NY-Sun Megawatt Block: How to Check Your Region

NY-Sun is not a rebate you apply for. When a residential block is open it is paid through the contractor as a reduction on the price you are quoted, and how much it is worth depends on two things: which region your address falls in, and how full that region’s current capacity block is. Today the check has a short answer: as of September 2026 NYSERDA has no open NY-Sun block for homes in any utility territory; check NYSERDA’s NY-Sun dashboard for a new one. Because the incentive steps down as each block fills, and a region can run out of residential blocks altogether, a number quoted three months ago may not be available on the day you sign.

How the block structure works

Each region is allocated capacity in blocks. Projects draw incentive from the open block at a set rate per watt, and when that block is exhausted the region moves to the next one at a lower rate. The mechanism is deliberate: NY-Sun is meant to shrink as the market matures rather than to pay the same amount forever. What it means practically is that the incentive is a function of timing and geography, not of how good a negotiator you are. For homes the sequence has, for now, run out in every region: Con Edison’s last standard residential block closed on 29 May 2025 and its Residential Affordable Solar block on 15 October 2025; the Upstate region’s last standard residential block (Block 14, $0.15/W, NYSEG, RG&E and National Grid territories) closed on 17 December 2025 and its Residential Affordable Solar block on 9 March 2026; and PSEG Long Island’s last residential block closed on 17 April 2016. Only non-residential blocks are open.

Finding your region, in the right order

1. Read the utility name on your own bill. Not the county, not what a neighbour says. Service territory in New York does not follow county lines cleanly, and the boundaries between NYSEG, National Grid and Central Hudson are the ones that catch people out.
2. Open the NY-Sun megawatt block dashboard on NYSERDA’s site and find the residential sector rather than the commercial one. The two have separate allocations and separate rates.
3. Locate the region your address sits in. The programme has historically administered separate markets for upstate, the Con Edison territory and Long Island, but the structure has been revised over the programme’s life, so read what the dashboard says today rather than what an older article says it used to be.
4. Check whether a residential block is open at all on the day you look; as of September 2026 none is, in any region. If one has opened, note the block number, the rate per watt and the percentage of that block already allocated. That last figure is the one that tells you whether the rate is about to change.

The question that actually costs money

Between signing a contract and energising a system there are permits, an interconnection application, an installation and an inspection. Whenever a residential block is open, it can fill during that window. So ask, before signing: if the block steps down or closes before my project is submitted, who absorbs the difference? The answer belongs in the contract in writing. A contract that quotes an incentive without saying who carries the risk of it changing has quietly assigned that risk to you, and while no residential block is open, a contract that quotes a NY-Sun incentive at all needs explaining.

Ask a second question with it: at what point is my project locked into a block, and what has to be complete for that to happen? The answer varies with how the contractor manages its pipeline, and it is a reasonable thing to know.

Read the proposal as a set of line items

You will never file anything for NY-Sun, which is precisely why it needs to be visible on the paperwork. If the proposal shows a single incentives applied figure, ask for it broken out:

• The NY-Sun base incentive, with the rate per watt used and the block it assumes. While no residential block is open, this line should be $0.
• The Affordable Solar incentive, if the household is under 80 percent of area median income and an Affordable Solar block is open; none is as of September 2026. It is contractor-applied, so when a block is open it has to be raised.
• The state sales tax exemption on residential solar equipment, remembering that localities may separately elect to exempt their local share, so the total differs by county and city.
• Anything else described as an incentive, named and sourced.

The line that should not be on a 2026 proposal

Section 25D, the 30 percent federal residential credit, was terminated for expenditures made after 31 December 2025. An expenditure is treated as made when the original installation is completed. There is one carve-out that runs the other way: where the work is part of constructing or reconstructing a structure, the expenditure is treated as made when your original use of that structure begins — so panels installed in December 2025 on a house first occupied in January 2026 do not qualify. If a 2026 proposal still shows a 30 percent federal line, it is materially wrong and the rest of its arithmetic deserves the same scepticism.

What the incentive does not change

Whatever NY-Sun takes off the price (nothing, while no residential block is open), the Customer Benefit Contribution is charged monthly on the DC size of the array for systems interconnected on or after 1 January 2022. A 7 kW system in Central Hudson territory pays 7 × $1.67, about $11.69 a month or $140 a year at the 2026 residential rate — the highest of the seven, against $0.97 per kW-month on National Grid at the other end. Those rates are recalculated annually and are not fixed at interconnection.

If you are served by a municipal electric utility rather than one of the investor-owned companies, you sit outside Public Service Commission net metering, outside the Customer Benefit Contribution and outside the state interconnection process. Ask NYSERDA directly whether NY-Sun reaches your territory rather than assuming a general New York page applies to you.

The rest of the 2026 stack, in one place

Beside NY-Sun, which adds nothing for a home while no residential block is open, sit the 25 percent IT-255 credit capped at $5,000 for equipment at your principal residence, which also reaches leases and power purchase agreements of ten years or more, and the RPTL 487 exemption removing 15 years of added assessed value, claimed by filing form RP-487 with your assessor, where the municipality, the county and the school district have each not opted out — three separate checks, with construction required before 1 January 2030. Every figure here is reset on its own schedule, so verify the live dashboard and the current tax guidance on the day you need them rather than trusting any page, including this one, as current.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find my NY-Sun region?

Read the utility name on your own bill first, then open the megawatt block dashboard on NYSERDA's site and find the residential sector for the region containing your address. Service territory does not follow county lines, so the bill is the reliable starting point. As of September 2026 the dashboard shows no open residential block in any region.

Why does the NY-Sun incentive keep changing?

It is structured in capacity blocks. Each region draws from an open block at a set rate per watt, and when that block fills the region steps down to a lower rate. The programme is designed to phase out as the market matures, and for homes it has, for now, run out: as of September 2026 NYSERDA has no open NY-Sun block for homes in any utility territory.

Who pays if the block steps down before my install?

Whoever the contract says. Ask before signing what happens if the block changes between signing and submission, and get the answer in writing. A contract silent on that point has assigned the risk to the homeowner.

Do I apply for NY-Sun myself?

No. When a residential block is open it is applied by the contractor as a reduction on the price, which is exactly why it should appear as an itemised line on the proposal, with the rate per watt and the block it assumes, rather than folded into one incentives figure. As of September 2026 no residential block is open, so a home proposal should show no NY-Sun deduction.

This article is general information, not tax, legal or financial advice. Incentive amounts, eligibility rules and deadlines change and depend on your utility, your tax situation and your property. Confirm current terms with NYSERDA, your utility and a qualified tax professional before making a decision.