- New Jersey power is expensive, which is what makes solar pay. New Jersey residential electricity averages about 23.49 cents per kWh (EIA, as of March 2026), above the national average, so every kilowatt-hour your roof makes offsets a costly one you would otherwise buy from PSE&G.
- PSE&G credits your exports at full retail during the year. New Jersey requires investor-owned utilities to credit net excess generation at the full retail rate over a 12-month period, so a normal home banks credits at the same price it pays (NJ Clean Energy Program, as of 2026).
- SREC-II pays your system for 15 years on top of the bill savings. New Jersey’s Successor Solar Incentive (SuSI) pays you one SREC-II for every megawatt-hour (1,000 kWh) your system generates, for a 15-year term (NJ Clean Energy Program SuSI; DSIRE, as of 2026).
- New Jersey waives the sales tax and the property-tax bump. Qualifying solar equipment is 100% exempt from New Jersey sales tax (NJ Treasury, N.J.S.A. 54:32B-8.33, as of 2026), and the value your system adds to your home is exempt from property tax (NJ Division of Taxation, N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.113, as of 2026).
- The 30% federal homeowner credit (Section 25D) ended after December 31, 2025 (IRS, as of January 1, 2026), so a New Brunswick homeowner who buys solar in 2026 cannot claim it. New Jersey’s own programs were not affected.
- On a rental, the system owner keeps the perks. Near Rutgers, where many homes are rentals, the net-metering credits, the SREC-II income, and the tax exemptions follow whoever owns the system and whose name is on the PSE&G account, which is usually the landlord, not the tenant.
Solar panels in New Brunswick, NJ pay off for a simple reason: you are buying expensive grid power in one of the highest-rate states in the country, and New Jersey hands solar owners one of the better incentive stacks in the country to replace it. The local details are what decide your number: PSE&G runs your net metering, New Jersey’s SREC-II program pays your system for 15 years, and in a Rutgers college town a big share of roofs sit on rentals, where who keeps the credits is its own question. This guide covers what solar actually costs and earns in New Brunswick (Middlesex County), how PSE&G credits your power, the New Jersey incentives you may qualify for in 2026, and the rental and federal-credit wrinkles to plan around, then you can check your address in about a minute. Updated for 2026.
Why New Brunswick’s electric rates make solar pay
The reason solar works in New Brunswick is the price of the power it replaces. New Jersey residential electricity averages about 23.49 cents per kWh (EIA, as of March 2026), above the national average, and PSE&G is the utility behind that bill for New Brunswick homes. Every kilowatt-hour your roof produces and you use offsets one you would otherwise buy at that rate. As a quick original benchmark, at 23.49 cents per kWh each 1,000 kWh your system generates and you consume is worth about $235 a year (23.49 cents times 1,000 kWh), so a system that covers most of a typical home’s usage replaces a four-figure annual electric spend. For the exact cents behind your own bill, read the supply and delivery lines on your PSE&G statement, since both move on a schedule.
| New Brunswick solar by the numbers (2026) | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| New Jersey residential electricity rate | About 23.49 cents per kWh | EIA, as of March 2026 |
| Annual bill value of each 1,000 kWh you self-consume | About $235 (derived: 23.49 cents times 1,000 kWh) | Derived from the EIA rate, as of March 2026 |
| SREC-II payment term | 15 years per qualifying system | NJ Clean Energy Program, as of 2026 |
| SREC-II value per MWh generated | Reported roughly $85 to $130; confirm the current residential value | DSIRE, as of 2026 |
| New Jersey sales tax on qualifying solar equipment | 0% (100% exempt) | NJ Treasury, as of 2026 |
| Property tax on the system’s added home value | Exempt | NJ Division of Taxation, as of 2026 |
Your production is what turns that high rate into savings. New Brunswick sits in central New Jersey and gets a solar resource typical of the Mid-Atlantic, and a well-placed roof offsets a large share of a normal home’s annual use. Because output depends on your roof’s pitch, shading, and orientation, estimate your specific roof with NREL’s free PVWatts calculator rather than a generic number. Your production drives both your net-metering credits and your SREC-II payments, so it is worth getting right before you size a system. To see how the bill math adds up over time, read the financial case for whether solar panels are worth it and how solar lowers your electricity bill.
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Your New Brunswick utility is PSE&G
For electricity, New Brunswick is PSE&G territory, and that is who administers your solar net metering. Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) is New Jersey’s largest utility and serves New Brunswick and the surrounding Middlesex County towns, so your interconnection application, your net-metering credits, and your annual true-up all run through PSE&G (PSE&G net metering, as of 2026). New Jersey assigns each utility a service territory, so your address is served by one electric company, and for New Brunswick that is PSE&G. For the statewide rules and the utility-level detail behind all of this, see solar costs and incentives across New Jersey and the PSE&G net metering and rate plan guide, or compare how PSE&G net metering pays Newark homeowners in another PSE&G city, or see how the same PSE&G net metering rules apply to solar in Princeton.
Solar already works at scale right here, on the biggest roofs in town. In 2024 Rutgers University brought online a 14.5 MW solar canopy project, spread across 17 parking-lot sites on its campuses, including Livingston in the New Brunswick and Piscataway area, under a no-upfront, 15-year power purchase agreement with DSD Renewables, a deal expected to save the university about $1 million a year (Rutgers, as of 2024; Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute, as of March 2024). It is a useful local proof point in two ways: it shows central New Jersey sun supports a real solar payback, and it is the same no-upfront PPA structure many homeowners use, just on a campus-sized roof.
How PSE&G credits the power your roof sends back
Net metering is the engine of your savings, and PSE&G runs it on a two-rate, once-a-year cycle that is worth understanding before you size a system. When your panels make more than you use, the extra flows to the grid and PSE&G banks it as energy credits that offset the kilowatt-hours you draw later, and during your 12-month contract year those credits are valued at the full retail rate, the same price you pay for power (NJ Clean Energy Program; PSE&G net metering, as of 2026). For the mechanics in plain terms, see how net metering credits your solar exports.
Note: The one number people get wrong is the annual true-up. At your PSE&G Anniversary True-Up, the utility takes any energy credits you did not use during the year and pays them out at a lower wholesale, avoided-cost rate (tied to PJM market prices), not the full retail rate, then resets your credit bank to zero (PSE&G net metering, as of 2026; DSIRE New Jersey net metering, as of 2026). The practical takeaway: size your system close to your annual usage so you spend your credits at full retail through the year, rather than banking a big surplus that gets cashed out cheap at the anniversary.
| What happens to your exported power | How it is valued | When |
|---|---|---|
| Credits you use within the 12-month contract year | Full retail rate (the price you pay for power) | Month to month, as you draw power back |
| Leftover credits at the annual Anniversary True-Up | A lower wholesale / avoided-cost rate, then the bank resets | Once a year, on your system’s anniversary |
| SREC-II payments | A separate per-MWh incentive, paid for 15 years | On top of the bill credits, to the system owner |
One more step a New Brunswick install cannot skip: the PSE&G agreement. Before your system can turn on, you (through your installer) complete PSE&G’s net-metering and interconnection application and receive Permission to Operate, which is the utility’s sign-off that your system can safely connect to the grid (PSE&G application process, as of 2026). A New Jersey installer who files PSE&G interconnections regularly handles this paperwork for you.
New Jersey’s solar incentives: SREC-II, sales tax, and property tax
Beyond the bill savings, New Jersey stacks three incentives that go to the system owner. On a cash or loan purchase that owner is you; on a lease or PPA it is the company that owns the panels. The statewide detail lives on our New Jersey solar guide; here is what each one is and where to confirm it.
- SREC-II through the SuSI program. New Jersey’s Successor Solar Incentive (SuSI) is the Board of Public Utilities’ permanent replacement for the older SREC and TREC programs, and it pays your system one SREC-II for every megawatt-hour (1,000 kWh) it generates, for a 15-year term (NJ Clean Energy Program SuSI; DSIRE, as of 2026). The residential SREC-II value is set by the BPU’s Administratively Determined Incentive schedule and is adjusted over time. Public data has put it roughly in the $85 to $130 per MWh range, but because the exact figure resets, confirm the current residential SREC-II value on the NJ Clean Energy Program SuSI page before you budget around it rather than trusting an old number on an installer site.
- A 100% sales-tax exemption on qualifying solar energy equipment, so you pay no New Jersey sales tax on the system, claimed by giving the seller Form ST-4 (NJ Treasury 2027 Tax Expenditure Report, N.J.S.A. 54:32B-8.33; DSIRE, as of 2026).
- A property-tax exemption for the value your solar system adds to your home, so installing it does not raise your property-tax assessment for the system’s value, applied through your local assessor with Form CRES (NJ Division of Taxation, N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.113; DSIRE, as of 2026).
| New Jersey solar benefit | What it is | Status in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Full-retail net metering (PSE&G) | Excess credited at retail during the year, leftover trued up at wholesale | Active (NJCEP) |
| SREC-II / SuSI | One SREC-II per MWh generated, paid for 15 years | Active (NJCEP) |
| Sales-tax exemption | 100% off NJ sales tax on qualifying equipment | Active (NJ Treasury) |
| Property-tax exemption | System’s added home value is not taxed | Active (NJ Division of Taxation) |
| Federal residential credit (Section 25D) | The 30% homeowner credit | Ended after December 31, 2025 (IRS) |
Does New Jersey still have a federal solar tax credit in 2026?
The federal homeowner credit is gone, but New Jersey’s programs are not. The 30% federal Residential Clean Energy Credit (Section 25D) ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025, under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, so a New Brunswick homeowner who buys solar with cash or a loan in 2026 cannot claim it (IRS Residential Clean Energy Credit; SEIA, as of 2026). You will still see installer pages and even some online tools saying the 30% credit is available for 2026; the accurate answer is that the homeowner version already ended. New Jersey net metering, SREC-II, and the state tax exemptions were not affected, and at New Jersey’s high rates the bill offset alone is substantial. For the full timeline, see what the federal solar tax credit change means in 2026.
One federal exception exists, and it is not yours to claim. A separate commercial credit, Section 48E, is claimed by the business that owns a leased or PPA system, not by the homeowner (IRS Clean Electricity Investment Credit, as of 2026). On a leased system you do not file for a federal credit yourself; the company that owns the panels does. The 25D homeowner credit, by contrast, ended after December 31, 2025.
Solar on a New Brunswick rental: who actually benefits
New Brunswick is a Rutgers town, so a large share of its roofs sit on rentals, and that changes who keeps the solar perks. The rule of thumb is simple: net-metering credits, the SREC-II income, and the tax exemptions all follow the system owner and the name on the PSE&G account, not automatically the person paying the electric bill. On most rentals that owner is the landlord, which is the classic split incentive, the landlord pays for the roof while the tenant pays the power bill, so a solar deal only works when the party that invests is also the party that benefits.
For an owner-occupant, the math is the clean version. If you own and live in your New Brunswick home, you keep all of it: the full-retail credits on your own PSE&G account, the 15-year SREC-II payments, and both tax exemptions, which is the most straightforward case for solar in the city. For landlords and multi-family owners near campus, solar can still pencil out as a property play, since the property-tax exemption means the system does not raise your assessment and the SREC-II is a 15-year income stream, but the bill savings only help you if the units are master-metered in your name or your lease structure passes the benefit through. The smart move before signing anything is to confirm whose PSE&G account the system will net-meter against.
See which PSE&G solar programs your New Brunswick address qualifies for →
| New Brunswick housing situation | Who keeps the credits and incentives | What to plan for |
|---|---|---|
| Owner-occupant, single meter | You keep net metering, SREC-II, and the tax exemptions | The simplest, strongest case for solar |
| Rental, tenant pays an individually-metered bill | The account holder on the PSE&G meter gets the net-metering credit; the owner keeps SREC-II and tax perks | Clarify in the lease who is on the meter and who benefits |
| Master-metered multi-family, owner pays | The owner keeps the bill savings, SREC-II, and tax exemptions | Strong case for a landlord; size to the building’s load |
| Older or shared roof near campus | Same incentives, but check the roof and panel | A structural and electrical-panel check before install |
Paying for solar in New Brunswick: cash, loan, lease, or PPA
There is no single right way to pay for solar; the best fit depends on whether you want to own the system and keep the New Jersey incentives yourself, or avoid an up-front cost. A lease or PPA can mean no up-front cost for eligible homeowners, but it is a long-term agreement with monthly payments, not free solar, and the system owner, not you, collects the SREC-II payments and the tax exemptions. Rutgers itself used a no-upfront PPA for its campus canopies, which is the same structure offered to homeowners. To weigh the long-run numbers, see the financial case for whether solar panels are worth it.
| Path | Up-front cost | Who keeps SREC-II + tax exemptions | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash purchase | Full system cost | You, the owner | You want the fastest payback and the most lifetime savings |
| Solar loan | Little to none, financed | You, the owner | You want ownership without paying cash up front |
| Lease or PPA | $0-up-front where eligible | The third-party owner | You prefer no up-front cost and a simpler, fixed monthly bill |
How to choose a solar installer in New Brunswick
New Brunswick and Middlesex County have a deep market of licensed installers, from New Jersey regional companies to national brands, which is good for you because it means real competition on price and service. The live search results for the area are a mix of national directories and out-of-state pages, so rather than leaning on a “best installer” list, screen any company against objective criteria and decide what to look for yourself:
- NABCEP certification, the industry’s professional standard for PV installers.
- A valid New Jersey Home Improvement Contractor registration and proper electrical licensing.
- A clear workmanship and equipment warranty in writing.
- Real experience with PSE&G interconnection and New Brunswick permitting, so your application and Permission to Operate go smoothly.
- A written production estimate and a transparent quote that uses today’s SREC-II value, not an old one. For a checklist, see the right questions to ask a solar installer.
MySolarFY matches you with licensed installers that serve your area so you can compare real local quotes side by side, with no obligation. You can also learn more about the MySolarFY team and how we work.
Frequently asked questions
Is solar worth it in New Brunswick, NJ in 2026? For most owner-occupied New Brunswick homes with decent sun, yes. New Jersey residential electricity averages about 23.49 cents per kWh (EIA, as of March 2026), above the national average, so every kilowatt-hour your roof makes offsets a costly grid one. PSE&G net metering credits your exports at full retail during the year, and New Jersey’s SREC-II program pays your system for 15 years on top of the bill savings. Savings are not guaranteed and depend on your roof, your usage, and how you pay, but New Jersey’s high rates and strong incentive stack make New Brunswick a solid solar market. On a rental, the perks follow the system owner, so confirm who is on the PSE&G account first.
Who is my electric utility for solar in New Brunswick? PSE&G (Public Service Electric and Gas). New Brunswick and the surrounding Middlesex County towns are in PSE&G’s electric service territory, so your interconnection application, your net-metering credits, and your annual true-up are all administered by PSE&G (PSE&G net metering, as of 2026). New Jersey assigns each address one electric utility, and for New Brunswick that is PSE&G. Your installer files the PSE&G interconnection paperwork and obtains Permission to Operate before your system can turn on.
How does net metering work with PSE&G? When your panels produce more than you use, the extra flows to the grid and PSE&G banks it as energy credits, valued at the full retail rate during your 12-month contract year, so a normal home offsets power at the same price it pays (NJ Clean Energy Program, as of 2026). At your annual Anniversary True-Up, PSE&G pays out any leftover credits at a lower wholesale, avoided-cost rate and resets the balance (PSE&G, as of 2026). The smart move is to size your system close to your annual usage so you spend credits at full retail during the year instead of banking a surplus that gets cashed out cheap.
What solar incentives does New Jersey still offer in 2026? Three main ones, all going to the system owner. The Successor Solar Incentive (SuSI) pays your system one SREC-II per megawatt-hour generated, for 15 years (NJ Clean Energy Program, as of 2026); the residential value is set by the BPU and adjusts over time, so confirm the current figure before budgeting. New Jersey also gives a 100% sales-tax exemption on qualifying solar equipment (NJ Treasury, N.J.S.A. 54:32B-8.33, as of 2026) and a property-tax exemption on the home value the system adds (NJ Division of Taxation, N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.113, as of 2026). Combined with full-retail net metering, that is a strong stack.
What happened to the federal solar tax credit? The 30% federal Residential Clean Energy Credit (Section 25D) ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025, under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, so a New Brunswick homeowner who buys solar in 2026 with cash or a loan cannot claim it (IRS, as of 2026). A separate commercial credit, Section 48E, can apply to leased and PPA systems, but the business that owns the system claims it, not the homeowner. New Jersey net metering, SREC-II, and the state tax exemptions were not affected, so the local payback case still holds. See our guide on what the federal solar tax credit change means in 2026.
Can I get solar on a rental or with no up-front cost in New Brunswick? On a rental, the net-metering credits, SREC-II income, and tax exemptions follow the system owner and the name on the PSE&G account, usually the landlord, so a tenant rarely captures the full benefit unless the lease passes it through. For no up-front cost, some homeowners qualify for a lease or power purchase agreement (PPA), which can mean no out-of-pocket cost at installation in exchange for monthly payments. This is not free solar; it is a long-term agreement, typically 20 to 25 years, and total payments may exceed a cash purchase, and on a lease or PPA the third-party owner keeps the SREC-II and the tax exemptions. If you want to own the system and capture those incentives yourself, a cash purchase or solar loan is the path that keeps them. Check what you qualify for before deciding.
Reviewed by the MySolarFY team. Figures were verified against the linked New Jersey (NJ Clean Energy Program, NJ Treasury, NJ Division of Taxation), PSE&G, EIA, DSIRE, Rutgers, and IRS sources as of June 2026; the SREC-II value, the PSE&G true-up rate, and New Jersey program terms can change, so confirm current terms with PSE&G and the NJ Clean Energy Program before you decide. MySolarFY does not provide tax or financial advice; consult a licensed professional about your own situation. Learn more about the MySolarFY team and how we work.
MySolarFY is a free service that matches homeowners with licensed solar installers. We are not an installer, financing company, or government program. “No up-front cost” refers to qualifying lease or PPA financing, where eligible homeowners may have no out-of-pocket cost at installation. Lease and PPA terms typically run 20 to 25 years, may include an annual price escalator, and total payments may exceed the cost of a cash purchase; on a lease or PPA the SREC-II payments and tax exemptions go to the company that owns the system, not the homeowner. Homeowners do not get the federal residential credit that ended after December 31, 2025. Solar panels are not free and monthly payments apply. Eligibility, savings, incentives, and rates vary and are not guaranteed. See our full disclaimer.
