Latest / This Week in Solar / New Jersey Unanimously Legalizes Plug-In (Balcony) Solar
Transcript
- Aaron Nichols: The state of New Jersey just unanimously legalized plug-in solar earlier this week. Think about how wild that is. Nothing in American politics is unanimous, but yet every legislator in New Jersey said plug-in solar is gonna be a good thing for our residents. Now everyone can legally harvest the sunlight that hits their home. This bill is going to legalize plug-in solar or balcony solar across the state. If signed by Governor Mikey Sherrill, and she ran on a platform of lowering energy prices in New Jersey, so I can imagine she's gonna sign it. This law will let residents use solar energy systems up to 1200 watts, which is roughly three modern solar panels, that plug into a standard outlet and lower electric bills without needing a local permit or utility approval first. This bill also protects access for renters, condo owners, and people in apartments by blocking landlords, HOAs, and condo boards from banning plug-in or balcony solar outright, though they can still set reasonable rules for size and placement. And I'm sure we're gonna hear some interesting stories about what counts as reasonable rules. Once she signs the bill, this will go into effect in January of 2027. And hey. Before we go on and I tell you all sorts of cool stuff about this, you should know that This Weekend Solar is always brought to you by Exact Solar, your locally owned 20-year-old solar installer for Pennsylvania and New Jersey. And starting today, we have a special bonus for This Week in Solar listeners. For a limited time, July 1st through August 31st, 2026, we will pay you $1,000 if you refer a friend to us and they go solar. We only install in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, so please do not refer anyone outside those states. All you have to do is click the refer a friend and earn a thousand dollars button in our Substack email. Fill in your information because we need your info to mail you a check if your friend goes solar. Select Aaron Nichols as the sales representative so that we know that you found us on this week in Solar. Add your friend's name and address and contact information, and then if they go solar with us, you will get a $1,000 check. So think about this. If you live in New Jersey and even if you don't own a home, but your friend does, and you refer us your homeowner friend, and they go solar, you can get ⁓ $1,000 that you can just turn around and spend on plug-in solar equipment in January of 2027 once it's legal. Here's why legalizing plug-in solar in New Jersey matters. Electricity prices in New Jersey are some of the highest in the country. High energy bills force many families living in poverty to make really hard choices, like choosing between paying for power and buying as much food as they need. New Jersey's new plug-in solar legislation is gonna help a lot. And in what's become a very rare event in American politics, every single legislature legislator, excuse me, agreed that plug-in solar was a good thing for New Jersey. In the state senate, the vote was 40 to 0. In the General Assembly, it passed with 79 votes in favor and one skipped vote. To keep things safe, lawmakers did draw a line based on power limits. So if a solar device makes 400 watts or less, it doesn't need extra testing papers. If it makes between 400 and 1200 watts, it must be certified by Underwriters Laboratories, or UL, to meet the UL 3700 standard. Don't worry about this. If you are listening, there's gonna be pre-certified kits. This is not something that the average consumer is gonna have to deal with. You're not gonna go have to test your solar energy system on your balcony yourself. Anything certified by UL is gonna come with UL certification paperwork that you'll be able to use. It's important to note: plug-in solar is not a full replacement for rooftop solar. These systems only make enough energy to save people a few hundred bucks a year. But this legislation opens the door for many people who don't normally have the opportunity to use solar energy, like renters and apartment dwellers who can now save money on their electric bills. Right now, about 40% of households in New Jersey rent their apartments or live in rented homes. The bill Also offers legal backup for people who do not own their homes. Landlords, building managers, and homeowners associations can no longer ban plug-in solar systems. They can set fair rules about where you put them, but a total ban is now illegal. If you rent, you only need to give your landlord written notice and your safety papers 14 days before you set up the gear. New Jersey's new law removes electric utilities from the process completely, which is very important because in the normal process of going solar, homeowners have to file paperwork to connect a solar array to the grid, deal with complex local regulations, and wait for grid operators to inspect your system and give you permission to operate it once it's built. Now, when we're talking about larger grid-tide solar energy systems, there are many good reasons to have these kinds of regulations. But in the case of these plug-in solar energy systems, they're small enough that we can skip all that gridlock entirely and just let people save money. Plug-in solar allows regular people to take control of their own power and bypass the big utility companies entirely. It's power to the people in more ways than one. Thank you for tuning in today. As always, I'm Aaron Nichols, your host. And if you are curious about where I got any of this information, you can find sources in today's Substack email. And if you are interested in putting solar on your home, just go to exactsolar.com, click free estimate, and we will schedule a time to talk to you and show you the numbers so you know how much you can save. It's always a pleasure, and we will talk to you next week.