Detroit particulars
Detroit's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) bills solar by the inspection visit. Its fee schedule, effective January 1, 2024, lists $165 per visit for a system with no utility-grid connection and $278 per inverter connection per visit for one tied to the grid, and each later installation inspection visit is $176. Because the grid-tied line counts inverter connections, ask how many your plan has. BSEED's number, per the city's page, is 313-224-2372.
Detroit licenses its own trades, too. LARA says Detroit issues its own licenses and registrations, so ask BSEED whether a state electrical contractor license is enough before anyone starts. Only DTE Electric (800-477-4747) has territory on the MPSC map that reaches Detroit, though your address is still worth checking with DTE. Under its Rider 18, power you draw is charged at the retail rate, power you send out is credited at the power supply rate, and the excess goes into a bank whose credits don't expire and can't be withdrawn.
DTE's Level 1 or Level 2 application is $50. BSEED's per-visit charges are the city's, separate from the installer's price, and the quote you accept should list them on their own lines.
Solar panel installation in Detroit: what to know
BSEED, the Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (313-224-2372, per the city's page), issues Detroit's electrical permits. Its fee schedule prints $278 per inverter connection per visit for a grid-connected system, so a quote with one lump permit amount should say how many inverters and visits it assumes.
On the Public Service Commission's territory map, DTE Electric is the only electric utility whose area touches Detroit. Check your address with DTE. Under its Rider 18, power you draw is charged at the retail rate and power you send out is credited at the power supply rate.
Permits for solar panel installation in Detroit
Electrical contracting in Michigan takes an electrical contractor license under the Skilled Trades Regulation Act, 2016 PA 407, Article 7 (MCL 339.5737(1)).
When to call 911 and when it can wait
- Smoke, a burning smell or fire at the inverter, panels or wiring is a 911 call. Leave the equipment alone.
- You're still comparing quotes and nothing is installed.
What to do before you ask for quotes
Try this first: ask each company for its state license number and whether Detroit's own license or registration also applies, then check the answer with BSEED.
- Pull 12 months of electric bills: the utility sizes to 110 percent of that use.
- Get at least three bids, as the MPSC suggests.
- Ask each company for its electrical contractor license number and look it up with LARA.
- Ask for the list above in writing, as the quote guide explains.
What solar panel installation costs
The estimate below is the Michigan-wide one, adjusted for Michigan wages and not for Detroit in particular. The same table is on the solar panel installation page. How we estimate costs. Prices as of Oct 23, 2026.
| Item | Figure | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated range, not a quote | $16,900 to $23,400 for a typical 7 kW rooftop system, before any incentive | Built from 2 national published ranges, adjusted by the Michigan solar installer wage ratio (0.87) plus a typical permit fee ($94). Before any incentive: there is no federal credit for a system installed in 2026. |
| Estimated range per kilowatt of panels, not a quote | $2,400 to $3,325 per kilowatt (1,000 watts) of panels installed, before any incentive | Built from 2 national published ranges, adjusted by the Michigan solar installer wage ratio (0.87). Before any incentive: there is no federal credit for a system installed in 2026. |
| Solar photovoltaic installer wage, Michigan mean | $24.29 an hour | What installers are paid (BLS OEWS May 2025), not what you are charged. Only 310 people are in the Michigan estimate. |
| National median installed price, host-owned residential solar, 2025 | about $3.6 per watt before incentives ($3.0 cash, $4.5 loan-financed) | Berkeley Lab 2026 Data Update; national, read from chart labels. |
| Michigan average price, MPSC consumer tips, as of January 2023 | $3.77 per watt | Dated by the page; no source named. |
| Lansing BWL and the Ann Arbor Solarize FAQ, both undated | BWL about $3.00 per watt; Solarize average $3.13, range $2.70 to $3.80 | Municipal pages with no date; Solarize is southeast Michigan. |
How we estimate costs: the Estimated range row comes out of a model, so treat it as a planning figure and never as a quote. It takes 2 published national ranges for this job (cost guides from third-party sites that we haven't verified and don't cite) and multiplies them by Michigan's solar installer wage ratio to the US (0.87, BLS May 2025) and adds a typical permit fee ($94). The range is before any incentive: the federal residential clean energy credit does not apply to systems installed after December 31, 2025. The wage and permit rows are what installers are paid and what the city charges, and neither is a price. We have not collected quotes, and too few Michigan installers publish prices to show a range. Full method.
Questions about solar panel installation
Is there a federal tax credit for solar panels in Michigan in 2026?
No, the credit is not available for a system finished after December 31, 2025. Paying early doesn't help if the installation completes in 2026.
Does Michigan still have net metering?
New customers join the distributed generation program, which credits what you send out at the power supply rate, not the retail rate. Public Act 235 of 2023 raised the cap from 1 percent to 10 percent.
Will solar panels raise my property taxes in Michigan?
Not until the home is sold, for a system up to 150 kW whose output doesn't exceed your annual use (MCL 211.27(2)(p)). After a sale the assessor may add the system's value.