France Slashes Solar Buyback Rate to About 1.2¢/kWh, Forcing Homeowners to Use More Power Themselves

France just rewrote the math for rooftop solar, and it’s a gut punch for anyone counting on selling electricity back to the grid.

Starting June 5, 2026, new solar projects up to roughly 134 horsepower of capacity (100 kW) fall under a single, rock-bottom buyback rate: 1.1 euro cents per kilowatt-hour, before tax, about1.2 U.S. cents/kWhat current exchange rates. Contracts still run20 yearswith a stated2% annual indexation, but the headline is clear: France is steering solar away from “sell power for profit” and toward “use it at home to cut your bill.”

A single buyback rate: about 1.2¢/kWh for most small-to-mid solar projects

The new order sets one purchase price,€0.011/kWh(excluding tax), or roughly$0.012/kWh, for new contract applications filed on or afterJune 5, 2026, covering systems up to100 kW. That wipes out the old tiered schedule where larger or differently structured projects could qualify for meaningfully higher rates.

For American readers: that buyback price is tiny compared with typical U.S. residential retail electricity rates, which often land in the neighborhood of15–30¢/kWhdepending on the state and utility. The message is the same one many U.S. solar customers have heard as net metering gets trimmed back: the real savings come from the electricity you don’t have to buy from the grid.

The contract length stays at20 years, and the government says the rate will rise by2% per year. That adds predictability, but it doesn’t change the basic reality that the starting point is dramatically lower than what many recent projects were modeled on.

Small systems lose the option to “sell it all”

France also closed a door for smaller rooftop arrays. If your system is9 kWor less (about9 kW, or roughly12 horsepower), you can no longer choose “total sale,” meaning you can’t send 100% of your production to the grid under this framework.

Instead, these households must follow a self-consumption model: use solar power on-site and sell only the leftover surplus. Installers say that forces a rethink of daily habits, timing hot-water heating, running appliances when the sun is out, or charging an EV midday, because any unused power exported to the grid earns only about1.2¢/kWh.

Why the change stings: buyback rates used to be far higher

The scale of the drop is what’s turning heads. Earlier in 2026, some surplus buyback rates for systems above 9 kW were still around€0.0805/kWh(about8.7¢/kWh) or€0.07/kWh(about7.6¢/kWh), depending on system size. Under the new rule, those projects fall to€0.011/kWh, about1.2¢/kWh.

That means comparing a neighbor’s older contract to a new 2026 application can be wildly misleading. Earlier applicants keep the rate tied to the quarter when they filed. New applicants get the new, lower number.

A key incentive disappears: the self-consumption bonus is no longer included

Another major shift: the article says theself-consumption bonus, an upfront incentive that previously helped many residential projects pencil out, no longer appears in the new framework described for post–June 5, 2026 applications.

That matters because many sales pitches historically stacked incentives: a bonus up front plus a decent surplus buyback rate. With the bonus gone and the export price slashed, the economics lean harder on one thing: how much solar power you can use directly behind the meter.

What it means on the ground: solar becomes a bill-cutting tool, not a side hustle

For households and small businesses under the100 kWcap, the new rule pushes system design toward matching daytime consumption. A shop running equipment from morning to late afternoon can use a big chunk of its solar output immediately, making the lower export rate less painful. A home empty during the day will export more, and earn very little for it.

The practical takeaway is simple: under France’s 2026 rules, oversizing a system to “sell the extra” makes less sense. Installers who survive this shift will likely act more like energy auditors, mapping usage, recommending smart controls, and sometimes pitching batteries, because the value is increasingly in avoiding retail purchases, not selling power back.

France isn’t killing rooftop solar. But it is changing what solar is for, and who wins when the sun is shining.