOT VERIFIED HERE: whether any county auditor requires an application or filing to recognise the exemption. The statute is written as an exemption rather than as a claim, but administration is county by county and none was checked
Authority: Ohio Rev. Code § 5709.53(B)
What we saw: Statute read at codes.ohio.gov on 2026-07-28; page shows Effective March 27, 2020, latest legislation House Bill 197 of the 133rd General Assembly. Subsection (B) verbatim: "Any fixture or other real property included in an energy facility with an aggregate nameplate capacity of two hundred fifty kilowatts or less is exempt from taxation if construction or installation is completed on or after January 1, 2010. As used in division (B) of this section, 'energy facility' and 'nameplate capacity' have the same meanings as in section 5727.01 of the Revised Code." Subsection (A) covers systems completed between August 14, 1979 and December 31, 1985 meeting guidelines under § 1551.20. No sunset, repeal or expiry date appears anywhere in the section.
Administered by Ohio Department of Taxation and county auditors.
Checked against Ohio Rev. Code § 5709.53 (exemption of solar, wind or hydrothermal energy system) on
Why Ohio has no solar tax credit, in the state's own words
A negative claim is the easiest kind to get wrong, so here is how you would know rather than just the assertion.
The Ohio Department of Taxation's 2025 IT 1040 and SD 100 instruction booklet walks line by line through the Ohio Schedule of Credits — retirement income, lump sum retirement, senior citizen, lump sum distribution, child and dependent care, displaced worker training, the exemption credit, and onward through the refundable credits. Across all sixty-four pages, the word "solar" appears zero times. So does "energy". Ohio DOT, 2025 IT 1040 booklet
Combined with the federal repeal of § 25D for expenditures made after December 31, 2025, that means an Ohio homeowner buying a system today receives no tax credit from anyone. The federal side is here.
Net metering and net billing in Ohio
Ohio is genuinely two regimes inside a single bill, and knowing where the line falls is what tells you how to size a system. Up to your own consumption, Ohio is retail net metering: the utility measures net electricity over the monthly billing cycle and bills you for the difference, so every kilowatt-hour your panels offset is worth the full retail rate you would otherwise have paid. Above your consumption it is net billing: when the utility receives more from you than it supplied over a monthly cycle, that surplus converts to a monetary credit at the energy component of the utility's standard service offer only. The PUCO states the consequence plainly — "Net metering customers are not credited for distribution or transmission services provided by the electric utility." Those credits carry forward indefinitely on future bills, but they are never paid out in cash, and the PUCO warns they "are associated with your current premise and may be lost if you relocate or stop taking service from the electric utility." Ohio's other distinguishing feature is that this is not the only deal available: because Ohio has retail choice, a competitive supplier may offer you a net metering contract at any price it likes.
| System size | Which utilities | What you are paid for exports |
|---|---|---|
| Up to your own monthly consumption | AEP Ohio, FirstEnergy Ohio, AES Ohio, Duke Energy Ohio | Full retail value. Net electricity produced or consumed is measured over the billing period and you are billed for the net, so generation that offsets your own usage avoids the entire retail rate including delivery. |
| Monthly surplus above your consumption | AEP Ohio, FirstEnergy Ohio, AES Ohio, Duke Energy Ohio | Converted to a monetary credit at the energy component of the utility's standard service offer — generation only, with no credit for distribution or transmission. Carries forward continuously on future bills. The utility is not required to pay it out in cash. |
| If you move or leave the utility | All Ohio electric utilities | Accumulated credit may be lost. The PUCO states credits "are associated with your current premise and may be lost if you relocate or stop taking service from the electric utility." There is no annual cash-out to protect the balance. |
| System sizing limit | All Ohio electric utilities | A customer-generator "must size its facilities so as to not exceed one hundred twenty per cent of its requirements for electricity at the time of interconnections" — measured against the average supplied over the previous three years, which the utility must calculate or estimate for you on request. |
| Competitive retail supplier contracts | Any certified CRES provider | Negotiable. Ohio's rule lets a competitive supplier "offer a net metering contract at any price, rate, or manner of credit for excess generation." No supplier is required to offer one, and only customers who have signed an interconnection agreement with the wires utility may net meter with a competitive supplier. |
| Co-op and municipal customers | Rural electric cooperatives and municipal electric utilities | Not covered. The PUCO states that co-ops and municipal utilities "are not required to offer net metering, but some may do so." None of their terms were read for this page. |
Read from Ohio Admin. Code 4901:1-10-28 (Net metering) on .
Where retail value stops and generation-only credit starts
This is the sentence that decides how big an Ohio system should be.
Ohio's rule nets your generation against your consumption over the monthly billing cycle. Anything your panels offset is worth the full retail rate you would otherwise have paid — energy, distribution, transmission, the lot. But when the utility "receives more electricity from the customer-generator than it supplied" over that monthly cycle, the surplus converts to a monetary credit at the energy component of the standard service offer, and only that. OAC 4901:1-10-28(B)(8)(c)
Three consequences follow, and the third is the one that catches people:
- A system sized to your own annual usage captures nearly all the available value. Ohio's 120% sizing cap is not much of a constraint, because the economics stop rewarding you well before you reach it.
- Seasonal surplus is worth less than it looks. Ohio summers overproduce and Ohio winters underproduce, so a system sized to the annual total spills a lot of spring and summer generation into the generation-only credit — which then sits on the account waiting for a winter bill to absorb it.
- The credit can evaporate. There is no annual cash-out in Ohio. Credits carry forward indefinitely, but the PUCO states plainly that they "may be lost if you relocate or stop taking service from the electric utility." A large accumulated balance is not an asset you can take with you when you sell the house. PUCO
Ohio lets you shop the price of your exports
This is the mirror image of Georgia, where a household cannot choose its electricity supplier at all, and it is genuinely unusual.
Because Ohio has retail choice, a competitive retail electric service provider may offer you a net metering contract — and the rule places no ceiling or floor on what it may pay. In the rule's words, a CRES provider "may offer a net metering contract at any price, rate, or manner of credit for excess generation." OAC 4901:1-10-28(B)(8)(e)
Two things to keep in mind before treating that as a solved problem. No supplier is obliged to offer such a contract — the rule says so explicitly — and only customers who have already signed an interconnection agreement with the wires utility may net meter with a competitive supplier. So the sequence matters: interconnect first, then shop.
Can you sell SRECs in Ohio?
Yes. Yes — and Ohio is the only state on this site so far where a rule says outright that the certificates are yours. Ohio Admin. Code 4901:1-10-28(B)(11): "Renewable energy credits associated with a customer-generator's net metering facility shall be the property of the customer-generator unless otherwise contracted with an electric utility, CRES provider, or other entity." That last clause matters: sign the certificates away in a solar contract and they are no longer yours, which is a line worth reading before you sign anything. What gives them value is Ohio's alternative energy portfolio standard, and that is the part with a date on it. Ohio Rev. Code § 4928.64 requires utilities and competitive suppliers to have provided 8.5% of their electricity from qualifying renewable resources "by the end of 2026," and the benchmark table in the statute stops at 2026 with nothing after it. The solar-specific carve-out that once created dedicated demand for solar certificates was already reduced to 0% for 2020 onward. So a homeowner today owns something saleable into a compliance market that the statute schedules to end with the 2026 compliance year. NOT VERIFIED HERE: the registration and certification mechanics for getting a residential system's certificates into a tradeable registry, current market prices, and whether any legislation after House Bill 15 of the 136th General Assembly extends the standard beyond 2026.
Read from Ohio Rev. Code § 4928.64 (renewable energy benchmarks) on .
Ohio says the certificates are yours — in writing
On the California and Georgia pages we had to record REC ownership as an open question, because neither state's rules address it. Ohio's do, in one sentence, and it is worth quoting exactly because the second half of it is a warning.
Renewable energy credits associated with a customer-generator's net metering facility shall be the property of the customer-generator unless otherwise contracted with an electric utility, CRES provider, or other entity.
They are yours by default and contractable away by agreement. Solar sales contracts and power purchase agreements routinely assign the certificates to the company, and in Ohio that assignment is transferring something the rule had already given you. Whether it is worth much depends on the compliance market described above — but "worth arguing about" and "worth nothing" are not the same thing, and you should at least know which one you are signing.
What is gone
One entry, and it took the whole of Ohio's tax support with it, because there was never a state credit sitting behind it.
Federal residential clean energy credit (§ 25D) — 30% of system cost
30% of cost
Dead — and because Ohio has no state credit either, the repeal removed the whole of the tax support an Ohio homeowner could get rather than part of it.
Who qualifies, in full
- 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 Ohio offers no state income tax credit for solar, so from 2026 the return on an Ohio system comes entirely from avoided electricity cost, the property tax exemption, and whatever the certificates fetch while a market for them still exists
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.
Administered by Internal Revenue Service.
Checked against 26 U.S.C. § 25D, U.S. Code (prelim), Office of the Law Revision Counsel on
Ohio protects customer-generators by statute rather than by licensing
Ohio does not license solar contractors. It does not license residential contractors of any trade — the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board covers five commercial trades, and rooftop residential work is regulated by whichever municipality or county the roof sits in.
What Ohio wrote down instead is a limit on what your utility may demand of you, and it is the same protection Georgia put in its 2015 financing act:
An electric utility shall not require a customer-generator whose net metering system meets the standards and requirements provided for in divisions (B)(4) and (C) of this section to do any of the following: (1) Comply with additional safety or performance standards; (2) Perform or pay for additional tests; (3) Purchase additional liability insurance.
The standards referred to are the ordinary ones — the National Electrical Code, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and Underwriters Laboratories. The administrative rule adds more: the utility may impose no charge "that relate[s] to the electricity the customer-generator feeds back to the system," and it must publish on its website the contact details of its net metering department together with sample net metering and interconnection agreements and a straightforward description of every cost you may incur.
Buying versus leasing in Ohio
Ohio's rule is unusually clear on third-party ownership, and it lands on the customer's side. A customer who "hosts or leases third party owned generation equipment on its premises is considered a customer-generator" — so a lease or power purchase agreement does not cost you access to net metering, which is not true everywhere. The national picture is here.
Two Ohio-specific things to check in the contract:
- Who ends up with the certificates. The rule gives them to you and lets you contract them away in the same sentence. Find out which has happened.
- What happens to accumulated net metering credit. It belongs to the premise and can be lost when service ends. If a system is sized to bank credit through the summer, the timing of a move or a supplier switch matters more in Ohio than in a state with an annual cash-out.
What changed for Ohio in 2026
Ohio's alternative energy portfolio standard reaches its last benchmark. Ohio Rev. Code § 4928.64 requires utilities and competitive suppliers to have provided 8.5% of their electricity from qualifying renewable resources "by the end of 2026," and the statutory benchmark table contains no year after 2026. Ohio law makes the certificates a solar homeowner generates their own property; this is the date the compliance obligation that gives them a buyer is scheduled to run out.
The federal residential clean energy credit (§ 25D) stopped applying. Ohio has no state solar credit — the Department of Taxation's 2025 instruction booklet enumerates the whole Schedule of Credits and mentions neither solar nor energy — so from this date an Ohio homeowner buying a system receives no tax credit from either government.
The current version of Ohio's net metering rule took effect. It confirms that a customer hosting or leasing third-party-owned equipment is a customer-generator, sets the 120%-of-requirements sizing limit, bars any charge relating to electricity fed back to the system, and states that renewable energy credits are the property of the customer-generator unless contracted away.
The solar-specific carve-out inside Ohio's renewable energy benchmarks dropped to zero. The statutory table runs 0.004% in 2009 up to 0.22% in 2019 and then reads 0% for every year from 2020 through 2026. Dedicated compliance demand for solar-specific certificates in Ohio ended at that point; what remains is the general renewable benchmark.
Ohio's property tax exemption for energy facilities of 250 kilowatts or less took effect for installations completed on or after this date. It has no expiry, which by 2026 makes it the most durable broad-based solar benefit any state on this site offers a homeowner.
Who is allowed to install solar in Ohio
Ohio does not license solar contractors, and it goes further than that: the state does not license residential contractors of any trade. The Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board, in the Department of Commerce's own words, "licenses Ohio electrical, HVAC, plumbing, hydronics, and refrigeration contractors" — five trades, no solar classification, and the board's remit is commercial contracting. Residential contractor licensing in Ohio is handled locally by municipalities and counties, so the requirements for a rooftop solar installer depend on which city or township the roof is in. What Ohio does give a customer-generator is a set of protections written into the net metering rule and statute rather than into a licensing scheme. Ohio Rev. Code § 4928.67(D) provides that if your system meets the National Electrical Code, IEEE and Underwriters Laboratories standards, the electric utility may not require compliance with additional safety or performance standards, may not require you to perform or pay for additional tests, and may not require you to purchase additional liability insurance. The administrative rule adds that the utility may impose no charge relating to the electricity you feed back, and that it must publish on its website the name and contact details of its net metering department along with sample net metering and interconnection agreements and a plain description of every cost you may incur — application, interconnection and meter installation.
Check a company yourself: Ohio Department of Commerce — eLicense lookup.
Read from Ohio Department of Commerce — About the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board on .
So are solar panels worth it in Ohio in 2026?
Ohio has mediocre sun and, as of 2026, one of the better regulatory packages left in the country — which is a strange sentence to write and an accurate one.
The case rests on three things that are all still intact. Generation that offsets your own consumption is worth the full retail rate, which is no longer true in Arizona or California. The property tax exemption has no expiry, which is no longer true in California. And the certificates are yours by rule, which is not clearly true anywhere else on this site.
Against that: there is no state credit and no federal credit, the surplus above your own usage is worth only the generation component and can be lost if you move, and the certificate market has a statutory end date. The system that works in Ohio is therefore sized close to your own annual consumption rather than to your roof — and if you are counting certificate income in the payback, count it only for the years it is scheduled to exist.
What this page does not cover yet
Being explicit about the edges is part of the method. Not yet verified, and therefore not claimed here:
- The standard service offer energy rate at each utility. That is the number your surplus is credited at, and it differs between AEP Ohio, FirstEnergy, AES Ohio and Duke Energy Ohio, changes with each competitive procurement, and has no single statewide value. We would rather name the mechanism exactly than publish a figure with a short shelf life.
- What an Ohio certificate is worth, and how to sell one. The rule establishes that they are yours; the registry and certification mechanics for a residential system, and current prices, were not verified.
- Whether anything after House Bill 15 of the 136th General Assembly extends the portfolio standard past 2026. The version of § 4928.64 we read is the current one and it stops at 2026, but pending legislation was not surveyed.
- Ohio sales tax treatment of a residential solar installation. Not verified either way.
- Whether county auditors require a filing to recognise the property tax exemption. The statute reads as an exemption rather than a claim, but administration is county by county and none was checked.
- The Ohio Treasurer's ECO-Link programme. Its published address redirects to the Treasurer's homepage and it is not listed among the office's current programmes, which suggests it has been retired — but a redirect is not a repeal, so this page neither lists the programme nor declares it dead.
- Co-op and municipal utilities. They are not required to offer net metering, some do, and none of their terms were read.
Each of those is queued. When one is verified it will appear above with its own date, and the change will be listed in the record.
Common questions
Does Ohio have a solar tax credit?
No. The Ohio Department of Taxation's 2025 IT 1040 and SD 100 instruction booklet walks line by line through the entire Ohio Schedule of Credits, nonrefundable and refundable, and across sixty-four pages the word "solar" does not appear once — nor does "energy". With the federal § 25D credit also gone for expenditures made after December 31, 2025, an Ohio homeowner buying a system in 2026 receives no tax credit from either government. What Ohio does offer instead is a property tax exemption with no expiry date, and net metering that still credits at full retail for the electricity you offset.
How does Ohio net metering actually work?
It splits at the point where your generation exceeds your usage. Over each monthly billing cycle the utility measures net electricity and bills you for the difference, so everything your panels offset is worth the full retail rate including delivery and transmission. When the utility receives more from you than it supplied over that cycle, the surplus converts to a monetary credit at the energy component of the utility's standard service offer only — the PUCO puts it plainly: "Net metering customers are not credited for distribution or transmission services provided by the electric utility." That credit carries forward on future bills indefinitely and the utility is not required to pay it out in cash.
Can I lose my Ohio net metering credits?
Yes, and this is the part people miss because Ohio has no annual cash-out to protect the balance. The PUCO states that net metering credits "are associated with your current premise and may be lost if you relocate or stop taking service from the electric utility," and the administrative rule says the same thing — the credit "may be lost if a customer-generator does not use the credit or stops taking service from the electric utility." So a system deliberately sized to bank a large summer surplus is banking something that belongs to the address rather than to you, and the timing of a house sale or a supplier switch matters more in Ohio than in a state that cashes credits out annually.
Can I sell SRECs in Ohio?
Yes, and Ohio is the only state on this site where a rule says outright that the certificates are yours: Ohio Admin. Code 4901:1-10-28(B)(11) provides that renewable energy credits associated with a customer-generator's net metering facility "shall be the property of the customer-generator unless otherwise contracted with an electric utility, CRES provider, or other entity." That last clause is the warning — a solar contract can assign them away. What gives them value is Ohio's renewable portfolio standard, and that has a date on it: Ohio Rev. Code § 4928.64 requires 8.5% "by the end of 2026" and the statutory benchmark table has no year after 2026. The solar-specific carve-out was already reduced to 0% for 2020 onward. We have not verified current prices or the registry mechanics for selling a residential system's certificates.
Does solar raise your property taxes in Ohio?
No. Ohio Rev. Code § 5709.53(B) exempts from taxation "any fixture or other real property included in an energy facility with an aggregate nameplate capacity of two hundred fifty kilowatts or less" where construction or installation was completed on or after January 1, 2010. A typical home system is a fraction of that ceiling. No sunset or expiry date appears anywhere in the section, which is a direct contrast with California, whose equivalent exclusion becomes inoperative on January 1, 2027. We have not checked whether individual county auditors ask for a filing to recognise it; the statute is written as an exemption rather than as a claim.
How big a solar system can I install in Ohio?
Up to 120% of your electricity requirements at the time of interconnection. Ohio Admin. Code 4901:1-10-28(B)(6)(b) sets that limit, and the requirement is measured against the average amount of electricity the utility supplied you over the previous three years — which the utility must calculate for you, or reasonably estimate where it lacks the data, on request. In practice the economics bite before the rule does: everything above your own consumption is credited only at the generation component of the standard service offer, so a system sized close to your annual usage captures nearly all the available value.
Can I shop around for a better export rate in Ohio?
Yes, which is unusual. Because Ohio has retail choice, a competitive retail electric service provider may offer you a net metering contract, and the rule places no limits on the terms: a CRES provider "may offer a net metering contract at any price, rate, or manner of credit for excess generation." Two caveats. No supplier is required to offer one — the rule says that explicitly — and only customers who have already signed an interconnection agreement with the wires utility may net meter with a competitive supplier. So interconnect first, then shop. Ohio is the opposite of Georgia here, where a household cannot choose its supplier at all.
Does a lease or PPA cost me net metering in Ohio?
No. Ohio's rule is explicit: "A customer that hosts or leases third party owned generation equipment on its premises is considered a customer-generator." So a third-party-owned system is eligible for the same net metering arrangement as one you bought. The thing to check in the contract is the certificates — the same rule gives the renewable energy credits to the customer-generator "unless otherwise contracted," and assigning them to the installer or financier is routine. Find out which has happened before you sign, because in Ohio that assignment is transferring something the rule had already given you.
Who is allowed to install solar in Ohio?
Ohio does not license solar contractors, and does not license residential contractors of any trade at state level. The Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board, in the Department of Commerce's own description, "licenses Ohio electrical, HVAC, plumbing, hydronics, and refrigeration contractors" — five trades, no solar classification, and its remit is commercial contracting. Residential requirements are set locally by municipalities and counties, so what an installer needs depends on where the roof is. Ohio's protections for you sit in the utility rules instead: if your system meets the National Electrical Code, IEEE and UL standards, the utility may not demand additional standards, additional tests, or additional liability insurance.
What if I am served by a co-op or a municipal utility in Ohio?
Then none of the net metering rules on this page necessarily apply to you. The PUCO states that "Rural electric cooperatives and municipal electric utilities are not required to offer net metering, but some may do so," and advises contacting yours directly to find out what it offers. The property tax exemption under Ohio Rev. Code § 5709.53 is statewide and does not depend on your utility, so that one still applies. We have not read the terms of any Ohio co-op or municipal utility.
Are solar panels worth it in Ohio in 2026?
Ohio has middling sun and, as of 2026, one of the better regulatory packages left in the country. Generation that offsets your own consumption earns the full retail rate — no longer true in Arizona or California. The property tax exemption has no expiry — no longer true in California. And the certificates are yours by rule. Against that: no state credit, no federal credit, surplus above your own usage credited only at the generation component and losable if you move, and a certificate market whose statutory basis ends with the 2026 compliance year. The system that works here is sized close to your own annual consumption rather than to your roof, and if certificate income is in your payback calculation, count it only for the years it is scheduled to exist.
Primary sources
Every one of these was opened and read on the date shown. None of it is copied from DSIRE, EnergySage, or any other aggregator.
- Ohio Admin. Code 4901:1-10-28 read July 28, 2026
- Ohio Rev. Code § 5709.53 (exemption of solar, wind or hydrothermal energy system) read July 28, 2026
- 26 U.S.C. § 25D, U.S. Code (prelim), Office of the Law Revision Counsel read July 28, 2026
- Ohio Rev. Code § 4928.64 (renewable energy benchmarks) read July 28, 2026
- Ohio Department of Commerce — About the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board read July 28, 2026