Do solar panels make sense in St. George?

The sunshine is not the interesting part. Southern Utah has plenty of it.

What changed is the money — twice, recently — and a great many solar websites still quote rules that no longer apply. If you are being sold on numbers from a page that has not been updated, those numbers are wrong.

Here is the current picture, with sources, as of August 2026.

The federal tax credit ended

The 30% federal residential solar tax credit — Section 25D, the Residential Clean Energy Credit — ended on December 31, 2025.

There was no phase-out and no transition period. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act — P.L. 119-21, enacted 4 July 2025 — terminated the credit, stating it “shall not apply with respect to any expenditures made after December 31, 2025.”

The test is when installation was completed, not when you signed or paid. Section 25D(e)(8)(A) treats an expenditure as made when the original installation is completed. The IRS confirmed the point in FAQ guidance published 21 August 2025: if installation is completed after 31 December 2025, the expenditure is treated as made after that date and the credit cannot be claimed.

That matters for anyone who started in 2025 and finished in 2026. A deposit paid in 2025 does not preserve the credit if the installation completed in 2026.

For a homeowner buying a system with cash or a loan in 2026, the federal credit is zero.

Plenty of marketing material still advertises the 30% credit as though it were available. If a quote you have been given includes it, ask about it directly.

One piece of good news if you installed in 2025. P.L. 119-21 did not change the carryforward rules. If you qualified before the end of 2025 and could not use the whole credit that year, you may carry the unused amount forward until it is used up. Preliminary IRS data for 2023 suggest roughly half of claimants carried some portion forward, so this is not an edge case. Ask your tax professional rather than assuming it was lost.

Utah changed how exported power is credited

The second change is less publicized and matters just as much.

Utah no longer offers full retail net metering to new solar customers. For Rocky Mountain Power customers there are now three tiers, and which one you are on depends on when the interconnection agreement was filed — not when the panels went up.

Schedule 135, net metering. Exported power earns the full retail rate. Closed to new customers; applies where the interconnection agreement was filed before November 15, 2017. Expires January 1, 2036.

Schedule 136, the transition program. Applies where the agreement was filed after November 14, 2017 and before October 31, 2020. Exported power is valued at 90–92.5% of the retail rate. Expires January 1, 2033.

Schedule 137, net billing. Everything from October 31, 2020 onward, and this is what a new system today goes on. Exported power earns a set export credit rather than retail value, and it has no expiration date.

As of writing, Rocky Mountain Power’s export credit under Schedule 137 is 4.855¢ per kWh from June through September and 4.030¢ from October through May, against a residential retail rate averaging roughly 10.2¢ per kWh, per Utah Clean Energy.

Exported power is therefore credited at close to half what you pay to buy it back.

Those rates reset every March 1, so check the current figure rather than trusting this article next spring.

What that actually means practically

This changes the shape of a good solar system here. Under full retail net metering the grid effectively acted as a battery — export in the afternoon, draw it back in the evening at the same value. Under net billing, exporting is worth roughly half of using the power yourself.

That rewards self-consumption over export. Running the air conditioning, the pool pump, the dishwasher and the car charger while the sun is up is worth more than it used to be. It also strengthens the case for battery storage, which was more marginal under the old rules.

For a Washington County household, there is a genuine alignment here worth noticing: peak cooling demand and peak solar production happen at the same time of day. The middle of a July afternoon is when your system produces most and when your air conditioning works hardest. That is a better match than most climates get.

Your HOA may be able to stop you

In Washington County this is a real question, and the answer is not the one solar salespeople give. Utah Code § 57-8a-701 protects you from an association’s rules — but not from its declaration. If the prohibition lives in your CC&Rs, it stands, and an association can even vote one in. Where solar is allowed, the association can still impose conditions on placement, appearance and cost, and can require a deed restriction recorded against your lot.

Read your declaration before you get a quote, not after. I have written the whole thing up separately, because it deserves its own answer.

The part that matters most to me: owned versus leased

This is where I have a strong view, and it is a real estate view rather than an energy one.

Owned systems are straightforward at resale. The panels are part of the house. They convey. A buyer gets a home with lower power bills and there is nothing to negotiate.

Leased and financed systems complicate transactions, and they do it often. This is the most common way solar becomes a problem, and it surfaces at the worst moment — when a house is under contract.

There is usually a UCC filing. A solar lease or loan typically involves a Uniform Commercial Code filing, which is public notice that a creditor has an interest in the equipment. Title will find it.

The lease has to be dealt with. Either the buyer assumes it — which requires approval from the solar company and a credit review — or the seller pays off the balance before closing. Neither is automatic.

The buyer has to qualify twice. Once with their mortgage lender, and again with the solar company. An assumed lease payment also counts toward the buyer’s debt-to-income ratio, which can reduce what they qualify to borrow.

The transfer takes time and can fail. It is not instant, and it can fall over late with very little warning.

None of that makes leased solar a bad decision for someone staying twenty years. It makes it a complication for anyone who might sell — and most people sell eventually.

If you are buying a house that has solar, the first question is not “does it work.” It is “who owns it.” That answer changes the entire transaction.

Buying a home that already has solar

A short checklist, because this comes up constantly and buyers routinely skip it.

Owned, leased or financed? Get documentation, not the seller’s recollection.

If leased or financed: the balance, the monthly payment, the transfer requirements, and whether you would qualify. Start this early — it is one of the slowest moving parts in a transaction.

When was the interconnection agreement filed? The agreement date governs, not the installation date. One filed before November 15, 2017 may sit on Schedule 135 full-retail net metering, running to 2036; one filed between then and October 31, 2020 may sit on Schedule 136 at 90–92.5% of retail, running to 2033. Whether either transfers to a new owner is a question for Rocky Mountain Power, not for me or the seller — but ask, because the difference over a decade is not small.

The roof underneath. Panels outlast most roofs. If the roof needs replacing in five years, removing and reinstalling panels is a real cost. In this climate, roofs and sun-facing materials age faster than elsewhere, so ask the roof’s age specifically.

Was HOA approval obtained in writing? Ask for the document.

Any warranties, and do they transfer?

Twelve months of actual utility bills. Not a projection from a sales sheet — the real bills. That tells you what the system genuinely does on this house.

Does solar add value to a home here?

It depends entirely on the ownership structure, and I would not promise a figure.

Owned systems are generally viewed as an asset by buyers, particularly buyers who understand what summer cooling costs in this county.

Leased systems are frequently viewed as an obligation, because that is what they are — a payment the buyer inherits.

Anyone quoting a precise percentage is extrapolating from studies that predate both changes above. I would rather give you the mechanism than a stale number.

So — does it make sense?

For some households here, yes, and the case is strongest when:

• You own the system outright rather than leasing
• You use a lot of power during daylight hours, which most Washington County homes do in summer
• You intend to stay long enough to recover the cost
• You have run the numbers on 2026 rules rather than 2024 rules

It makes less sense when the math depends on a federal credit that no longer exists, or on export credits at retail value that new systems do not receive.

And be careful about power outages. Most grid-tied solar systems shut down when the grid goes down, for the safety of line workers, unless you have battery storage configured for it. After the county-wide outage in August, a number of people were surprised by that. Solar alone is not backup power.

Get quotes from more than one installer and ask each what they assume about the federal credit and export rates. The answer tells you a lot about the company. Talk to a tax professional rather than taking a salesperson’s word on tax treatment.

What to do next

If you are buying a home in Washington County with solar on it, send me the address and I will pull the details before you get attached — ownership structure, install date, and whether there is a filing on the equipment. It is a short piece of work and it prevents the most common late-stage surprise I see.

If you are adding it to a home you already own and might sell within a decade, talk to me first. The structure you choose affects resale far more than the panels do.

Sources: Federal credit expiration from the Congressional Research Service and IRS guidance on the Residential Clean Energy Credit. Utah net metering and net billing structure, schedules and export credit rates from Utah Clean Energy. Export rates reset annually on March 1 — confirm the current figure. This is general information, not tax or financial advice.

— Kelsey Earl, Realtor, Keller Williams South Valley