Plug-In Solar Laws by State: Where It Is Legal (Updated)

Short answer: as of October 18, 2026, ten states have signed a plug-in solar law. Six are already in force (Utah, Maryland, Vermont, Maine, Colorado and Connecticut), and four start later (Virginia, New Hampshire and California on January 1, 2027, and New Jersey in early 2027). New York’s bill has passed the legislature but isn’t law yet. Everywhere else, your utility’s usual rules for rooftop solar apply. Most laws cap a system at 1,200 watts and nearly all of them require certification by a testing laboratory, but the details (per meter or per home, whether you tell the utility, what your landlord can say) differ a lot.

We read every law below on the legislature’s own website, never only in the news. If you’re new to the idea, start with what plug-in solar is and how it works.

The laws at a glance

State	Status today	Cap	Tell your utility?	Renters and HOAs
Utah	In effect since May 7, 2025	1,200 W	No	Not addressed
Maryland	In effect since July 1, 2026	1,200 W, one system per meter	Yes, before installing	Not addressed
Vermont	In effect since July 1, 2026	1,200 W per meter	No	Tenant gives 10 days’ notice; covenants can’t ban it
Maine	In effect since July 29, 2026	420 W AC; up to 1,200 W with an electrician	Above 420 W, within 30 days	Restore the structure when you remove it
Colorado	In effect since August 12, 2026	1,920 W, one system per address	Only if the utility asks	Can’t be unreasonably banned from 2027
Connecticut	In effect since October 1, 2026	1,200 W, one device per meter	No	Not addressed
Virginia	Signed; starts January 1, 2027	1,200 W per customer or unit	Yes, before installing	Larger landlords can’t ban it; HOA rules still apply
New Hampshire	Signed; starts January 1, 2027	1,200 W AC, one system per meter	Only if the utility sets up a way, after installing	Not addressed
California	Signed; starts January 1, 2027	1,200 W AC per home	Optional online registration	Not addressed
New Jersey	Signed; starts six months after September 1, 2026	1,200 W per address or unit	No	Landlords and HOAs can’t ban it
New York	Passed; not yet signed	1,200 W AC	Within 30 days	Not addressed

“Not addressed” means the law doesn’t mention it: your lease and your HOA rules still decide.

States where it’s legal today

Bill

H.B. 340

Cap

1,200 W maximum power output

Takes effect

May 7, 2025

Checked

October 18, 2026

Utah passed the first US law in 2025. A “portable solar generation device” has to plug into a standard 120 V outlet, meet the latest National Electrical Code, be certified by UL or an equivalent nationally recognized testing laboratory, and include a feature that keeps it from energizing your home’s wiring during an outage (Utah Code 54-15-601). The utility can’t require its approval, a fee or extra equipment, and isn’t liable for damage the device causes. The law doesn’t limit the number of devices, and it doesn’t mention landlords or HOAs. Two things to know: the rules bind what Utah law calls an “electrical corporation”, so if a city utility or a co-op serves you, ask it first; and the chapter of the code they sit in is scheduled for repeal on January 1, 2036 unless the Legislature extends it.

Bill

HB 1532

Cap

1,200 W back to the building's electric system; one system per meter

Takes effect

July 1, 2026

Checked

October 18, 2026

Maryland’s rules are one section (§ 7-321 of the Public Utilities article) of a long energy bill, Chapter 353 of 2026. You can install one system per electric meter, for residential use, certified by UL or an equivalent lab. Unlike most states, Maryland asks something of you: notify your utility before you install, give it a certification of the system’s safety features and maximum output, and, if your system needs an automatic locking disconnect switch, pay for installing it. The utility can’t require its approval or charge a fee for the system feeding power back, and it isn’t liable for damage. Systems of 391 W or less are exempt from listing rules that would mean altering your wiring. The section doesn’t spell out an outage shut-off. The system isn’t eligible for net metering or renewable energy credits. The law says nothing about landlords or HOAs.

Bill

S.202

Cap

1,200 W combined inverter capacity per electric meter

Takes effect

July 1, 2026

Checked

October 18, 2026

Vermont (Act 149) allows one or more devices per meter as long as they add up to 1,200 W, and only on homes with a smart meter. It’s one of the few laws that names UL 3700 (or an equivalent certification by another lab), plus IEEE 1547-2018 and an outage shut-off feature. No permit, no interconnection agreement, no approval, fee or extra equipment. Two catches: the utility may recover costs if a device overloads your service, and if you already have net-metered solar you can’t add a plug-in device. Power you send to the grid isn’t paid for.

Vermont is also the most detailed on housing. A tenant gives the landlord at least 10 days’ notice; the landlord can answer within 10 days with reasonable restrictions, and if it doesn’t answer, the tenant may go ahead. A tenant can’t do electrical work without the landlord’s permission. Deed restrictions and covenants can’t prohibit the devices, including on condo, co-op and apartment patio railings, and towns can’t regulate them.

Bill

LD 1730

Cap

420 W AC per service address; up to 1,200 W with a licensed electrician

Takes effect

July 29, 2026

Checked

October 18, 2026

Maine’s law (35-A MRSA §3475), signed on April 6, 2026, works in two tiers. Up to 420 W AC per service address, you just plug in. From 420 W up to 1,200 W, the system must be installed by a licensed electrician on a dedicated circuit with a single outlet, and you notify the utility within 30 days on a form set by the Public Utilities Commission. A system has to be listed to UL 3700 or a comparable standard from a recognized lab, or be configured to the National Electrical Code, and its inverters must shut off within 0.2 seconds of a power cut. Plug-in batteries are covered too. The utility can’t require approval, an interconnection application or study, a fee or extra equipment, and can’t deny a compliant system. These systems can’t be used for net energy billing. If you install one on a building you don’t own, you must not damage it or break building, fire or zoning codes, and you restore it when you take the system down. Regular laws from that session took effect on July 29, 2026, according to the House’s end-of-session issue.

Bill

HB26-1007

Cap

1,920 W to the grid; one system per address

Takes effect

August 12, 2026

Checked

October 18, 2026

Colorado has the highest cap: a single system per address that supplies no more than 1,920 W to the grid, with no more than one device on a single wall outlet. It must be labeled and listed by a recognized lab and stop energizing the grid during an outage. Your utility can’t require approval, a fee or extra equipment, but it may ask you to tell it that you have one and how big it is. From January 1, 2027, devices over 391 W can’t be sold, leased or rented in Colorado unless they’re UL labeled and listed, and from the same date no one can unreasonably prohibit a device: covenants that do are void. A property owner, such as a landlord, can still set reasonable restrictions, such as prior notice, measures against fire or overload, and where it goes; in a condo or other common-interest community you may have to secure it to your own unit, patio or balcony and accept liability for it.

Bill

HB 5340

Cap

1,200 W; one device per meter

Takes effect

October 1, 2026

Checked

October 18, 2026

Connecticut’s rules are section 9 of Public Act 26-127: one device of up to 1,200 W per meter, on a standard 120 V outlet, meeting the State Building Code, the National Electrical Code and IEEE 1547, certified by UL or an equivalent lab to UL 1741, with an outage shut-off and a warning that excess power is charged as usage unless your meter allows net metering. No approval, fee or extra equipment. More in our story on what Connecticut’s law allows.

States where it’s signed but not in force yet

Bill

HB 395

Cap

1,200 W per customer, or per unit in multi-family housing

Takes effect

January 1, 2027

Checked

October 18, 2026

Virginia passed identical bills (HB 395, Chapter 1052, and SB 250, Chapter 998). A device must meet the National Electrical Code, be certified by a nationally recognized testing laboratory and stop exporting during an outage; devices of 391 W or less are exempt from listing rules that would mean altering your wiring. You notify your utility before installing, on a form the State Corporation Commission was told to publish by September 1, 2026; if the utility doesn’t respond within 15 days, you can go ahead. It can’t require approval, a fee or extra equipment, but it may install an automatic locking disconnect switch if you have more than one device or the circuit needs one.

For renters, a landlord who owns more than four rental units can’t prohibit a device on the exterior of your premises, though it can set reasonable rules on size and placement; you give seven days’ notice and you’re responsible for damage. Localities can’t prohibit devices on residential structures, but that same section says it doesn’t limit HOA covenants or condo instruments, so those rules still apply. Tenants in units billed through a ratio utility billing system can’t install one, and no tenant can install one that needs changes to the wiring or panel without the landlord’s written approval.

Bill

SB 540

Cap

1,200 W AC inverter output; one system per metered customer

Takes effect

January 1, 2027

Checked

October 18, 2026

New Hampshire’s governor signed SB 540-FN on July 2, 2026 (Chapter 262). Each metered customer can have one system with a maximum inverter output of 1,200 W AC, certified by a recognized lab to the safety standards for distributed energy resources and connected through a receptacle. The utility can’t require approval, an interconnection review, a fee or extra equipment; it may set up a way for you to report your system’s wattage after installing, for notification only. The state’s Department of Energy has to publish a consumer page, including a warning that unlisted or non-code installations may affect your homeowners or renters insurance. The chaptered text says it takes effect on January 1, 2027; the bill’s status page shows a July date, but the enacted text is what counts.

Bill

SB 868

Cap

1,200 W AC per dwelling, all devices combined

Takes effect

January 1, 2027

Checked

October 9, 2026

California’s SB 868 is the biggest market and the strictest on products: the whole system has to be certified as a plug-in PV system, with a certified anti-backfeed feature, and the exemption from utility approval and fees expires on January 1, 2030 unless it’s extended. Utilities may ask for a simple online registration. Everything is in our California plug-in solar law guide.

Bill

S2368

Cap

1,200 W per service address, or per dwelling unit in multi-family housing

Checked

October 18, 2026

The Garden State Balcony Solar Act was approved on September 1, 2026 as P.L.2026, c.82, and takes effect six months after enactment, which we calculate as March 1, 2027. We read the version that passed both houses; the chaptered text wasn’t posted yet. Devices plug into a standard 120 V outlet, must be listed to UL 3700 or a comparable standard by a recognized lab, and must stop exporting during an outage; those of 400 W or less are exempt from rules that would require altering your wiring. Above 1,200 W you’d need an interconnection agreement. No approval, fee or extra equipment, and the system sits outside net metering.

New Jersey goes furthest on housing. A landlord can’t prohibit a device in your leased premises, balcony or patio included, if you pay your own electric bill; it can set reasonable rules on size and placement, you give 14 days’ written notice with documentation, and you’re liable for damage. HOAs, condo associations and co-ops can’t enforce bans either, only reasonable restrictions, and towns can’t prohibit the devices or require a permit or fee.

Passed, waiting for the governor: New York

Bill

A9111-C

Cap

1,200 W AC inverter output to the grid

Checked

October 18, 2026

The Solar Up Now NY Act passed both houses on May 28, 2026, and as of October 18 the legislature’s sites don’t show it delivered to the governor. If it’s signed, it takes effect 90 days later. As passed, a device must be listed or certified as a complete plug-in system by a recognized lab, and you’d notify your utility within 30 days of installing on a simple form. Power you export wouldn’t be paid for unless you sign a net metering or other agreement. Until it’s signed, it isn’t law: follow your utility’s current rules.

Everywhere else

If your state isn’t above, plug-in solar has no special status: your utility’s interconnection rules for rooftop solar apply, which usually means an application and approval before you connect anything. Bills are moving in other states. In Massachusetts, the House and Senate passed different versions of H.5175 and appointed a conference committee in July 2026, with no later action on the bill history. In Congress, the first federal bill, H.R. 10851, was introduced on October 19, 2026; it would ask states to consider these rules rather than set them (see what the federal plug-in solar bill would do). Ask your utility before you plug anything in, and don’t connect a system it hasn’t approved.

What the laws have in common, and where they differ

• A cap, mostly 1,200 W. Colorado allows 1,920 W; Maine allows 420 W without an electrician. Check whether the cap is per meter, per address or per home, and whether it counts every device together.
• Certification by a recognized lab. All of them require it except Maine, which also accepts a system configured to the National Electrical Code. The standard varies: Vermont, Maine and New Jersey name UL 3700, Connecticut names UL 1741, and the rest say UL or an equivalent lab without a number. Our UL 3700 guide shows how to check a listing in the lab’s own directory, which is the only check that counts.
• An outage shut-off. Every law except Maryland’s and New Hampshire’s spells out that the system must stop feeding your wiring or the grid when the power goes out.
• No utility approval or fee. That’s the point of these laws. But Maryland and Virginia want notice before you install, Maine above 420 W and New York (if signed) after.
• No pay for exports. Most laws keep these systems out of net metering. Size the system to what your home uses while the sun is up: our plug-in solar calculator shows what that’s worth at your rate.

Renters and HOAs

Only four laws limit bans by landlords or associations, and they don’t agree. New Jersey and Vermont protect tenants the most, Virginia protects tenants of larger landlords but leaves HOA rules alone, and Colorado bars unreasonable bans from 2027. Maine adds a duty to leave a building you don’t own as you found it. Everywhere else, the law changes what your utility can ask, not your lease or your HOA rules. If you rent, read your lease and ask your landlord before you hang anything on a railing or a wall; our guide to plug-in solar for renters shows what each law lets a landlord say and how to ask. If you own a house, our guide to plug-in solar for houses covers what each of the four laws lets your HOA decide.

How we checked this

For every state we read the bill’s status and the enacted, chaptered or as-passed text on the legislature’s own site, linked in each card, on October 18, 2026 (California on October 9). News reports and advocacy trackers only helped us find bill numbers. We’ll recheck these laws every month and update this page as states sign new ones or dates arrive. Follow plug-in solar news for changes.