Menendez bill would make states weigh plug-in solar rules, fund rebates

Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced the Socket Full of Sunshine Act, H.R. 10851, on October 19, 2026. It would require every state to consider measures promoting plug-in solar devices of up to 1,200 watts, particularly U.S.-made ones, and would have the Department of Energy fund state rebates of up to $1,000 for low- or moderate-income households. The bill was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee the same day.

The lever is the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978: the bill adds plug-in solar to the standards states must consider. The measures listed include exempting the devices from interconnection agreements and net metering requirements, and barring utilities from requiring approval, insurance, any fee or charge, or controls or equipment beyond what is built into the device. State regulators would have to begin consideration within one year of enactment and make a determination within two.

The ceiling and the plug match New Jersey's state law. A qualifying device is moveable, has a maximum output of no more than 1,200 watts, plugs into a standard 120-volt outlet, is intended primarily to offset part of its user's electricity consumption, meets the National Electrical Code, and is certified by Underwriters Laboratories or an equivalent lab. The bill writes that definition twice, and the copies disagree about a device of exactly 400 watts: Section 2 requires a power control system at an output "greater than or equal to 400 watts," Section 6 only above 400 watts.

The rebates come with conditions. Devices must be made in the United States, with domestic components above 55 percent of total component cost unless another domestic content standard applies, and a state qualifies only if it bars landlords from prohibiting tenants who pay their own electricity bills from using one, though states may allow reasonable limits on size and placement. The bill authorizes $100 million a year for fiscal years 2027 through 2032.

States that have already acted are excused from the deadlines: those that implemented the standard or a comparable one, held a regulatory proceeding on it, or whose legislature voted on it in the three years before enactment. By our reading, that would include Menendez's home state, where Governor Mikie Sherrill signed the Garden State Balcony Solar Act on September 1, 2026, and California, whose SB 868 was signed September 30. Menendez's October 20 release says New Jersey monthly utility bills rose nearly 17 percent in 2025.