Solar Guide

Ohio’s Property Tax Exemption allows homeowners with solar, wind, or hydrothermal energy systems to avoid paying property taxes on their renewable energy equipment. This state tax exemption means that even though your solar panels or other renewable energy system may increase your home’s value, you won’t pay additional property taxes on that added value. The exemption applies to the actual equipment and fixtures that make up your energy system.

To qualify for this exemption, your energy facility must have a nameplate capacity of 250 kilowatts or less, and construction or installation must be completed on or after January 1, 2010. There is no current expiration date for this program, making it an ongoing benefit for eligible homeowners. The financial benefit varies based on your local property tax rates and the value of your renewable energy system, but it can result in hundreds or thousands of dollars in tax savings over the life of your system. This exemption helps make clean energy more affordable by ensuring you don’t face higher property tax bills simply for investing in renewable energy for your home.

Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs) in Ohio are tradeable credits that solar system owners earn for the clean electricity their panels produce. For every 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of solar energy your system generates, you earn one SREC that can be sold to utility companies who need these credits to meet state renewable energy requirements.

The financial value of SRECs varies based on market demand, but they typically sell for $10-50 each in Ohio’s market. A typical residential solar system might generate 10-15 SRECs per year, providing an ongoing income stream that helps offset your solar investment costs. You can sell your SRECs through online marketplaces or aggregators who handle the transactions for you.

To participate, you need a solar system that’s interconnected with your utility and registered with Ohio’s renewable energy tracking system. Your system must be located in Ohio and meet state technical requirements. There’s no specific deadline to join the program, but SRECs must be used by utilities within certain compliance periods, so timing of sales can affect pricing.

Net metering in Ohio allows homeowners with solar panels to receive credit for excess electricity they generate and send back to the utility grid. When your solar system produces more power than your home uses, that extra electricity flows to the grid and reduces your monthly electric bill on a 1-to-1 basis. This means every kilowatt-hour (kWh) of solar energy you export offsets one kWh of electricity you would otherwise pay for at the full retail rate.

The financial benefit varies by utility company, but excess solar production that isn’t used in the same month gets carried forward to your next bill at the generation rate, which typically ranges from 5-12 cents per kWh depending on your utility provider. For example, AEP Ohio customers receive 6-11 cents per kWh for excess production, while Duke Energy Ohio customers receive 5-10 cents per kWh. AES Ohio customers should note that their generation rates can fluctuate significantly – they recently experienced rates as high as 10.8 cents per kWh but expect rates to return to the typical 5-7 cents range.

Net metering is available to residential solar customers across Ohio’s major utility companies, including AEP Ohio, Duke Energy, FirstEnergy companies (OhioEdison, Cleveland Electric), AES Ohio, and Toledo Edison. Each utility handles monthly settlement at their respective generation rates, so homeowners should check with their specific utility company to understand the exact credit rate they’ll receive for excess solar production. This program helps maximize the value of your solar investment by ensuring you get credit for every bit of clean energy your system produces.