Massachusetts solar installer marketing built on net metering credits and DOER's SMART rules

Most of a Massachusetts homeowner's savings come from net metering credits. The utility sets their value, so every savings page has to name the utility and the date.

The DPU's net metering guide lays out the basics. When a home makes more power than it uses in a month, the extra shows up on the bill as a credit in dollars, not kilowatt-hours. For a standard home system, credits never expire. They roll forward and can cover delivery, supply and customer charges, down to a zero bill.

Utility caps rarely touch a house. A system of 25 kW or less is cap exempt, so it can net meter even after a utility fills its cap. That is a useful line for a homeowner who read a story about caps.

The value moves, though. The guide's own example is an Eversource East home in August 2024, at about 27.6 cents per kWh. It warns that basic service rates for homes change every six months and that each utility keeps its own schedule. A savings figure taken last winter can be wrong by spring.

So we build one savings page for each utility, Eversource, National Grid or Unitil, with the month its rates were taken. A homeowner billed by another utility needs that utility's own numbers. The Attorney General's retail advertising rule asks sellers to be able to back up a claim before it runs, and a dated rate is that backup.

Bills are still the hook. EIA's summer bill table puts New England's 2025 summer price at 28.31 cents per kWh, against 17.51 cents for the whole country. That is a regional figure, so an ad that uses it says "New England".

After signing, a Massachusetts solar customer can wait weeks on permits, interconnection and SMART paperwork. DOER expects the installer to stay reachable the whole time.

The consumer protection guideline names non-responsiveness to customers, after several failed attempts to reach the applicant, as a possible unfair practice. The same list includes failing to meet contract terms and mishandling SMART applications.

The penalties stack up. DOER can audit applications at random and gives an applicant 10 business days to send what it asks for. Each problem found earns a warning. A third warning can freeze new SMART applications for 12 months, and DOER may publish a list of applicants that have warnings.

Homeowners are told where to complain: DOER's SMART inbox or the Attorney General's complaint form. So the reply track after the sale is part of the marketing. A message at each step, a named contact and a set reply time cost little next to a frozen pipeline. If calls go unanswered at busy times, an AI receptionist can take the message and book the callback.

Watch the names you drop. The guideline also bars misrepresenting a rep's ties to a utility or to DOER. The DPU's net metering guide says it does not regulate installers and cannot endorse any company. So "state approved" and "utility partner" lines come out unless a program says so in writing.

Phones and doorsteps still sell a lot of Massachusetts solar. State law sets the hours, the opening words and the cancel window.

The state sales call law bars unsolicited sales calls that reach a home between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. It also bars sales calls made with a recorded message.

Within the first minute, the caller has to say it is a sales call. It also has to name both the calling company and the company selling the system, under the disclosure section of the same law.

The state runs its own do-not-call list, which also folds in each Massachusetts number listed on the national registry. A business that makes unsolicited sales calls must register with the state by January 1 each year and pay the fee before calling.

Some calls are not unsolicited under the law's definitions. One is a call where no sale closes until a face-to-face presentation, which can cover a call that only books a home visit. Federal consent and do-not-call rules still apply. Our texting and AI answering playbook walks through them.

At the kitchen table, the home solicitation law gives a buyer three business days, ending at midnight, to back out of a sale over $25. The paperwork has to match the language the rep pitched in, and a seller of services may not start work during those three days.

When a page shows a set price, such as a monitoring plan, the Attorney General's total price rule applies. The total, with every mandatory fee, appears first and stands out more than any other price on the page.