New Jersey's SREC-II Rate Is Now $77: What the July 27, 2026 Change Means in Real Dollars

The NJ SREC rate for 2026 changed on July 27: new solar residential registrations now earn $77 per SREC-II instead of $85. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved the $8 reduction in a May 2026 order, and it applies statewide across PSE&G, JCP&L, Atlantic City Electric, and Rockland Electric territories. If your registration was received before July 27, nothing about your solar incentive changed. If you are registering today, this article shows exactly what the difference looks like in dollars on an 8 kW, 10 kW, or 15 kW system.

As of July 28, 2026: The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has reduced the Net-Metered Residential SREC-II incentive from $85 to $77 per MWh for all registrations received on or after July 27, 2026. Registrations received before that date keep $85 for their full 15-year term.

• The new rate: $77 per SREC-II for New Jersey solar residential registrations received on or after July 27, 2026, down from $85, per the Board of Public Utilities.
• Who keeps $85: any residential project whose registration was received before July 27, 2026, even if it is installed, inspected, and interconnected months later.
• What triggers the change: the date the registration is received. Not the contract date, not the permit date, not the date your system is switched on.
• How long it lasts: whichever rate applies to your registration is fixed for 15 years, and you earn one SREC-II for every 1,000 kWh your system produces.
• What it costs in dollars: about $82 a year on an 8 kW system, about $102 on a 10 kW system, and about $154 on a 15 kW system.
• What did not change: only the residential segment was reduced. Non-residential, community solar, and remote net metering rates were left as they were.

What Is New Jersey's SREC-II Rate in 2026?

New Jersey's residential SREC-II rate in 2026 is $77 per certificate for registrations received on or after July 27, 2026, and $85 for registrations received before that date. Both rates are fixed for the full 15-year incentive term.

Three names get used for the same thing, so it helps to separate them. SuSI (the Successor Solar Incentive Program) is the umbrella program. ADI (the Administratively Determined Incentive program) is the mechanism that sets a fixed price for residential and smaller commercial projects. SREC-IIs are the certificates you actually earn. In the Board's own tables, the segment that changed is labeled "Net-Metered Residential, All Sizes."

The earning mechanic is simple: one SREC-II is issued for every megawatt-hour, or 1,000 kWh, of electricity your system generates. Produce 12,800 kWh in a year and you earn 12.8 SREC-IIs that year. Multiply by your locked-in rate and that is your annual SREC-II income, paid on top of whatever your system saves you on your utility bill through net metering.

Who Gets $77 and Who Keeps $85 in New Jersey?

Projects whose registration was received on or after July 27, 2026 get $77; projects whose registration was received before that date keep $85. The Board's order draws the line at one event only - the date the registration is received.

This is the single most misunderstood point about the change, so it is worth being blunt about what the trigger is not. It is not the date your registration is approved. It is not the date your panels go on the roof. It is not the date of your final electrical inspection, your interconnection approval, or your Permission to Operate. A New Jersey homeowner whose registration was filed on July 20, 2026 and whose system will not be energized until November keeps the $85 rate for all 15 years.

If you signed a contract in spring 2026 and are unsure which side of the line you fall on, ask your installer for the submission date and confirmation from the registration portal. That date, not your contract date, is what determines your income for the next 15 years.

What Does the SREC-II Rate Cut Cost in Real Dollars?

The $8 reduction costs a typical New Jersey home roughly $82 to $154 per year, depending on system size. On the most common residential sizes, that is about $82 a year at 8 kW, about $102 a year at 10 kW, and about $154 a year at 15 kW.

Where the production number comes from

Any SREC-II estimate is only as good as its production assumption, so this article uses New Jersey's own. In the same May 2026 order, Board Staff disclosed the figure it used to model residential program economics: a year-one energy yield of 1,280 kWh per kW-DC. Staff produced it with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's SAM modeling software, applied a 20% total DC power loss to account for inverter, wiring, soiling, and mismatch losses, modeled a representative 9.8 kW-DC system reflecting current New Jersey installation trends, and calibrated the result against real metered generation data from PJM-GATS. It is the state regulator's current planning input, not a marketing estimate.

The arithmetic, worked out

Take a 10 kW-DC system. At 1,280 kWh per kW, it produces about 12,800 kWh in year one. Divide by 1,000 kWh per certificate and you earn 12.8 SREC-IIs. At $77 each that is about $986. At $85 each it would have been $1,088. The gap is 12.8 certificates times $8, or about $102 a year.

Key takeaway: These are year-one figures for a well-sited roof. A shaded, north-facing, or heavily obstructed array will produce less, and a south-facing array with clear exposure can produce more, so treat the table as a planning baseline rather than a quote.

How Much Is the SREC-II Difference Over 15 Years in New Jersey?

Across the full 15-year term, the $8 reduction works out to roughly $1,200 on an 8 kW system, roughly $1,500 on a 10 kW system, and roughly $2,200 on a 15 kW system. Those totals are approximate, and they are deliberately a little lower than fifteen times the year-one figure.

The reason is panel degradation. Solar modules lose a small amount of output each year - commonly around half a percent annually under typical module warranties - so year 15 produces measurably less than year one. Compounding that across the term means lifetime generation lands a few percent below a flat fifteen-year multiple. The table below builds that in.

Key takeaway: Rounded to the nearest hundred dollars, the lifetime cost of the rate change is roughly one to two thousand dollars for a typical New Jersey home. That is real money, but it is a fraction of the total 15-year SREC-II income the same system still earns at $77.

How Do You Register a New Jersey Solar System for SREC-IIs in 2026?

To register a New Jersey residential solar system for SREC-IIs, follow five steps:

1. Finalize the system design. Your registration is tied to a specific DC system size, so the design and equipment list need to be settled before filing.
2. File the registration through the New Jersey Clean Energy Program's online ADI portal. In practice the solar installer submits it on the homeowner's behalf, which is standard industry practice - but confirm in writing who is responsible for filing and when they intend to do it.
3. Note the date your registration is received. That timestamp sets your rate for 15 years and also sets your place in line against the residential capacity block, which is allocated first-come, first-served.
4. Complete permitting, installation, inspection, and interconnection. These follow registration rather than preceding it. Registration can be submitted while permits and interconnection approval are still pending.
5. Start earning once the system is energized and metered. Generation is reported, SREC-IIs are issued per megawatt-hour produced, and the income runs for the full 15-year term at your registered rate.

One scheduling note worth knowing: the residential capacity block for Energy Year 2027 opened on June 1, 2026 and was increased from 285 MW to 300 MW. Blocks are filled in the order registrations arrive, so filing promptly matters for reasons beyond the rate itself.

Did Any Other New Jersey Solar Incentive Rates Change in 2026?

No. The May 2026 order reduced the Net-Metered Residential segment only; every other ADI market segment kept its existing incentive level. If you are a business, a farm, a nonprofit, or a community solar subscriber, this change does not touch you.

• Net-Metered Residential (all sizes): reduced from $85 to $77 per SREC-II - the only segment changed.
• Small net-metered non-residential rooftop, carport, canopy, and floating (under 1 MW): unchanged.
• Small net-metered non-residential ground mount (under 1 MW): unchanged.
• Large net-metered non-residential, 1 to 5 MW: unchanged, both rooftop and ground-mount categories.
• Community solar and remote net metering: unchanged in this order. The community solar rate had already been reduced separately by a March 2026 Board order.

One point of confusion worth heading off: the large non-residential ground-mount segment carries a rate of $85, which happens to be the same number as the old residential rate. They are different segments with different eligibility rules, and seeing "$85" in a rate table does not mean residential is still at $85.

Does a $77 SREC-II Still Make Rooftop Solar Worth It in New Jersey?

Yes - a 10 kW New Jersey system still earns roughly $986 a year in SREC-II income at $77, on top of net metering bill savings. The payback math is modestly tighter than it was for systems registered before July 27, 2026, but the structure of the deal is unchanged.

It helps to see SREC-II income as one of several value streams rather than the whole return. A New Jersey homeowner with rooftop solar is typically stacking three things: avoided utility charges through net metering, SREC-II payments for 15 years, and New Jersey's sales tax and property tax exemptions for qualifying solar equipment. The rate change affects one of those three, and it affects it by about 9%.

Federal incentives are a separate story and should not be assumed. The federal residential clean energy credit is no longer available to homeowners for systems they own and place in service after December 31, 2025, so any payback calculation you were shown that includes a 30% federal credit for an owned system is out of date. That makes New Jersey's state-level incentives a proportionally larger share of the return than they used to be, which is exactly why the $77 versus $85 question deserves a clear answer rather than a shrug.

• PSE&G Time-of-Use Rates Are Live: Can a Home Battery Lower Your Electric Bill?
• Is a Free Home Battery Worth It When Backup Power Is Not Guaranteed?
• Solar and Battery Equipment in 2026: Domestic Content, FEOC, and Who Actually Gets the Tax Credit
• Can I Add a Tesla Powerwall to My Existing Solar Panels in New Jersey?
• What Makes a Good Commercial Solar Installer? A Practical Guide for NJ Businesses in 2026

Frequently Asked Questions About the SREC-II Rate Change in New Jersey

Does the $77 rate apply to me if I signed my solar contract in June 2026?

Not necessarily - your contract date does not determine your rate. What matters is when your ADI registration was received. If it was received before July 27, 2026, you are at $85 regardless of when you signed. If your contract was signed in June but the registration was not filed until August, you are at $77. Ask your installer for the registration confirmation.

What happens if my SREC-II registration was received the day before July 27, 2026?

You keep $85 for the full 15-year term. The Board's language applies the reduced rate to registrations received "on or after" July 27, 2026, so a registration received on July 26 falls under the prior rate. The cutoff is a hard date, not a grace period, which is why the received-date confirmation is worth keeping in your records.

How many SREC-IIs does a 10 kW system produce in a year in New Jersey?

About 12.8 SREC-IIs in year one, using the state's own modeling assumption of 1,280 kWh per kW-DC. That is roughly 12,800 kWh of generation, and one certificate is issued per 1,000 kWh. The number drifts down slightly over the term as the panels degrade, so later years produce marginally fewer certificates than year one.

Can New Jersey cut my SREC-II rate again before my 15-year term ends?

No. Rate changes under the Administratively Determined Incentive program apply prospectively to new registrations only. That is the mechanism the Board used in July 2026, and it is how prior reviews of the program have worked. Once a rate is attached to your registration, it is fixed for the term - which is the practical benefit of an administratively set price over the old market-traded SREC.

Did the July 2026 change affect community solar or commercial solar rates in New Jersey?

No. The order reduced the Net-Metered Residential segment only. Non-residential solar rooftop and ground-mount rates, community solar, and remote net metering were all left at their existing levels in that order. Community solar had been reduced separately by an earlier Board order in March 2026, which is a different action affecting a different segment.

Can I lose my $85 rate if my installation is delayed into 2027?

Not on the basis of the rate change itself. The Board tied the reduction to the registration receipt date, and Board Staff explicitly designed the delayed cutoff to accommodate customers still waiting on permits and interconnection approval. A delayed installation does not retroactively move you to $77. Your installer should still confirm that your registration remains in good standing while the project proceeds.

Your Next Step on SREC-II Registration in New Jersey

There are two useful questions right now, and which one applies depends on where you are in the process. If you already have a project underway, find out the date your registration was received and confirm which rate is attached to it - that single date governs 15 years of income. If you have not registered yet, plan around $77 and make sure the production estimate behind your proposal is realistic for your roof rather than a generic statewide average.

PowerLutions, a leading, award-winning New Jersey solar and battery installation company, helps homeowners calculate their expected SREC-II income using the rate that actually applies to their registration.

If you want the numbers for your specific roof and system size, reach out to our solar team and we will walk you through the registration timing, the production estimate, and what $77 per SREC-II means for your project over the full 15 years. Email info@powerlutions.com or call 732-987-3939 to get started.