Pennsylvania community solar bill would legalize community energy facilities
The Pennsylvania community solar bill moving through the state legislature is House Bill 504, which would let a household or business that cannot put solar panels on its own roof buy a share of a community energy facility built somewhere else and get a credit on its electric bill worth more than the share costs. The official title of the bill covers community energy facilities, and its own text allows a facility to run on solar photovoltaic panels or renewable natural gas from anaerobic digestion, not solar power alone.
Representative Peter Schweyer, District 134, introduced the bill on April 23, 2025, with 47 co sponsors, other representatives who signed onto the bill. The Pennsylvania House passed it on May 7, 2025, by a vote of 114 to 89, and the Senate referred it to the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee on May 22, 2025, where it remains with no further recorded action, according to the Legislature own bill history. A similar bill already passed the House in 2024 and stalled in the Senate at this same stage, according to pv magazine USA, so House Bill 504 is repeating a pattern, not starting one.
What the bill limits, and who it protects
House Bill 504 caps a standard community energy facility at 5,000 kilowatts of generating capacity, and raises that cap to 20,000 kilowatts, 4 times larger, if the facility sits on a brownfield, land previously contaminated by industry, or on a rooftop, a rule meant to steer bigger projects toward land already in use rather than open fields.
House Bill 504 caps a standard community energy facility at 5,000 kilowatts of generating capacity and allows 20,000 kilowatts, 4 times larger, if the facility sits on a brownfield or a rooftop.
Show the numbers
| Standard facility | 5,000 |
| Brownfield or rooftop facility | 20,000 |
No single subscriber may hold more than 50% of a facility capacity, and at least 50% of that capacity must be sold in subscriptions of 25 kilowatts or less, spreading ownership across many small subscribers instead of 1 large buyer. Every subscriber must get a bill credit for each kilowatt hour a share of the facility produces, with no upfront fee and no credit check, and the subscription cost must stay below the credit value. The bill defines low income as a family income at or below 150% of the federal poverty line.
Why advocates say community solar can move faster
Community solar connects to the local distribution grid instead of the regional transmission grid, called PJM, the operator that carries high voltage power across Pennsylvania and 12 other states, so advocates say it can be built and connected faster than a large power plant.
It doesn't have to do with PJM at all, so it can come online faster.
Elowyn Corby, Mid Atlantic regional director, Vote Solar and Vote Solar Action Fund. Source 4.
What regulators would have to do, and where the bill stands
If House Bill 504 becomes law, the Public Utility Commission, the state agency that regulates electric utilities, would have 180 days after the law takes effect to set the bill credit formula and issue temporary rules, and 365 days, 1 year, to finish permanent regulations, counted from a starting date that does not exist yet, since the bill has not passed the Senate.
House Bill 504 gives the Public Utility Commission 180 days after the law takes effect to set the bill credit formula and issue temporary rules, and 365 days, 1 year, to finish permanent regulations, a gap of about 2 times as long. Both deadlines only start counting once the law takes effect, which has not happened, since the bill has not passed the Senate.
Show the numbers
| Bill credit formula and temporary rules | 180 |
| Permanent regulations | 365 |
House Bill 504 has sat in the Senate committee for 487 days with no recorded vote, counting from the May 22, 2025 referral to September 21, 2026, a MAOWCE count from the Legislature own bill history. The bill has a Senate companion, Senate Bill 504, sponsored by Senator Judy Schwank, moving alongside it as part of Governor Josh Shapiro energy proposal called the Lightning Plan. Pennsylvania households paid an average of 12.51 cents for every kilowatt hour of electricity in 2024, the 19th highest rate among United States states, according to the federal Energy Information Administration, and the state still has no community solar program in law.
This bill allows shared community energy projects where subscribers can access solar or biofuel energy and receive a credit for that on their electric bills.
Peter Schweyer, State representative, District 134, the bill sponsor. Source 5.
This lets families, farmers and businesses in our commonwealth who can't generate such power on their own partner with other subscribers in receiving solar or biofuel energy.
Peter Schweyer, State representative, District 134, the bill sponsor. Source 5.