Hawaii has by far the highest residential electricity rates in the US, roughly 3x the national average, because most power is generated from imported oil. The residential federal tax credit is gone. A prepaid lease uses the commercial tax credit to deliver a 25–35% discount off your system cost, with no monthly utility dependency.
Two forces are converging in Hawaii at the same time.
Hawaii has by far the highest residential electricity rates in the US, roughly 3x the national average, because most power is generated from imported oil. Every dollar your solar system generates avoids a dollar of rising utility cost.
Homeowners who finance solar directly with a bank loan can no longer claim the 30% federal credit on their taxes. A prepaid lease routes through the commercial ITC, which is still active, and passes that value to you as a reduced system price.
Renewable Energy Technologies Income Tax Credit (RETITC) and other Hawaii programs (below) run independently of the Participate discount, so a well-structured deal can combine both.
Participate Energy is the prepaid lease provider available to Hawaii homeowners through Solar-Advisors.org. Propel Financing is not yet live in Hawaii — Participate is the path to the commercial ITC discount here.
The exact figure is set by the domestic content of your solar and battery equipment: both domestic-content solar and battery reaches 35%, a Tesla Powerwall 3 used as the inverter caps the solar side at 30%, and an IRS Energy Community zip code can lift a non-domestic-content system to 25%. No dealer fee, no rate or pricing caps, and no lien on the home. Prepay in cash for no credit check and no monthly payment, or finance the prepayment through Credit Human.
Pay the prepayment in a single lump sum for no credit check at all, or finance it through Credit Human (10, 15, or 20-year terms at 8.99% APR, no dealer fee) for a stable monthly payment instead. Either way, the discount is identical.
These Hawaii programs run independently of the Participate discount. Only incentives on Participate's approved list can be written directly into the lease agreement (Exhibit C) — others are claimed separately by you.
The Hawaii State Energy Office's RETITC is a state tax credit equal to 35% of system cost, up to $5,000, claimed via Form N-342.
Hawaiian Electric's customer battery storage incentive programs pay homeowners for adding a new energy storage system to a rooftop solar array.
This is a representative example, not a specific homeowner's proposal — your zip code, roof, usage, and equipment choice will change the numbers. The free assessment builds your actual figures from your utility bill.
At Hawaii's average rate of $0.42/kWh, a typical monthly bill in the $150–$300 range reflects several hundred kWh of usage — the baseline the prepaid lease is compared against.
A 25–35% discount is applied to your system cost before you pay anything, based on your equipment's domestic content and whether your zip code qualifies for an Energy Community adder.
Comparing the discounted, one-time prepaid cost against Hawaii's historical utility rate escalation typically produces the largest long-term savings for homeowners with the highest current bills.
A higher utility rate creates a larger gap between your current bill and a discounted, prepaid system cost. Hawaii has by far the highest residential electricity rates in the US, roughly 3x the national average, because most power is generated from imported oil.
| Hawaii | Avg. Residential Rate | Prepaid Lease Eligible | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiian Electric | $0.42/kWh | Yes | Hawaii has by far the highest residential electricity rates in the US, roughly 3x the national average, because most power is generated from imported oil. |
*Illustrative savings figures on this page are representative estimates based on published average residential rates, not a specific customer's finalized proposal. Actual results depend on your utility territory, usage, equipment, and domestic-content/Energy-Community status.
Most Hawaii homeowners with a monthly electric bill above $100 qualify. Here is what matters.
Tell us your Hawaii utility territory, zip code, and average monthly bill. We will show you your actual Participate prepaid lease numbers, built from your real usage.
