For Immediate Release: Thursday, October 23, 2025
Contact: Lucy Vernasco lucy@lucyvernasco.com
New Report: Cutting Red Tape Could Cut Energy Bills by 61% by 2040 for U.S. Families
A new report from Permit Power, As Cheap as Our Peers: How cutting red tape can lower the cost of rooftop solar and offset rising utility bills finds that if American families could buy rooftop solar at the same price as Australian or German families, almost 20m more families would install solar by 2040, and those families would see average annual bill savings of $1,600. This would result in aggregate electricity bill savings of $1.2trn over the life of these additional rooftop solar systems.
Americans are facing a growing energy affordability crisis. Utility bills have risen faster than inflation since 2022, and are set to continue to rise as utilities request record increases in rates from regulators. As a result, 1 in 7 households are living in energy poverty. A solution to the energy affordability crisis is rooftop solar, which could reduce electricity bills by over 80 percent. Yet, the cost-savings of rooftop solar is out of reach for too many American families.
In the US, the price tag of residential rooftop solar and batteries is significantly more expensive relative to other countries–up to seven times more expensive to install than in Australia and Germany. With the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), residential rooftop solar will become even more expensive after the investment tax credit ends in 2027.
“Too many Americans are unable to use home solar and batteries to lower their bills because it costs so much more in our country than in other countries,” said Nick Josefowitz, CEO and Founder of Permit Power. “Our report presents policy solutions that should be implemented on the state level to lower the cost of home solar and batteries by slashing unnecessary red tape, and making the cost savings of rooftop solar accessible to more American families.”
Permit Power’s report models the additional installations, utility bill savings, and generating capacity that would be realized if decision-makers took action to cut red tape and bring the cost of solar down to where it stands in peer countries.
New analysis finds that, by 2040, total installed prices at levels seen in other countries around the world would yield the following over a business-as-usual scenario:
- 18.2 million more families installing solar – a 155 percent increase
- Annual bill savings of $1,600 for the average family
- An average of $56,000 in savings over the 25-year lifetime of a solar PV system, translating into $1.2 trillion in savings across all households installing solar
- 198.1 GW more installed residential rooftop solar capacity
“There is strong research that shows how unnecessary bureaucratic barriers raise the cost of rooftop solar and home batteries in the United States,” said Talor Gruenwald, Research Director of Permit Power and author of the report. “This is the first research that shows the enormous benefits that would accrue to American families if we removed those bureaucratic barriers and brought the costs of home solar and batteries down to levels in other peer countries.”
“Americans are experiencing an unprecedented utility affordability crisis that is only worsening as utilities request record amounts of rate increases,” said Charles Hua, Founder and Executive Director of PowerLines, a consumer education nonprofit. “Consumers deserve solutions that improve energy affordability and transparency.”
“It’s crazy that well over half of the cost of home solar in the US is to pay for unnecessary paperwork when the solution exists today,” said Andrew Birch, Co-Founder and CEO at OpenSolar, a leading home solar software provider. “By automating permitting, standardizing code and enabling easy interconnection, everyone can save money. The time has come to accept international best practices and make going solar affordable and easy.”
Policies to cut red tape shared within the report would provide the foundation to allow costs to fall into line with peer countries, enabling 23 percent of US households to install rooftop solar by 2040 compared to only 7 percent today.
These families adopting cheap solar would see their bills decline by 61% on average, an enduring relief from electricity rates that have risen and are projected to continue rising in many areas of the country.
About Permit Power
Permit Power is a nonprofit organization making it cheap and easy for American families to power their lives. We do research, education, and advocacy to break down the bureaucratic barriers that get in the way of American families installing rooftop solar, home batteries, and other energy upgrades.