Solar in Michigan: the contractor license, DG credits, permits and costs

Licensing: which Michigan license to ask a solar company for

MCL 339.5737(1) bars anyone from engaging in the business of electrical contracting without an electrical contractor's license, under Article 7 of the Skilled Trades Regulation Act, 2016 PA 407. MCL 339.5701 defines electrical wiring to include generating equipment, so ask for the electrical contractor license number. Under MCL 339.5737(2), an individual who isn't licensed and employed by an electrical contractor may not do any electrical wiring.

LARA says an electrical contractor license needs a master electrician of record and no test for the contractor license itself, and its application form prints a $300 fee. Detroit issues its own licenses and registrations, so ask the city's BSEED office there. A homeowner working on an owner-occupied single-family home is exempt from the license, not from the permit or the utility's application.

LARA's electrical permit application asks for the electrical contractor's State of Michigan license number. Cities use their own forms, and Dearborn's asks for a valid State of Michigan electrical license and city registration, so get the license number in writing on the quote.

No federal credit, and what a Michigan quote should put in writing

The IRS page on the Residential Clean Energy Credit puts the credit at 30 percent for property installed from 2022 through December 31, 2025, and says it is not available for property placed in service after that date. IRS guidance treats an expenditure as made when the original installation is completed, so a payment in 2025 for a system finished in 2026 doesn't qualify, and batteries sit under the same section.

Only two Michigan installers publish a per-watt figure, so the quote is where you'll see a price. Ask each company to put these in writing: the total price including all financing costs and dealer fees, the system size in kW DC and the estimated annual production with the tool named, the cost per watt before incentives, the panel and inverter make and model, who files the utility application and who pulls the permit, the license number, the warranties on the equipment and on the roof penetrations, and the start and completion dates. The Public Service Commission's consumer tips also say to get at least three bids and to ask about insurance, warranties and three customer referrals.

The Attorney General's July 15, 2026 lawsuit against Climax Solar is about fees: it alleges hidden dealer fees averaging more than 27 percent of the amount financed, across about 1,700 consumers and about $81 million in financed transactions, with funds released before systems were finished or utility-approved. Whatever the court decides, ask for the total financed price and fees, and check that the system is finished and utility-approved before payments start.

EGLE says it knows of no state or federal program that provides solar installation at no cost, and Consumers Energy warns against pitches that promise no electric bill, independence from the grid or no upfront cost. Report deceptive solar marketing to the Attorney General at 517-335-7622 or MIAG@Michigan.gov.

How DTE and Consumers Energy credit the power you send out

New Michigan solar customers join their utility's distributed generation (DG) program, not retail net metering. The Michigan Public Service Commission approved each utility's updated DG tariff on March 13, 2025. PA 235 of 2023 raised the program cap from 1 percent to 10 percent of a utility's average five-year in-state peak load, allows systems up to 550 kW, lets a generator be sized to 110 percent of your prior 12 months of use, and drops the generation meter for systems over 20 kW.

Under DTE's Rider 18, power you draw is charged at the retail rate, and power you send out is credited at the power supply rate, including the power supply cost recovery charge. Extra credit goes into a bank that carries forward, and DTE says credits don't expire and can't be withdrawn or transferred. Consumers Energy credits excess at the power supply rate including transmission, and since February 27, 2024 it applies DG credits to all electric charges.

If Lansing Board of Water & Light is your utility, BWL pays $500 per kW up to $2,000 to its own customers, according to its page, which carries no date.

Interconnection steps, permits and codes

DTE's July 1, 2026 procedures give it 10 business days after a complete application and fee to say whether the application is conforming, incomplete or non-conforming, and the applicant then has 60 business days to fix any deficiency. DTE's overview adds 180 days after approval for the installer to install and upload an approved inspection sticker, says the customer signs the Parallel Operating Agreement, and puts the whole process at approximately six weeks. The application costs $50 at Levels 1 and 2.

Consumers Energy sorts applications into Level 1 (up to 20 kW), Level 2 (over 20 to 150 kW) and Level 3 (over 150 to 550 kW), charges $50 to review, and has you sign a Generator Interconnection Operating Agreement after a commissioning test. Its pages give no review time for a Level 1 application, so ask Consumers when the installer files.

Michigan cities charge their own electrical permit fees, and LARA's state form applies only where LARA is the enforcing agency, so there's no statewide flat fee. LARA lists the 2023 National Electrical Code as current, effective March 12, 2024, and notes that residential requirements are in the Michigan Residential Code. For houses, LARA's notice says the 2015 Michigan Residential Code is current while a July 7, 2025 Court of Claims order holds off the 2021 code, and rule R 408.30521a requires rooftop PV to meet R324 and NFPA 70. One city's checklist reproduces the residential code's R324 as 3-foot roof pathways, 18 inches from a hip or valley where panels sit on both sides, and panels 3 feet below the ridge.

NREL's PVWatts calculator, run for a south-facing roof at a 30 degree tilt, returns about 1,300 to 1,324 kWh per kW of panels a year for Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo, and winter months produce a small share of that. Roof pitch, shading and orientation change the result, so treat it as a calculator run and not a forecast for your roof.

Property tax, selling with solar, and leases

Michigan doesn't count residential PV of up to 150 kW, whose yearly output stays within the home's yearly use, as added value for property tax until the property is sold (MCL 211.27(2)(p); State Tax Commission Bulletin 6 of 2020). After a sale the assessor may add the system's value.

A leased system or one on a PPA isn't yours, so ask in writing whether the contract can transfer to whoever buys your home.

Solar prices in Michigan: the model and the published figures

Each Estimated range row comes from a model, with no quote behind it: published national cost ranges for the job, adjusted by what Michigan solar installers are paid, with a typical city permit fee added where the work needs one. Every figure is stated before any incentive, since no federal credit applies to a system installed in 2026. Installer pay, city fees and utility fees appear in their own rows, and the published price anchors sit beside the model without being reconciled to it.

Programs sit apart from the estimates. Michigan Saves, a nonprofit green bank, finances solar through its authorized contractors, according to its own page. EGLE's MI Solar Access program is a request for proposals from organizations and not a homeowner rebate.

Every Estimated range is a model, with no quote behind it. It starts from published national cost ranges for the job, taken from third-party cost guides that we haven't verified and don't cite, multiplies them by Michigan's solar installer wage ratio to the US (0.87, BLS May 2025) and adds a typical city solar permit fee where the work needs one. Installer pay and city fees appear in their own rows, and neither is a price. We haven't collected quotes. Full method.

Questions about solar in Michigan

• DetroitWayne · 636,644 · 90% pre-1980
• Grand RapidsKent · 197,768 · 75% pre-1980
• WarrenMacomb · 138,128 · 83% pre-1980
• Sterling HeightsMacomb · 133,473 · 58% pre-1980
• Ann ArborWashtenaw · 121,179 · 64% pre-1980
• LansingIngham · 112,546 · 80% pre-1980
• DearbornWayne · 107,846 · 84% pre-1980
• LivoniaWayne · 94,058 · 78% pre-1980

Michigan guides

• Batteries7 min read

  Battery storage basics: backup power, export credits and what the incentives say in 2026

• Permits7 min read

  How solar permits work in Michigan: the license, the city permit and the utility application

• License check7 min read

  How to check a Michigan electrical contractor license before a solar company touches your roof

• Export credits8 min read

  Net metering, distributed generation and net billing: how each state credits the power you send out

• Roof and panels6 min read

  Roof age and solar: when to replace the roof first, and what the codes say about the roof itself

• Home sale7 min read

  Selling or buying a home with solar panels: property tax, paperwork and what transfers

• Financing7 min read

  Solar leases, PPAs and loans: the questions to ask before you sign any of them

• Comparing quotes8 min read

  Solar quotes: what to compare, and what to get in writing, before you sign

• Federal credit7 min read

  The federal solar tax credit in 2026: what the IRS says and what it means for a quote

• Interconnection7 min read

  Utility interconnection timelines: what DTE, Consumers Energy, PG&E, SCE and SDG&E say

• Removal and reinstall6 min read

  When to remove or reinstall solar panels: roof work, a sale, a lease end and who does the job

• Seasons6 min read

  Winter and snow on solar panels: what to read in your papers and who to call