Plug-In Solar and Your Utility: When You Must Tell Them

Whether you must tell your utility about plug-in solar depends on your state. Maryland requires notice before you install a kit, Virginia will from January 1, 2027, and Maine requires it within 30 days above 420 W. None of them lets the utility demand approval or a fee for a compliant device. Without a state plug-in law, the utility’s interconnection rules apply, which usually means an application.

Notice is not permission

The plug-in solar laws drew a clear line. Before them, any generator that ran in parallel with the grid, however small, needed the utility’s consent through an interconnection agreement: an application, a review, often a permit, sometimes a fee. The laws remove that consent for a small certified device. What some of them keep is a duty to inform.

The difference matters. A notice is a form you send; the utility files it. An application is a request the utility can refuse, delay or attach conditions to. Maine’s statute states it directly: a utility may not deny the installation of a compliant system. Virginia’s goes further and treats you as compliant if the utility does not flag a problem with your form within 15 days.

Our overview of plug-in solar laws by state covers which states have such laws. This page covers what each one asks of you toward the utility.

State by state: who has to notify, and when

The table covers the states whose utility provisions we have read in the statute or on the regulator’s site. Bright Saver’s tracker listed ten signed laws by November 2026; for the others, check the law or your utility before you plug in.

Table scrolls sideways

California’s details come from press coverage of the signed bill rather than the enrolled text, so treat that row as reported. The same goes for Colorado, where Bright Saver says notice may be required after installation; we have not confirmed the provision in the act. Our state pages for Utah and Maine go into the details.

What the notice usually contains

The forms published so far ask for a handful of facts. Have them ready before you start:

• your name, service address and utility account number,
• the device’s maximum AC output in watts, from the inverter’s label or data sheet,
• the certification of the device by a recognized testing laboratory, ideally with the standard and certificate number,
• a statement that the installation complies with the state law, and in Maine above 420 W, that a licensed electrician installed it on a dedicated circuit,
• for Maryland, a description of the device’s safety features, such as the automatic shutdown during an outage.

Maine’s form goes to Central Maine Power or Versant Power, not to the Public Utilities Commission. Maryland’s PSC lists notification contacts and forms for each electric company and cooperative. Virginia’s form will be set by the State Corporation Commission.

How to notify your utility

What the utility may and may not do after your notice

The plug-in laws are consistent about the utility’s limits. Utah, Maine and Virginia bar the utility from requiring approval before installation, from charging a fee for the device and from demanding controls or equipment beyond what is built into it; Maryland’s PSC describes the same ban on prior approval and fees. Maine adds that the utility may not require an interconnection application, agreement or study.

There are two narrow exceptions. In Maryland, if a device requires an automatic locking disconnect switch, the customer pays for its installation. In Virginia, the utility or cooperative may install an automatic locking disconnect where a property has more than one device or the distribution circuit requires it. In return for these limits, the laws relieve the utility of liability for damage or injury the device causes, which is one more reason to tell your insurer.

Should you notify when the law does not require it?

In Utah, and in Maine below 420 W, no notice is required. Sending a short note anyway costs nothing and has three advantages: the utility knows why its meter records small exports, a line crew working on your street knows a generator sits behind your meter, and you have a dated record if a question comes up later.

The case against is mostly practical. Some utility staff do not yet know the plug-in laws and may respond as if you had applied for a rooftop system. If that happens, cite the statute and ask for a written answer. A compliant device needs no permission in these states, and a notice does not create a duty to seek one.

In states without a plug-in law

Most states have no plug-in category. There, a kit that feeds power into your wiring while connected to the grid is a customer-owned generator, and the utility’s interconnection tariff applies. Florida is a typical example: its rule for investor-owned utilities puts every system up to 10 kW into Tier 1, with a standard agreement, no application fee and no insurance requirement, but an inspection under local code before the system runs. Our Florida guide walks through it.

Calling the utility before you buy is the honest route. Some utilities will tell you a small kit needs the full process; some have no answer yet. Plugging in without saying anything is common and rarely detected, but it can breach your service agreement, and it is the kind of detail an insurer asks about after a fire. A portable power station charged by its own panels is the alternative that needs no notice anywhere, because it never connects to the grid.

Meters, exports and your bill

Telling the utility also helps you understand your bill. A plug-in kit sends any surplus back through your meter, and meters handle that differently:

• Smart and digital meters usually record imported and exported electricity separately. Your bill shows only imports; exports are lost unless you have a net metering agreement.
• Some meters may record reverse flow as consumption. The Maryland PSC warns that, depending on the meter type, exported power may be counted as zero or added to consumption.
• Old electromechanical meters, now rare, can run backwards, which credits you unofficially. Utilities do not want that, and it is one reason some ask to be told.

Net metering is off the table under the plug-in laws: Utah, Maine and Virginia exclude plug-in devices from it explicitly. If exports matter to you, size the kit to your daytime use. Our guide to plug-in solar for home explains how to match kit size to base load.

Next steps

• Plug-in solar laws by state
• What a kit costs and saves at your rate
• Plug-in solar for renters: lease, landlord and setup