Photo: Espinal, via Pixabay
Connecticut / New Haven
New Haven pays UI prices, and solar knows it
Written by the Solar Learning Lab research deskUpdated August 29, 202612 min read
Check the New Haven numbers
The calculator below already carries the UI average rate and the city PVGIS run.
Open itStart from the price of doing nothing
EIA’s 2024 bundled retail data shows UI residential service averaged 34.042707 cents per kWh across 256,302 customers, while Eversource CT averaged 28.507537 cents, per EIA Table 6. Round those to 34 and 28.5 cents and the gap is still more than a nickel per kWh. Every kilowatt hour a New Haven roof produces and the household consumes on site avoids that 34 cent blend of supply and delivery.
That single fact reorders the usual priorities. In cheap power markets, solar economics hinge on export policy. In New Haven, the export policy still matters, but self consumption does most of the lifting before the tariff question even comes up. A modest system sized to the household’s daytime load is defensible here in a way it simply is not in, say, Gulf Coast Florida.
Confirm the utility before you compare quotes
UI’s published service area lists New Haven among its 17 Connecticut towns and cities, alongside Hamden, East Haven, West Haven, and the rest of its 335 square mile footprint on Long Island Sound. The company dates to 1899 and serves roughly 350,068 customers. National solar calculators frequently default Connecticut addresses to Eversource assumptions, and a quote built that way starts more than a nickel per kWh too low on the avoided rate.
The mistake runs the other direction too. Eversource specific supply figures, bill credits, or application procedures do not transfer to a UI account. When a proposal cites a utility document, check that the letterhead matches the meter.
Supply rates fell hard into mid 2026
UI Standard Service supply is 11.95 cents per kWh from July 1 through December 31, 2026, down from 13.70 cents in the first half of the year, roughly a 13 percent drop. UI initially announced 11.98 cents and then corrected the figure after over collected Bypassable FMCC revenue tied to the Mystic Unit fuel adjustment surfaced; that credit refunds over the year beginning July 1, 2026. The Office of Consumer Counsel puts the combined May and July changes at about $50, or 18 percent, off the average UI monthly bill, per its consumer advisory.
Zoom out and the volatility is the story. UI Rate R supply ran 21.9429 cents in early 2023, 17.0625 in early 2024, and 13.5683 in early 2025, with lower second half figures each year, per the EnergizeCT rate board. Anyone modeling 20 years of solar value off one semester of Standard Service is guessing. Model a band, not a point.
RRES: the state swapped net metering for a menu of two
Connecticut closed legacy net metering to new systems before 2022, and homes whose systems were interconnected or fully applied for before January 1, 2022 stay on legacy terms permanently, per the RRES program manual. New Haven systems up to 25 kW on one to four family properties now enroll through UI in Residential Renewable Energy Solutions, with rates PURA revisits every year in its annual review docket.
The menu has two entries. Option one, netting: UI takes the RECs, exports earn on-bill credit at the prevailing retail rate through a bidirectional meter, the 2026 REC payment is zero, and a $0.0402 per kWh Solar Production Charge applies to everything the array generates. Credits roll forward and settle in cash only when the account terminates. Option two, buy-all: UI purchases the entire output, energy and RECs together, at $0.3289 per kWh locked for 20 years, available to owned and third party systems alike, with payment splittable between the bill and a named beneficiary, per the UI RRES FAQ.
Worth knowing: UI netting customers have received $0.00 for excess energy RECs since the program launched in 2022, when Eversource customers still got 3.18 cents, per the legislative research report. Income eligible households add $0.055 per kWh on buy-all or $0.035 on netting, with smaller adders in distressed municipalities; whether New Haven holds that designation was not confirmed in our research.
The permit counter is a website now
New Haven’s Office of Building Inspection and Enforcement has moved entirely to electronic permitting. Paper applications are no longer accepted, terminals are available in the office for those who need them, and the online portal may add a processing fee the city says it does not control, per the permits page. When two installer quotes differ on permitting line items, this portal fee is one legitimate reason.
Fee amounts are the gap in the public record. The city links residential and multifamily fee schedules, but the schedules live on a platform our research pipeline cannot fetch, so we print no dollar figure. Treat New Haven permit cost as valuation dependent and confirm it with the Building Inspection office, reachable through the city staff directory. One more trap for tight urban lots: any lift, scaffold, or dumpster that occupies the sidewalk or street needs a separate Obstruction Permit, also filed online.
A renter heavy, history heavy housing stock
Census figures put owner occupancy at 28.4 percent across 53,424 households, with single family homes at just 25.2 percent of the stock. Most New Haven residents cannot sign a rooftop contract at all, and many who can share walls, roofs, or ownership structures that need sorting before an interconnection application. The city also carries 59 National Register properties, nine of them National Historic Landmarks, so rooftop work in older districts can pick up a historic review step that a generic project timeline ignores.
None of that is a reason to skip solar. It is a reason the first site visit should answer three questions in order: who controls the roof, does the district add review, and which RRES option fits the household’s consumption profile. Hardware selection comes fourth.
Modeled production, month by month
The downtown New Haven PVGIS run totals 1343.4 kWh per kW annually. July models at 140.7 kWh per kW and December at 67.1, so winter output is roughly half of summer. At UI prices, even the December floor buys back a meaningful bill chunk when consumed on site.
City level model. Harbor fog, tree lines, and roof pitch will bend your curve.
PVGIS v5.2. PVGIS v5.2 model run by Solar Learning Lab on August 29, 2026, NSRDB radiation database. Fixed south facing mount, 30 degree tilt, 14 percent losses, downtown New Haven coordinates. Your roof will differ.
The inputs, side by side
| Energy source | Type | Average price | What that means |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Illuminating | 2024 residential average | 34.04¢ per kWh | EIA Table 6, bundled retail sales, all-in average. |
| UI Standard Service | Supply, Jul to Dec 2026 | 11.95¢ per kWh | OCC advisory; first half 2026 was 13.70 cents. |
| New Haven | PVGIS yield | 1343.4 kWh per kW per year | South facing 30 degree reference run. |
The all-in average and the supply-only rate answer different questions. Do not mix them in one payback model.
Build a shortlist, then make them show UI paperwork
A useful screen for New Haven bids: ask each company to name the RRES option in the quote and to price the identical array under the alternative. Companies fluent in UI territory can do that in a day. Companies working from an Eversource template cannot.
Ratings snapshot: Google Maps, August 2026, via the DataForSEO SERP feed. Zero companies paid us and none are endorsed by us.
Freedom Solar USA
West Haven, CT
4.5(81 Google reviews)
Greenleap Solar
4.9(47 Google reviews)
Greenskies Clean Energy LLC
North Haven, CT
4.6(33 Google reviews)
Ratings and review counts are Google Maps ratings for New Haven local results, retrieved August 17, 2026 via the DataForSEO SERP API. We list the highest rated established companies we found. No company paid to appear here, and appearing here is not an endorsement. Check current reviews and licensing before you sign anything.
Now put a real bill through the model
1,343.4 kWh per kW is the modeled city figure. The lower bound holds back 15 percent for planning, since shade studies come later.
Cash quotes in New Haven cluster near $2.67 per watt, against a $3.50 national 2024 median (LBNL). Use your quote.
Assumptions you can change
Use the rate on your actual lease or PPA quote. There is no published statewide average we trust enough to hardcode.
Cash purchase
$13,884 after state credit
- Year 1 benefit
- $198/mo
- Payback
- 6 years
- 20 year net position
- $43,821
New Haven pays UI prices, the steepest residential average of Connecticut's two investor owned utilities in 2024. Each self consumed kWh works harder here than almost anywhere in the state.
Solar loan
$181/mo 15 yr payment
- Year 1 net
- $17/mo
- Upfront
- $0
- 20 year net position
- $25,147
Loan math uses statewide cost inputs. City permit fees are valuation based and unpublished online, so confirm them with the Office of Building Inspection and Enforcement.
Lease / PPA
$0 down you buy the power
- Year 1 net
- $58/mo
- Upfront
- $0
- 20 year net position
- $18,975
Any third party offer in UI territory should name its RRES option and how the 20 year terms flow through the contract.
Estimates, not quotes. The rate input is the 2024 UI residential average from EIA, production is our downtown New Haven PVGIS run, and costs follow the Connecticut benchmark. We are a solar installer and we also partner with other solar companies. See our disclosures.
Frequently asked in New Haven
Which utility serves New Haven?
How expensive is UI power really?
Can I file a paper permit application?
What is the netting Solar Production Charge?
Is the federal homeowner credit still available?
Do Connecticut tax exemptions apply here?
Records behind this page
Unverifiable items stay unverified here: the city fee schedule amounts, a local fee waiver ordinance, and any storage incentive claim. What we did verify links below.
- https://www.newhavenct.gov/government/departments-divisions/office-of-building-inspection-enforcement
- https://www.newhavenct.gov/business/building-development/permits-applications
- https://www.newhavenct.gov/contact/staff-directory/-seldept-20
- https://www.uinet.com/ourcompany/whoweare/servicearea
- https://www.uinet.com/documents/d/uinet/residential-renewable-energy-solutions-faq
- https://portal.ct.gov/pura/electric/office-of-technical-and-regulatory-analysis/clean-energy-programs/residential-renewable-energy-solutions-program
- https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/PURA/Residential-Renewable-Energy-Solutions-Program-Manual.pdf
- https://www.cga.ct.gov/2022/rpt/pdf/2022-R-0165.pdf
- https://energizect.com/rate-board-residential-standard-service-generation-rates
- https://portal.ct.gov/occ/-/media/occ/july-2026-ss-rates-consumer-advisory.pdf?rev=d28cd65aae6446f9a8701f7974eef916&hash=5B43350D90D55A01CC0FDCA1851218DE
- https://www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/xls/table_6.xlsx
- https://law.justia.com/codes/connecticut/title-12/chapter-203/section-12-81/
- https://portal.ct.gov/drs/sales-tax/exemptions-from-sales-and-use-taxes
- https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IN12611
Request a New Haven estimate
We are a solar installer and we also partner with other solar companies. Read our disclosures.
What does your monthly electric bill look like?
Connecticut average is $167 per month (EIA, 2024).