US Plug-In Solar Law: Where All 50 States Stand in July 2026
By Daniel Okafor · Last reviewed As of July 2026, four states have effective plug-in solar frameworks (Utah, Maine, Maryland, Vermont), four more are signed but not yet in force (Colorado, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Virginia), and 18 states have bills pending. Here is the mid-year state of play and what to watch through the fall.
Eighteen months after Utah's HB 340 became the first US law to open a legal pathway for plug-in solar, the legislative map has a clear shape. Four states — Utah, Maine, Maryland and Vermont — now have frameworks in force for qualifying devices. Four more — Colorado, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Virginia — have signed laws awaiting their effective dates. Eighteen states have introduced bills that remain pending, and the remaining half of the country has no dedicated framework, which is not the same thing as prohibition.
The pattern across the enacted laws is remarkably consistent, and it is Utah's: exempt small plug-in systems from interconnection agreements and permits, cap output (Utah's 1,200 W remains the most generous; most others cluster near 800 W), and condition eligibility on meeting the applicable safety standard — which in practice means UL 3700. That last condition is the catch worth understanding: no product on the US market yet holds verified system-level UL 3700 certification, so several states now have legal frameworks pointing at a certification pipeline still in motion. The first manufacturer to complete a system-level listing converts every one of those frameworks into an addressable market at once.
What to watch through the rest of 2026: the effective dates of the four signed states as they arrive; whether any of the 18 pending bills reach floor votes in fall sessions; movement in UL 3700's progress from Outline of Investigation toward a consensus standard; and utility implementation in the effective states — the serving utility's process, more than the statute, is what buyers actually experience. Our state-by-state tracker carries the current status, bill records and watt caps for all 50 states, updated as records change.