Feb 26, 2026
The House passes H.5175 in a landslide win.
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What is Balcony Solar? Finally renters can go Solar too!
You don’t own the roof you pay for.
But you still pay the bill.
Your energy rate climbed again on August 1. Eversource by about 11%, National Grid by about 12%, and there wasn’t a thing on that bill you could argue with. If you rent, or you own a condo, or your roof faces the wrong way, you’ve spent years watching homeowners bolt panels to their houses while you paid whatever the utility asked. Massachusetts is close to changing that. New Hampshire went ahead and did it.
Join the waitlistWhat changed on Aug 1, 2026
Eversource+10.8%
National Grid+11.8%
The solution renters and condo owners have been waiting for.
So what is balcony solar?
It’s just how it sounds! Two or three panels hanging off a porch railing, wired into a small inverter with an ordinary cord on the end. You plug that cord into an outlet the same way you’d plug in a window air conditioner, and the panels spend the afternoon quietly shaving a slice off whatever your apartment or condo is pulling from the grid. Nobody drills your roof. Nobody files anything with the utility.
The Massachusetts bill calls it a “portable solar generation device”. Here’s what’s planned:
Up to 1,200 watts
Plugs into a standard 120-volt outlet
Shuts itself off during a power outage
Offsets what you use, inside your own home
No electrician, no permit, no interconnection agreement
The bill passed one house chamber, now onto the next.
Is it legal in Massachusetts yet?
No, not yet, but it’s expected to be soon.
Jul 1, 2026
The Senate passes its own version.
Jul 2, 2026
New Hampshire signs its plug-in solar law the very next day.
Jul 16, 2026
A conference committee gets appointed to reconcile the two Massachusetts versions.
Aug 2026
They sit down together for the first time. Both chairs say publicly they want it finished before winter.
September 9, 2026
Still in conference.
Conference talks can run through the rest of 2026. But if it does get signed, the bill carries an emergency preamble, which means it’s in effect the moment the pen comes off the paper.
New Jersey got there on September 1.
Nine states already did this.
Utah, Maine, Virginia, Colorado, Maryland, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and New Jersey have all signed plug-in solar into law, and New Jersey only joined the list on September 1, 2026. Massachusetts, a state that enjoys describing itself as a leader on this sort of thing, is the one still in the back room negotiating.
Nine signed. One still arguing about it. Tap a state.
Chapter 262. Most of it live January 1, 2027.
Live in New Hampshire? Balcony solar is headed your way.
New Hampshire signed its plug-in solar law on July 2, 2026, and it takes effect January 1, 2027.
We’ve worked in both states since 2011, so if you live in New Hampshire, you’ll be first on the list.
Be the first to know when it drops.
Get on the list.
Boston Solar plans to offer balcony solar as soon as it’s legal in Massachusetts. Join the waitlist for updates and be one of the first in the state to get access.
You’re on the list.
Nothing else to do. You’ll get an email from us as the future of balcony solar unfolds.