The resource, and how to check the estimate uses it
Southern Utah receives substantially more sun than the Wasatch Front, and a production estimate built on a statewide or Salt Lake assumption will understate a Saint George roof.
That is an unusual direction for a quote error and worth catching, because it makes a strong project look ordinary. Ask what data source the estimate used and whether it applies location-specific irradiance for your address.
Ask for the annual figure in kilowatt hours per year rather than only in dollars, so the production assumption and the rate assumption can be checked separately.
Ask how the model handles high summer module temperatures. Panels lose efficiency as they get hot, and a desert summer is exactly the condition where a generic model overstates output.
Air conditioning is the ally here
Under Schedule 137 Net Billing only electricity consumed at the instant of generation displaces the full retail rate. Everything else earns the export credit, about 4.855 cents per kWh in summer as of March 1, 2026.
A large midday cooling load is therefore an asset rather than a burden, because it absorbs generation at retail value that would otherwise leave at the export rate.
That makes the summer self-consumption share in Saint George naturally higher than in a household without heavy daytime cooling, and the design should reflect that rather than treating it as incidental.
Pre-cooling extends the effect further, running the air conditioning harder while the sun is up so less is needed after sunset. It costs nothing and it converts export-rate kilowatt hours into retail-rate ones.
The seasonal asymmetry to model properly
The export credit differs by season: approximately 4.855 cents per kWh for summer exports from June through September and 4.033 cents per kWh for winter exports from October through May, as of March 1, 2026.
Utah generation is heavily weighted toward the summer months, when the higher rate applies, so a model that blends the two rates into a single annual figure will get the answer wrong.
Winter is the weaker season on both sides: less generation and, in Saint George, a much smaller heating load than the summer cooling load. So the self-consumption share is not uniform through the year.
Ask for the analysis seasonally rather than annually, with the two export rates applied to the periods they belong to. That is a reasonable request and an installer working Utah properly will already have it.
Rebuilding the estimate from current figures
The 30 percent federal Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, and the Utah residential solar tax credit reached zero for systems installed from 2024 onward, so a cash or loan purchase receives no tax credit at either level.
Section 48E survives at 30 percent for third-party owners under leases and power purchase agreements, so ask what a provider claims and what reaches you in the rate.
What exists is retail value on self-consumed generation, the seasonal export credit on the rest, and an export credit reset each March that applies to existing customers too.
Ask for a location-specific production estimate with summer temperature derating, a seasonal analysis with both export rates applied correctly, and the self-consumption share stated on the page.