About Plugged Sun

Plugged Sun helps you answer three questions about plug-in solar, the small panels that plug into a regular wall outlet: is it allowed where you live, which kit is actually safe to plug in, and what will it really save.

All three are harder than they should be. State laws are new and change from one session to the next. Kits are sold with safety marks that may cover one part and not the whole system. And savings claims rarely say which electricity rate, which direction your balcony faces or how many hours of sun they assume.

What we promise

• We read the bill, not the headline. For every state we link the legislature’s own page for the law, say what stage it is at and when it takes effect, and note the date we checked.
• We check certifications ourselves. When a kit says it is certified, we look it up in the directory of the testing laboratory that issued it and label every claim as certified, test report only, or maker claim only. Read how we check claims.
• Real numbers on savings. We work savings out from published electricity rates and solar data, show the assumptions, and say plainly when a kit won’t pay for itself where you live.
• Apartments and houses both. A balcony with a landlord and a backyard with an HOA are different problems, and we treat them separately.
• Honest about money. Some links earn us a commission and some installers may pay us for introductions. That’s how the site stays free, and it never decides what we recommend. See our affiliate disclosure.

What we don’t do (yet)

We don’t test kits ourselves. Our comparisons rest on certification directories, specifications and published test reports, and we say which one each claim rests on. If we ever test products ourselves, we’ll publish the method and the results.

Contact

Questions, corrections, or your own experience setting up plug-in solar: get in touch.