Solar panels in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

Dartmouth, across the harbour from Halifax, shares the same excellent solar economics. Nova Scotia Power’s high rates (19.128 cents/kWh as of May 2026) combined with 1:1 net metering make Dartmouth one of the best markets for solar ROI in Canada, with payback of 8-11 years.

Dartmouth produces 1,100 kWh/kW annually. As part of Halifax Regional Municipality, Dartmouth residents also qualify for the Solar City PACE financing program – no upfront costs.

Nova Scotia Power’s enhanced net metering credits excess solar at the full retail rate (~19.1 cents/kWh) – one of the best programs in Canada. Systems up to 27 kW use the simplified interconnection option; up to 100 kW are eligible. Credits roll over for 12 months, and year-end surplus credits are paid out at the retail rate.

The SolarHomes rebate closed to new residential applicants on April 17, 2025. However, NS Power’s 1:1 net metering alone still delivers some of the fastest solar payback in the country.

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Solar City is often described as a Halifax program, which leads Dartmouth homeowners to assume it is not for them. It is run by the Halifax Regional Municipality and open to property owners across it, Dartmouth included. The mechanism is a Local Improvement Charge placed on the property rather than a conventional loan: ten years, a fixed 4.75 per cent, billed separately from your property taxes but collected in the same manner and carrying the same lien priorities, and clearable in full at any time without penalty. Eligibility turns on two things. Your residential taxes and any charges invoiced through the tax account must be paid in full, and the system has to be capable of generating at least 70 per cent of what an optimal system would produce at the same site. That last condition means orientation and shading are assessed before approval, so a heavily shaded roof in Woodside or Cole Harbour may not qualify even where the financing would suit.

Nova Scotia Power charges a base charge of $20.08 a month on a residential account, alongside its energy rate of 19.128 cents per kilowatt-hour, both effective 1 May 2026. The base charge is worth understanding early, because it behaves differently from everything else on the bill.

It is a fixed charge for being connected. It does not fall when you use less electricity, and it does not fall when you generate your own. A Dartmouth system that eliminated every kilowatt-hour you draw from the grid would still leave roughly $241 a year on the account. Net metering does not change this either: crediting exports against consumption reduces the energy portion of the bill, not the fixed portion.

The practical consequence is that a quote promising to zero your power bill is describing something that cannot happen. What solar can do here is remove most or all of the energy charge, which at 19.128 cents is among the highest residential rates in Canada — and that is precisely why the payback in Dartmouth is 8 to 11 years, at the shorter end of the national range, on 1,100 kWh per kW of production and an average saving of $1,800 a year.

The high rate is doing the work. Nova Scotia’s expensive electricity is what makes solar pay back faster here than in provinces with far better sunshine, and the fixed base charge is the small piece it cannot touch.

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