Tell your state leaders to pass a bill deregulating plug-in solar!

Leading nonprofit Bright Saver reports that state legislators in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Vermont have now expressed strong interest in passing Utah-style deregulation of plug-in “balcony” solar! The next state legislative session might just become a watershed moment for this liberatory clean energy technology.

For context, in early 2025, after Republican legislator Raymond Ward introduced a far-sighted bill, the state of Utah voted to deregulate plug-in solar, with unanimous bipartisan support. Many Americans can’t access rooftop solar due to cost, renter status, or other reasons, and plug-in solar, aka “balcony” or “backyard” solar, allows anyone to get their own source of cheap clean power. Now, it looks like Utah’s plug-in solar law could be the start of a nationwide trend!

It is technically legally possible to install plug-in solar in much of the U.S., but it’s prohibitively difficult in practice because it requires the homeowner to submit the same kind of complex, technical diagram-heavy grid interconnection request that you’d need for a full-scale solar farm. As Bright Saver puts it: “Right now, in this country, every state except Utah applies the same one-size-fits-all rules meant for rooftop solar systems that are 5–20 times larger. That means even the smallest balcony units — which never send power back to the grid and are essentially invisible to the utility — are sometimes forced into the same interconnection agreements or licensed electrician requirements. Those extra steps can be lengthy and expensive, in some cases nearly doubling the cost of a simple plug-in system.”

The Utah bill deregulating plug-in solar simply created a new legal category for small-scale solar systems under 1200 watts, then said that small-scale solar systems were exempt from grid interconnection agreements (a notorious snarl of onerous red tape) and were allowed a small amount of back feeding. It also releases utilities of liability for small-scale solar, thus winning utility support for the measure.

This was an incredibly simple piece of legislation — just one page, with zero fiscal implications. It’s a bill that gives families the freedom to generate their own clean energy at home without maddening bureaucratic barriers.

The potential of plug-in solar technology is incredible. In Germany, more than 500,000 plug-in solar systems have been installed so far, and major retailer IKEA is now selling integrated kits including both plug-in “balcony” solar arrays and a home battery — a fully independent household clean power plant being sold for 1,229 euros.

Deregulating plug-in solar is a no-brainer for every state in America!

State leaders have a historic opportunity here to empower household energy independence for their constituents and bring forward a future where all Americans can generate their own clean, abundant, affordable electricity. Any state legislator who takes the initiative to introduce or cosponsor a Utah-style plug-in solar deregulation bill will be demonstrating true leadership.

Tell your state leaders to cosponsor a bill deregulating plug-in solar!