What we could not confirm, and the questions that replace it
We do not have Montague's municipal permit requirements, and a search of the public record did not turn up the town's planning bylaws or permit process. Rather than fill that space with a general statement about Prince Edward Island, we are naming the gap, because a confident guess about a permit is worth less than an accurate list of questions.
Do not read the absence as an exemption. Exterior work on a building normally goes through a municipal planning or development process, and a town that has not published solar-specific guidance has not thereby exempted solar from anything. The answer for your address exists at the town office rather than on a website.
Call the town before equipment is ordered and ask four things: whether a development permit, building permit or both are required for a roof-mounted solar installation, what each application must contain, whether any zoning provision limits mounted equipment by size or visibility, and what processing time to expect. Record who answered and the date, and get it by email if you can.
Those questions also test an installer. Someone who has worked in Montague should be able to describe what the town asked for last time and show you the paperwork. Someone who says confidently that nothing is required, without being able to point at where the town says so, is guessing with your money. Do not accept a payment schedule that exposes a deposit to an approval date nobody has promised.
The provincial rebate is paused, which is the bigger number
efficiencyPEI's Solar Electric Rebate Program paid 1,000 $ per kW DC installed, covering up to 40 percent of costs, to a maximum residential rebate of 10,000 $. It is paused for new applications after the programme reached capacity for the fiscal year. Existing pre-approval holders can continue.
Whatever the permit turns out to require, this is the larger financial fact. On a residential system, up to 10,000 $ is a substantial share of the total cost, so any quote, article or payback estimate that assumes the rebate is currently wrong by up to that amount. Ask any installer whether their savings figure includes it, and ask to see the same figure without it.
The stated reason was capacity rather than a decision to close the programme permanently, so the practical issue is timing. Ask efficiencyPEI what the current intake status is, whether new applications are expected to reopen, and exactly what a pre-approval is and whether you hold one. If the rebate is what makes the project work for you, that answer is the project's critical path and it belongs at the front of the conversation.
Maritime Electric, and the December 31 clear-out
Maritime Electric is your provider, and its net metering programme has requirements worth reading before you design anything: a renewable source such as solar or wind, generation exclusively for your own property, year-long billing with Maritime Electric, an application for and participation in a net metering agreement, adherence to the section 13 requirements in that agreement, and a generator not exceeding 100 kW. The size ceiling is far above a house.
The exclusivity clause is the one that catches people out. Generation must be for your own property, so an array on one building cannot offset consumption at another you own. If that is your situation, raise it at the outset.
PEI net metering works in kilowatt hour credits rather than a cash feed-in tariff for households. Credits accumulate through the year and reset on December 31, with no cash payout for unused credits. December 31 sits at the end of the darkest quarter, so a summer surplus has about half a year to be drawn down before it is cleared.
That makes sizing the design decision that matters most. Build to twelve months of your own kilowatt hour totals rather than to the roof area available, because generation beyond your own annual consumption is not banked forward, it is simply lost at the reset. Ask Maritime Electric for the agreement and read section 13 yourself.
The roof, which is the part nobody else decides
Natural Resources Canada puts Montague at about 1,086 kilowatt hours a year per kilowatt of installed capacity on a well oriented, unshaded array. Treat it as a ceiling for your address rather than a forecast, since orientation and shading move the real figure a long way.
A slope facing generally south produces the most, east and west slopes produce usefully but give up output, and a north slope rarely repays the hardware. Shading is the costliest variable because it removes production in the middle of the day when the array would otherwise be strongest, so ask for an assessment that covers the whole year rather than the hour of the site visit.
Check the roof covering age before anything is ordered. Panels outlast most coverings, so one within a few years of replacement should be replaced first rather than paying later to remove and reinstall the array. In a town whose permit requirements you are still confirming, doing the work in the wrong order also risks going through an unknown process twice.
What else is available
Federally the options have narrowed. The Canada Greener Homes Loan, interest-free up to 40,000 $, stopped accepting new applications on October 2, 2025, and only previously approved loans are still being funded, so it is not available to a new project.
The Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program replaced it in September 2025, delivering no-cost retrofits through provincial partners for low- to median-income households. Solar PV is eligible federally, but each province sets its own technology list, so what matters is what Prince Edward Island has actually included. Check that directly, particularly while the provincial rebate is paused.
Canada has no federal investment tax credit for residential solar. So unless you hold a pre-approval or the provincial programme reopens, the honest arithmetic today is the value of self-generated and credited electricity over time, against the full installed cost with no rebate and whatever the town's permit turns out to cost. Get both of those unknowns answered before you sign anything.