ME · Solar

Solar quotes in Lewiston, ME.

One real quote from a vetted local Lewiston installer, sized to your roof, your bill, and every federal + state rebate you qualify for.

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What you get

One vetted local Lewiston installer
Rebates checked for your exact address
No call-center spam, no lead list

7 kW
Average system size: $3.10/W
Average cost (USD): 9 yrs
Average payback: 70+
Local installers

Why solar in Lewiston

The single largest number in a Lewiston solar quote is not an incentive, it is the price of the electricity you stop buying. Maine residential power has averaged around 30.4 cents per kWh, roughly two-thirds above the national figure. With the federal residential credit gone and no state credit to replace it, that avoided cost is now doing almost all of the work, which makes the rate assumption in your quote worth checking carefully.

Avoided cost is the whole argument now

The 30 percent federal Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, and Maine has never had a state solar tax credit or rebate to fall back on.

Efficiency Maine, which many homeowners associate with energy incentives here, runs rebates for heat pumps and other efficiency measures rather than for solar panels.

So what remains is one-to-one Net Energy Billing at the retail rate, a property tax exemption you have to apply for, and the electricity you no longer buy. The last of those is the largest by a wide margin.

At around 30.4 cents per kWh it is also unusually large in absolute terms. A Maine household displaces roughly two-thirds more value per kilowatt hour than the national average household does.

Checking the rate the quote used

Ask which rate the projection applied and where the figure came from, then check it against a recent bill of your own. Central Maine Power and Versant Power charge different amounts, and a statewide average is an approximation where a real number exists.

Ask whether the figure is an all-in rate including delivery and supply, or only the supply portion. Maine bills separate the two, and a projection using only supply will badly understate savings.

Ask about fixed monthly charges. They do not fall when your consumption does, so a household that halves its energy purchase does not halve its bill, and a model assuming otherwise overstates the result.

Ask what escalation rate the projection applied over its term, and ask to see the version at zero escalation. A case that works without any assumed increase is a case you can rely on.

And the production side of the same number

Savings are production times rate, so an honest rate assumption paired with an inflated production estimate still produces a wrong answer.

Ask for the annual production estimate in kilowatt hours rather than only as a dollar saving, so the two assumptions can be checked separately.

Ask what the model assumed about snow. In Maine snow cover on panels is a genuine winter production loss, and a model built from generic irradiance without a snow allowance is describing a milder place.

Ask what shading analysis was done and what it assumed about tree growth over the system life. Maine lots are frequently wooded and canopy modelled at today height will overstate output in ten years.

Costing it out under the current tariff

Strike the federal residential credit from any quote that shows it, since Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025.

There is no Maine state solar tax credit or rebate to add in its place. Section 48E survives at 30 percent but is claimed by a third-party owner under a lease or power purchase agreement.

Rebuild from one-to-one Net Energy Billing at your actual retail rate, subject to the rolling 12-month credit elimination, plus the property tax exemption under 36 M.R.S. Section 655 with its April 1 application deadline.

Then add the electricity you stop buying, from a production estimate that accounts for snow and shading. Those two numbers are the quote.

Incentives & rebates

Net metering: Net Energy Billing, one-to-one retail credit, rolling 12-month reset

Maine Net Energy Billing under Public Utilities Commission Chapter 313 credits residential rooftop generation against household usage at the retail rate, one for one. Against a Maine residential average around 30.4 cents per kWh, roughly two-thirds above the national figure, that makes each exported kilowatt hour unusually valuable and it is the main reason Maine solar works despite a northern climate and a high installed cost. The constraint to design around is the reset. Customers accumulate unused kilowatt hour credits and apply them against usage over a rolling 12-month period, and at the end of each rolling 12-month period any accumulated unused credit is eliminated and may not be applied against future usage. Nothing is paid for eliminated credit. A rolling window behaves differently from a fixed annual true-up date: rather than one settlement day in the calendar, credit generated in a given month has twelve months to be used before it lapses. In practice that suits Maine reasonably well, since a summer surplus is drawn down through a long heating season within the window. But it still means a system generating more than the household consumes across a year gives the difference away, so the design should start from your last twelve months of bills rather than from available roof area. Central Maine Power and Versant Power serve different parts of the state at different retail rates, so confirm which one bills you before accepting any figure in a quote.

Related Maine resources

Maine solar incentives & rebates Full breakdown of federal, provincial, and utility programs.

How payback works in Maine

System cost: $21,700
Estimated net cost: $21,700
Estimated payback: ~13.4 years
25-year net savings: ~$18,800

These figures are illustrative; your actual quote reflects your roof, sun exposure, and local utility rates.

Frequently asked questions

What actually makes Maine solar pay?

The price of electricity. Maine residential power has averaged around 30.4 cents per kWh against a national figure near 18.4, and with the federal credit ended and no state credit existing, avoided cost is doing almost all the work.

Are there Efficiency Maine rebates for solar?

No. Efficiency Maine runs rebates for heat pumps and other efficiency measures rather than for solar panels. It does operate a Small Battery Incentive Program that pays for demand response participation.

What should I check about the rate in my quote?

Whether it used your utility actual rate rather than a state average, whether it is an all-in rate including delivery or only supply, whether fixed monthly charges are included, and what escalation it assumed over the term.

What should the production estimate account for?

Snow cover on panels through a Maine winter, shading with an allowance for tree growth over the system life, and the figure stated in kilowatt hours per year rather than only as a dollar saving.