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NuWatt designs, installs, and manages solar, battery, heat pump, and EV charger systems across 9 states. One company, one warranty, one point of contact.
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“Prices might drop” is the most common reason to delay. Put that belief into numbers: your bill, your rate, your assumptions — honest math, either verdict.
Quick Answer
Usually not, once you count what waiting costs: every month of delay you pay your full utility bill, rate increases compound it, and you start the system's ~25-year production life later. With the federal residential credit expired since December 31, 2025, the decision rests on that trade — and for typical Northeast bills, forgone savings over a 1–3 year wait generally outweigh a modest assumed price drop. Run your own numbers below.
Adjust the sliders to match your home. Everything below recalculates as you go.
Your typical monthly total across the year.
Find yours on your bill — or see our per-utility rate pages.
Regional electricity rates have climbed steadily for years — pick what you expect ahead.
A drop in the total installed priceif you wait — not just the panels. Labor, permitting, and interconnection rarely fall, so a drop this large across the whole job is optimistic. Crank it up anyway — the math stays honest.
Waiting 2 years
costs you ≈ $3,729 net
That's the solar production you'd give away over 2 years, minus the 5% installed-price savings you're betting on.
$5,386
Handed to the utility over 2 years, rising each year.
$1,118
5% off an illustrative $22,367 install.
−$3,729
Net cost of waiting.
Each year without solar hands the utility a bill that a system would have offset — and it grows as rates climb.
No countdown gimmicks here: the federal residential solar credit (Section 25D) already expired on December 31, 2025, so there's no expiring tax break to rush for. This math stands on rate inflation and forgone production alone.
See what your actual numbers look like
A real quote uses your roof, usage, and utility — not a slider.
Your rate keeps moving
Utility rates are set per utility, not per state — and many of the utilities we track have filed repeated increases. See yours on our per-utility rate pages.
Production you never get back
A system you turn on next year produces nothing this year. Delay shifts the entire ~25-year production window later — the first years are simply forfeited.
No credit deadline pressure
The federal residential credit expired Dec 31, 2025. We will never claim expiring-credit urgency — the math above stands on its own, either direction.
Our free design tool models your actual roof from satellite imagery — system size, production, and savings in about 60 seconds. No contact info needed.
Hardware prices have generally trended down over the long run, but installed cost also includes labor, permitting, racking, and electrical work, which have not fallen the same way. Meanwhile every month you wait you pay your full utility bill, and utility rates in the Northeast have risen steadily. The calculator on this page lets you test any price-drop assumption you believe in against what waiting costs you in bills.
Yes. The Section 25D residential solar credit expired on December 31, 2025 and is no longer available for new residential purchases. That removes expiring-credit urgency from the decision — but it also means the wait-or-buy question now rests entirely on utility-rate inflation and forgone production, which is exactly what this calculator measures.
It varies by utility, which is why we publish per-utility rate pages rather than state averages. Many New England and Mid-Atlantic utilities have filed repeated increases in recent years. Check your own utility on our electricity rates pages, then use that number in the calculator.
Three things: the utility bills you keep paying that solar would have mostly offset, the compounding effect of rate increases on those bills, and a later start on the roughly 25-year production life of the system. The calculator nets those against whatever equipment-price drop you expect.
Yes — and the calculator will tell you honestly. If you expect a very large near-term price drop, are replacing your roof soon, or are planning a move, waiting can win. If your roof is staying and your rate keeps climbing, the math usually favors starting sooner.
It is a planning estimate based on your bill, your rate, and typical Northeast production. Your actual system size depends on your roof geometry, shading, and usage — our free design tool models your specific roof from satellite imagery in about 60 seconds.
Related reading: the best time to go solar in Massachusetts · are solar panels worth it in 2026? · what the installation process looks like