Two revenue streams, two meters
A net energy meter is a bi-directional meter installed by the electric distribution company. It replaces your existing meter and measures the difference between the electricity supplied to you and the excess electricity your system sends back to the grid during a billing period.
That is exactly what net metering needs and exactly what the incentive programme does not. New Jersey's Clean Energy Program states that the metering required to achieve netting and crediting is not capable of measuring gross generation for the purposes of REC or SREC creation, and that reliance upon one meter to receive value for both revenue streams would leave the customer-generator short changed on RECs or SRECs.
So a properly set up New Jersey installation has a separate Solar Production Meter measuring everything the array generates, alongside the net meter measuring the flow to and from the grid. One number feeds your bill credit. The other feeds your incentive payments.
Ask your installer to confirm in writing that a production meter is included, who supplies and installs it, and how its readings reach the programme. Then ask how you can verify it is reporting once the system is running, because a meter that silently stops reporting costs you money quietly rather than obviously.
What the incentive actually pays on
One SREC-II is created when a solar system generates 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. The incentive pays on generation, full stop, regardless of whether you used that electricity yourself or exported it.
That is a meaningfully different structure from most of the country, and it is the reason New Jersey pays back faster than its sun hours alone would suggest. Every kilowatt hour is worth something twice: once through what it saves or earns you on the bill, and again through the SREC-II it contributes to.
The Administratively Determined Incentive Program, a sub-program of the Successor Solar Incentive Program, covers net metered residential projects of 5 MW dc or less. The incentive value varies by project type and size and is guaranteed for a term of 15 years, the project's Qualification Life.
Ask New Jersey's Clean Energy Program or your installer what the current incentive rate is for a residential registration today, and get it in writing rather than from an article. The rate is set by the Board of Public Utilities rather than traded on a market, and it is revised, so the figure that matters is the one in effect when you register.
Verify it is working, not just installed
Because two systems have to function for you to receive everything you are owed, ask before signing how you will confirm both are working. What does your first bill look like with net metering applied, and when do the first incentive payments appear.
Set a reminder to check a few months in rather than trusting that silence means everything is fine. Missing bill credits are visible if you look. Missing incentive payments are easy not to notice for a year, and a year of a fifteen-year entitlement is a real loss.
Keep the paperwork from both processes: the interconnection approval, the registration confirmation, the production meter details and the readings. That file is what you need if something has to be corrected later, and it is what a future buyer of the house will want to see.
Ask who to contact when something goes wrong with each. The electric distribution company handles the net meter and the interconnection. The incentive programme handles registration and payments. They are different organisations and knowing which is which saves a great deal of time.
Two exemptions, and only one of them happens by itself
New Jersey exempts solar energy equipment from state sales tax, but the exemption has a procedure. Under N.J.A.C. 18:24-26.4 the purchaser must issue to the seller an Exempt Use Certificate, Form ST-4, or other approved form. The certificate should indicate on its face that the purchase qualifies for exemption as a solar energy system, and the purchaser must insert the address of the property where the system will be installed.
Note that this happens at the point of purchase, with the seller, rather than being claimed back afterwards on a return. Ask your installer how they handle it and confirm the certificate has been issued rather than assuming the price you were quoted already reflects it.
The property tax exemption is separate and is not automatic either. Qualifying renewable energy systems are exempt from real property taxation under N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.113a to g, but Form CRES, the Certification of Renewable Energy System, must be filed with your local municipal tax assessor, and the system must be certified by the local construction code official.
The annual exemption is the difference between the total assessed value of the property before and after the system has been installed. Nobody files Form CRES on your behalf by default, so ask whether your installer assists, and put it on your own list either way. An exemption you qualified for and never claimed is the most avoidable cost in a New Jersey solar project.