Legislators in New Hampshire have passed SB 540, a bill to establish rules for plug-in solar systems in the state.
The bill requires such devices to be certified by a nationally recognized testing laboratory and intended to exclusively offset a portion of a customer’s electric usage. It allows any utility customer to use a single plug-in solar device with up to a maximum of 1,200 watts AC output
“I’m thrilled to see that the chambers can come together to move forward and work together advancing solar, and distributive energy resources,” said state Senator David Watters, the bill’s primary sponsor. ”These systems are growing more affordable and easier to install by the day, meaning any Granite Stater can theoretically offset their energy costs and usage with these systems.”
Other provisions of the law restrict the state’s utility companies from requiring customers to obtain permission to connect or pay fees related to the devices, and exempts the customer from needing to submit an interconnection agreement.
With the passage of SB 540, the New Hampshire has become the seventh state in the U.S. where lawmakers have sent bills to their respective governor’s desks.
The movement toward state regulation of plug-in solar systems began in Utah in 2025, and the list of states that have passed such laws now includes Virginia, Colorado, Maine, Maryland and Connecticut in addition to the Granite State.
Unlike the plug-in solar laws in many of those states, the New Hampshire bill is relatively light on details, instead ceding some control over the requirements it would place on such devices to national rules yet to be established.
For instance, provisions of the law regarding amendments to the state building code are not set to take effect until the date “the commissioner of the department of energy certifies to the director of the office of legislative services and the secretary of state that a nationally recognized standard exists authorizing plug-in solar systems to be safely connected to a building’s electrical system.”
Such a certification may be on hold for several years. The 2026 version of the National Electrical Code (NEC) does not include specific language about plug-in photovoltaic devices, and the next edition will not arrive until 2029.
While the text of SB 540 does not require the NEC to be the “nationally recognized standard” to which the commissioner must refer, most U.S. states adopt some version of the code in their laws. New Hampshire currently uses the 2023 version of the NEC, which it adopted on July 1, 2025.
The decision to relinquish some state control was an intentional part of the legislative process according to Sam Evans-Brown, executive director of Clean Energy New Hampshire. The language in the bill was the result of a request by the state’s building code review board, which Brown says didn’t want the legislature to “hard code things into statute that might change later.”
Despite the potential for a longer wait for New Hampshire’s final adoption of plug-in solar rules, Brown says he celebrates the state having taken this step forward. “I am personally very enthusiastic about the world of permissionless DERs we’re headed into,” he said. “I think that it’s really exciting to see lots of entrepreneurs moving into the space and trying to figure out how to get around some of the barriers and deliver direct-to-consumer products to meet people’s needs.”
In addition to SB 540, New Hampshire lawmakers recently passed SB 589, which establishes a task force for port electrification, directs the Department of Energy to investigate microgrid development and sets cybersecurity standards for distributed energy resources. The next stop for both bills is the desk of Governor Kelly Ayotte, who has not released a public statement regarding her intentions for the bills.
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