Solar in Delaware: how the rules work
How Delaware credits the power solar panels send back to the grid, what homes there pay for electricity, and what to check when a home with solar is bought or sold.
How exported power is credited
Power sent to the grid is credited at the full retail rate (kWh for kWh), at least within each billing period.
Under 26 Del. C. §1014, as amended effective January 1, 2024, residential net metering at Delmarva nets monthly. Monthly excess becomes kWh credits carried to later bills, each valued at the sum of the volumetric supply and distribution charges. Societal-benefit program charges are excluded, so the credit is slightly below the full per-kWh retail price. The current statute says excess credits at the end of the annualized billing period carry over to later annual periods. Some installer guides still describe the older rule where credits are zeroed at an annual true-up with no cash payout, so the sources conflict and the statute governs. The residential system size limit is 25 kW per installer guides. There is no solar-specific monthly fee, and the regular customer charge still applies. Delmarva residential all-in rates are about 18 cents/kWh (2026 estimate). SB 239 (signed June 10, 2026, effective immediately) removed the 8% cap on net-metered customer generation; it did not change how credits are valued. No reduction in the export rate has been adopted, so no grandfathering applies.
What changes for a home with solar
A savings estimate that counts exported power at the full retail rate matches how exports are credited here. Where only month-end surplus earns a lower rate, homes that use most of their power themselves come closest to that estimate.
Electricity here costs about 17.9¢ per kWh (2026) and has risen about 2.2% a year over the last decade. A lease or PPA escalator above that pace makes the solar payment rise faster than utility rates have.
When a home with solar is sold in Delaware
- Owned outright: proof it is paid off, the warranties, and the utility’s interconnection or net-metering agreement, which has to move into the buyer’s name.
- Loan: a payoff letter, and whether the buyer can assume the loan. Many solar loans are secured by a UCC-1 fixture filing that title will find.
- Lease or PPA: the transfer process and how long approval takes, the buyer’s credit check, the current payment or rate and its yearly increase, and a buyout quote.
- Every case: whether the export-credit terms above stay with the home after the sale, and the last 12 months of production from the monitoring app.
Have the solar contract for a Delaware home?
Upload it and get a letter-graded report card: price, production, payment changes, value and transfer terms, measured against Delaware’s rates and rules.
Grade a solar contractSources
- delcode.delaware.gov/title26/c010/index.html
- sunwiseusa.com/blog/delaware-net-metering-how-it-works-in-2026/ (2026)
- legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=142864 (2026-06-10)
- Electricity prices: EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B (2026) and EIA state annual averages 2014–2024
- Installed price: EnergySage marketplace, September 2026