In Michigan, homeowners associations can’t stop…

““This bill is so important because there is no reason why a homeowner should be denied access to their energy rights,” Jevahirian said.

Many of Jevahirian’s customers, who are on fixed incomes or retired, are turning to solar energy to save money. The price of rooftop solar has dropped by 64 percentage between 2010 And 2021pushing more and more households to adopt it across the country. Rooftop solar now produces around ten times more energy than a decade ago. Peer-reviewed studies show that rooftop solar can save homeowners nearly $100 million.700 annually, depending on the costs of the system and its financing.

New federal incentives make solar energy even more attractive. Tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act offer up to 30 100% off the cost of rooftop solar. Upcoming rebates will help low- and middle-income households save more on solar, as well as other clean energy technologies like heat pumps and induction cooktops—everyday appliances made even more cost-effective by the addition of rooftop solar.

Michigan’s new legislation comes less than a year after the state passed a strong clean energy law that committed the state to producing all of its energy from clean sources by 2040and half by 2034The law also raised the strict state cap on decentralized solar production by 1 percent to ten percent, allowing more homeowners to participate in utility programs that pay customers for excess solar energy.

In Michigan, the bill has faced little opposition, said Courtney Bourgoin, senior manager of policy and advocacy for the Midwest region at Evergreen Action, which championed the legislation. Lawmakers have acknowledged that HOA The rules can be restrictive and unclear, and I saw this bill as a logical correction.

Jevahirian encountered several ways that homeowners associations make it harder for customers to access solar, including requiring that cables be hidden, metal parts of the installation be painted and solar panels be arranged in a perfect square. These extra steps add up to expenses that can be enough to make solar unaffordable for customers.

Under the new bill, landlords will no longer be required to seek approval for their HOA before getting solar. HOAs will be required to adopt a solar policy that explicitly states the standards — but those standards cannot reduce the system’s electricity output by more than ten percent or increase the total cost of an installation by more than $1,000.

““It’s just common sense,” Bourgoin said. ​““It’s about energy independence, property rights and, I think, cost savings, that’s the most important issue here.”