Solar + battery installation in New Brunswick

New Brunswick homeowners pay some of the higher electricity rates in the region: NB Power's residential energy charge is 15.84 cents per kWh effective 14 April 2026, made up of a 15.39 cent base rate plus a 0.45 cent variance account charge, so cutting your own draw from the grid has real value. Note that press coverage of the April decision widely quoted 15.39 cents, which is the base rate before the variance charge, so a quote built on that figure understates what you actually pay. Separately, the monthly service charge is $30.82 urban and $33.82 rural, and solar does not reduce it: roughly $370 a year stays on the bill no matter how much you generate, which is why a system sized to zero out a bill entirely is not a realistic target here. The sun resource here is respectable, though New Brunswick trails the Prairie provinces in solar potential comparisons from the Canada Energy Regulator, so a well-sited roof still produces meaningfully, just not at Saskatchewan or Alberta levels. The province's per-kW solar top-up ($200 per kW, run through the Total Home Energy Savings Program) closed to new enrollees on May 27, 2026, so it's no longer available for a new system. There's also no federal tax credit a homeowner can claim here: under the Income Tax Act, Ottawa's Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit is limited to taxable Canadian corporations and certain trusts, not individual homeowners. That leaves NB Power's 1:1 net metering program as the main financial lever, which means the payback math depends heavily on how much of your own solar you use in the home rather than banking it as a credit that expires every March 31.