Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire have all enacted plug-in solar protections since our last update, bringing the total to eight states. New York and California remain one signature away. And this morning, the New York Times published a straightforward reminder of the one thing the movement still doesn’t have: a certified product.
Photo: Yuma Solar / Unsplash
Since our last roundup in June, three more states have signed plug-in solar into law, all clustered in the Northeast. That brings the enacted total to eight, up from five just a few weeks ago.
Three New Laws
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Connecticut Enacted
HB 5340 / Public Act 26-127 · 1,200W · Signed by Gov. Ned Lamont on May 20, 2026 · Effective October 1, 2026 · No utility approval, interconnection agreement, or fees required — but the device must be tested by an accredited safety lab.
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Vermont Enacted
S.202 · 1,200W per meter · Signed by Gov. Phil Scott on June 16, 2026 after passing the Senate 29–0 · Effective July 1, 2026 · No permit required; landlords get 10 days’ written notice before installation.
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New Hampshire Enacted
SB 540 / Chapter 89 · 1,200W · Signed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte · Effective January 1, 2027 · One device per household, no utility approval or fees.
Vermont’s unanimous Senate vote is the headline here — 29–0 is about as close to consensus as a state legislature gets. Combined with Connecticut and New Hampshire, the entire Northeast corridor from Maine down through Connecticut now has plug-in solar protections either in effect or on the books.
New York and California: Still Waiting
Two bills remain stuck at the governor’s desk stage. New York’s SUNNY Act passed both chambers back on May 28 and is still awaiting Governor Hochul’s signature. California’s SB 868 has passed the Senate 35–1 and cleared the Assembly Utilities & Energy Committee, but is now sitting in Assembly Appropriations — a step further from law than we’d hoped when we last wrote about it. Between the two, tens of millions of renter households are still waiting on paperwork rather than politics.
The Times Confirms What We’ve Been Saying: Nothing’s Certified Yet
This morning, the New York Times published a consumer guide to plug-in solar, and its central message is one we want to underline: as of today, no plug-in solar product sold in the US has completed UL 3700 certification — the safety standard written specifically for this category of device.
Friday, July 31, 2026
The piece walks through what plug-in solar is, why it’s caught on in Germany, and why cost and simplicity — kits run a few hundred dollars up to about $2,000, versus as much as $36,000 for rooftop solar — have driven American interest. Ten states, per the Times’ count, have now legalized the devices.
But its core advice is a caution: wait for UL 3700 certification before buying. The standard requires exposed prongs to be “touch safe,” and addresses a subtler risk — an uncertified system can mask how much current is flowing on a circuit, so a breaker may not catch an overload from other appliances sharing it.
UL Solutions’ own VP of engineering, Kenneth Boyce, told the Times the organization is testing full systems rather than individual parts, and expects to certify the first ones soon. Some manufacturers market components as “UL compliant” because a piece — typically the inverter — meets an existing standard, but that’s a different claim than full UL 3700 system certification, which nobody has yet.
We’ve corrected our own pages to reflect this. An earlier version of our safety guidance referenced a product as already UL 3700-certified; that was wrong, and it’s fixed now. Our standing advice is the same as the Times’: today, look for UL 1741 certification on the inverter (the established standard for grid-connected equipment), and treat UL 3700 as a standard to watch for, not one to expect yet.
Full state-by-state detail lives on our state law tracker. For the safety certification picture, see our plug-in solar guide. And for the original reporting, read the piece at the New York Times →
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