SolarPanels.ReportSolar offers, rules and payback, state by state

Utilities · Solar in New York

PSEG Long Island: how it credits the solar power you send to the grid

1:1 net metering on Long Island and the Rockaways, with the state's lowest Customer Benefit Contribution: $1.00 per kW each month (2025).

Checked November 12, 2026. Utilities change these rules; check the current tariff before you sign.

Full retailWhat an exported kWh earns
Full credit (net metering)How exports are credited
26.4¢Average price of power in New York (2025)
$1.00/kWMonthly solar charge, about $5 a month for a 5 kW system

How it works

Exported power earns the full retail price, kWh for kWh.

PSEG Long Island runs the grid for the Long Island Power Authority, a public authority, but follows New York's net metering rules.

A 7 kW system pays $7 a month in Customer Benefit Contribution at the 2025 rate, which solar credits can't cover.

Systems connected in 2026 lock in New York's net metering for 20 years.

Fixed solar charge. Customer Benefit Contribution: $1.00 per kW DC each month (2025). Solar credits can't pay it.

What it means for a typical New York home

An average New York home uses about 7,032 kWh a year. A 5 kW system costs about $12,850 at the 2026 median price and makes about 6,455 kWh in its first year, of which we assume about 3,873 kWh goes out to the grid because no one is home to use it.

First-year savingsPayback25-year savings, after the price
With PSEG Long Island's credit and monthly charge$1,6438 years$36,952
Without the monthly charge$1,7038 years$39,002

The monthly charge costs a typical system about $2,049 over 25 years. Uses New York's average electricity price; PSEG Long Island's own prices may be higher or lower. Paid in cash, no federal credit, prices rising 2.5% a year, one inverter replacement.

Check a quote for New YorkRun your own payback

Also in New York: Con Edison (full retail credit), National Grid (New York) (full retail credit).

All 55 utilities · Solar in New York · Lease and PPA terms by company

Sources: NYSERDA: 2025 Customer Benefit Contribution rates; Palmetto: New York utility guide; U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), final 2025 data: Annual State Historical Spreadsheets (Form EIA-861, released October 7, 2026) and Electric Power Annual (October 21, 2026); EnergySage: median quoted price, first half of 2026.