Ask for the three streams separately
Ask any installer to show, across a year: the net metering bill savings, the SREC income, and the one-off rebate, as three separate lines rather than a single combined number.
Net metering is the sturdiest, because Maryland credits exported solar at the retail rate under a framework set by statute and administered by the Public Service Commission. Ask what percentage of your annual usage the system covers and how the annual reconciliation was treated.
SREC income is the variable one. One megawatt-hour of production generates one SREC, so a system producing 12,000 kilowatt-hours over a typical year generates about 12 a year, but the price moves with the market. Ask what price the model assumes and where the figure came from.
Then ask to see the whole projection with SREC income removed entirely. That is your floor, and it tells you how much of the case depends on a market price rather than on a tariff.
The assumption underneath all three
Because SRECs are earned on generation and net metering credits what you export, the production estimate feeds more than one line at once. An optimistic estimate therefore inflates the result in more than one place.
Ask whether the estimate was modelled for your specific roof, orientation and shading rather than derived from a regional average, and ask to see monthly figures rather than an annual total.
Ask for a shading assessment covering the whole year rather than the hour of the site visit. Mature tree cover is one of the better things about living here and one of the harder things about rooftop solar.
Ask what happens if actual production falls materially short, and get the estimate and that answer into the contract. An estimate that appears only in a sales presentation is not a commitment.
What belongs in the contract
Get equipment specified by manufacturer and model number rather than by description. Model numbers are what make a warranty enforceable later and what let you compare two quotes on the same basis rather than on adjectives.
Establish who honours each warranty and for how long. Panels, inverter and workmanship are commonly covered by three different parties on three different terms, and a company that has left the market cannot support a workmanship warranty however well drafted.
Ask what the workmanship warranty covers on roof penetrations specifically. Leaks around mounting hardware are the most common physical failure in residential solar and they typically appear a few years in.
Agree in writing who handles the Public Service Commission registration and the GATS step, and who submits the MEA rebate application within 12 months. Those are separate from the permit and the interconnection, and on a project with this many processes the common failure is each party assuming another handled one.
The rebate to claim, and the exemptions that need no application
The Maryland Energy Administration Residential Clean Energy Rebate Program pays $1,000 for a qualifying residential solar system. The condition to settle before you choose an installer is that the installation must be completed by an installer certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners, because nothing recovers the rebate afterwards if it was not.
The system must also be at your primary residential property and at least 1 kilowatt, and the application must reach the MEA within 12 months of installation. It is first come, first served, so confirm the current funding status rather than treating $1,000 as an entitlement.
Under Maryland Tax-Property Article Section 7-242, residential solar energy property is not subject to real property tax and solar energy equipment is exempt from the state sales and use tax. Neither arrives as a payment, so check your quote reflects the sales tax exemption and add the property tax treatment to your own arithmetic.
The 30 percent federal Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, so a cash or loan purchase now receives no federal credit. Section 48E survives at 30 percent for third-party owners under leases and power purchase agreements, so ask any such provider what they claim and what of that value reaches you, and confirm with a tax advisor.