A solar bill credit for income eligible New Yorkers already reaches more than 160,000 homes, with a statewide target of 800,000

Who qualifies for the solar bill credit for income eligible New Yorkers

A solar bill credit for income eligible New Yorkers, called Statewide Solar for All by the state, credits the electric bills of qualifying households automatically, with no application and no cost. The New York Public Service Commission approved the program on May 16, 2024. To qualify, a household must be enrolled in its utility Energy Affordability Program, EAP, a bill discount for low income customers, and must also live in a census tract the state has designated a disadvantaged community. All 6 of New York investor owned utilities take part. The state pools bill credits earned by nearby community solar and battery storage projects and pays each qualifying household a fixed credit on its own bill every month, without a solar contract.

How much of the credit pool actually reaches a household bill

New York pays community solar and battery storage project owners under a tariff called the Value of Distributed Energy Resources, VDER, which credits them for the value their electricity adds to the grid. Statewide Solar for All takes a share of those credits and routes it to the pooled household benefit instead of leaving it with the project owner. For the program first year, running through November 30, 2025, a NYSERDA filing lets a project keep 94% of its credits if it is battery storage, 85% to 87% if it is solar, and 76% if it also received a separate 50% federal tax credit for solar built in low income communities. That leaves 6% for storage, at least 13% for most solar and 24% for tax credited solar, for the household pool, a share this outlet calculates by subtracting NYSERDA published compensation levels from 100%, since NYSERDA own filing states only what the project keeps. The Commission set a floor under that pool too, at least 10% for solar and 5% for storage, after a utility fee capped at 1%.

The credit already reaches more than 160,000 households, short of an 800,000 target

Before the statewide expansion, NYSERDA and National Grid ran a smaller precursor, Expanded Solar for All, in Upstate New York. As of NYSERDA October 30, 2024 presentation, more than 160,000 households were already receiving a bill credit under that precursor. NYSERDA target for the finished statewide program is approximately 800,000 households, meaning the households credited today make up about one fifth of the eventual goal. The state original 2017 pilot, the model this credit is built on, estimated an average credit of 10 dollars a month for a subscribed household, an amount that NYSERDA says changes with the season.

A separate federal grant for deeper household savings was cancelled

A separate program, also named Solar for All, was a 249.8 million dollar grant the Environmental Protection Agency awarded NYSERDA in 2024, from the Inflation Reduction Act 7 billion dollar Solar for All fund, a 2022 federal clean energy law. Of that grant, 107.7 million dollars was earmarked for residential community solar incentives requiring a minimum 20% household savings share on those projects, double the state program 10% floor, and the rest would have funded affordable housing solar in New York City and statewide. The agency terminated the entire national program on August 7, 2025, after Congress rescinded its funding in a law signed July 4, 2025. Statewide Solar for All, the state program, does not depend on that federal money and continues regardless.

EPA no longer has the authority to administer the program or the appropriated funds to keep this boondoggle alive.

Lee Zeldin, Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency. Source 1.