Connecticut Power Got 19% Cheaper. Your Solar Quote Probably Didn't Notice.

If you live in Connecticut and a solar salesperson ran your numbers off last year’s electric bill, the savings on that quote are too high. Not by a little. By about a fifth.

Your power got cheaper. The quote didn’t.

The federal government’s electricity tracker, released October 23, puts Connecticut’s average residential price at 24.51 cents per kilowatt-hour in August. A year earlier it was 30.17 cents. That’s a 19% drop in one year.

Here’s what happened. On May 1, state regulators cut about 4.3 cents per kWh off the average Eversource bill, roughly $30 a month, and 4.9 cents off United Illuminating, about $34. The state says the biggest piece came from a line on your bill called the public benefits charge, which flipped from a charge to a credit. Fixed-price contracts with the Millstone and Seabrook nuclear plants did a lot of that work. By September, the governor’s office said bills were down 18% on average this year.

Here’s the part nobody puts on a yard sign. Some of that cut is borrowed. A 2025 law moved hardship, past-due balance and EV charging costs off your bill and onto state bonds: $155 million last year, $145 million this year. The governor’s office credits the bonding with 3% to 5% of your bill. You still pay it. It just shows up on the state’s tab instead of Eversource’s.

What the drop does to a solar quote

Solar savings run on one number: what you’d otherwise pay for each kilowatt-hour your panels cover. Cut that number by 19% and the savings fall with it.

Say an installer projected $2,000 a year in savings at last August’s 30.17 cents. At 24.51 cents, the same panels on the same roof save about $1,625. That’s $375 a year gone before the first panel goes up. Over 20 years at today’s rate, it’s $7,500.

Then look at the escalator. If your quote assumes your rate climbs every year, remember that yours just fell 19%.

Is the low rate permanent? Nobody has said. Regulators set these rates for the 12 months ending April 30, 2027, and say they may adjust them after a review. The bonding runs through at least that same date. After that, nothing published says what happens.

That’s a your-call question. A quote that only works if rates snap back is a bet, not a savings plan.

Do this before you sign

Pull your latest bill. Divide the total dollars by the kilowatt-hours used. That’s your real rate today.

Send it to the installer and ask for the savings at that rate, with the escalator set to zero. Ask for a second version at the escalator they’d defend. If you’re looking at a lease or power purchase agreement, compare its price per kWh, and its yearly increase, against that same number.

Run it yourself in our solar calculator. Get at least three quotes, since one installer’s typical price can be more than double another’s. Already signed at your kitchen table? You may still have time to cancel.

Solar can still pencil out in Connecticut. Just not on last year’s bill.

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