Connecticut's ESS program lets homeowners earn money from their battery system by sharing stored energy with the grid. For a standard customer with a 2 × Powerwall 3 system on the Palmetto Energy Backup Lease, that means an effective monthly cost of around $51/month after ESS earnings offset a significant portion of the $195 lease payment — and roughly $18,090 in total incentive value over 10 years.
Under our current approach, the customer keeps 100% of the incentive. Palmetto doesn't take a cut.
To sell this product in CT, you need two things in place before your first project: CT Green Bank contractor registration and a signed Palmetto CT ESS Attestation Form. Most partners complete both within a week.
How to Use This Document:
This article covers everything you need to know to sell and install battery storage under Connecticut's Energy Storage Solutions (ESS) program on the LightReach platform. It's written for sales managers and sales reps who are new to CT ESS, as well as install partners who need a process reference.
If you're new to the program, read it in order — the sections are sequenced to take you from understanding the opportunity, to getting certified, to submitting correctly at each milestone.
If you're already selling CT ESS and need a quick reference, jump to the section you need:
What the program pays and what to tell customers → Overview + Pricing example
How to get set up to sell → Getting certified
What to submit and when → Milestone requirements
Quick answers → FAQ
Overview:
Connecticut's Energy Storage Solutions (ESS) program is one of the strongest battery storage incentive programs in the Northeast — and one of the better selling tools available to you in this market. The program pays homeowners real money to let their battery share stored energy with the grid during peak demand. For your customers, it turns a backup power purchase into something that earns income. For your sales process, it gives you a concrete dollar figure to put in front of a homeowner.
The program is administered by CT Green Bank and supported by Eversource and United Illuminating. It launched in January 2022 with a state goal of deploying 1,000 MW of battery storage by 2030.
Homeowners who enroll receive two types of incentive payments:
Enrollment incentive — A one-time payment from CT Green Bank after the system is confirmed enrolled. $30/kWh of nameplate capacity for standard residential customers, up to $130/kWh for customers in grid-edge locations.
Performance incentive — Paid twice per year by the customer's utility based on how the battery actually performed during grid dispatch events. $300/kW per year (gross program rate) for standard residential customers across the full 10-year program term. Higher rates apply for customers in underserved communities or low-income households. Grid-edge customers receive a higher enrollment incentive ($130/kWh) but the same $300/kW performance rate as standard customers. The performance adders apply only to underserved and low-income customers ($450/kW and $550/kW respectively).
Who receives the incentives? Under our current approach, the customer receives both — the enrollment payment and all performance payments — in full. Palmetto does not capture any portion of either incentive while we work to finalize a separate aggregator arrangement. When that changes, we'll update this article and communicate it directly to partners before it affects any active projects.
Standard Customer Pricing Example:
This example uses standard rates with no grid-edge, low-income, or underserved community adders. If your customer qualifies for any of those categories, their numbers will be higher — run the ESS Calculator with their specific category before the sales conversation. The pricing scenario above is intended to illustrate how the ESS program works for a typical standard-rate customer — it is not a quote or guarantee of incentive value.
System: 2 × Tesla Powerwall 3 | Palmetto Energy Backup Lease | $195/mo
Nameplate capacity: 27 kWh (2 × 13.5 kWh)
AC power output: 10 kW
Average dispatch contribution: 7.2 kW
Based on Tesla's published benchmark of 3.6 kW average contribution per Powerwall 3, assuming a 20% backup reserve and average 3-hour event duration.
System price: $24,500
Monthly lease payment: $195/mo (12-year term, 0% escalator)
Enrollment incentive (paid once) $30/kWh × 27 kWh = $810 Paid by CT Green Bank after Confirmation of Enrollment. Goes directly to the customer.
Annual performance incentive (years 1–10, flat rate) $240/kW × 7.2 kW = ~$1,728/year (monthly equivalent: ~$144/mo) Paid twice per year by Eversource or UI. The $240/kW reflects the net rate after Tesla's 20% program administration fee. The gross program rate is $300/kW — if a customer were to enroll directly rather than through Tesla's VPP, they would receive the full $300/kW with no deduction. See the FAQ for more on the difference between enrollment paths.
Effective monthly cost after ESS earnings $195 − $144 = ~$51/mo (consistent across all 10 years)
Total 10-year incentive value
Enrollment incentive: $810
Performance payments (10 × $1,728): $17,280
Total: ~$18,090
How to frame this in the sales conversation: The simplest version: "This system comes with a $195/month lease. Connecticut's ESS program will pay you directly for sharing your battery's energy with the grid — about $144 a month on average. That brings your effective cost down to around $51 a month, and you have full backup protection for your home." Let the numbers do the work. The rate is flat for the full 10-year term, so there's no complicated explanation about the back half of the program.
A note on this example: Every customer's incentive will be different based on their system size, location, and eligibility category. Before presenting numbers to a customer, run their specific system through the CT ESS Residential Incentive Estimate Calculator. Many customers will qualify for meaningfully higher incentives than what's shown here — including customers in grid-edge locations ($130/kWh enrollment incentive vs. $30/kWh), underserved communities (higher performance rate), and low-income households (higher rates on both incentives). Always check eligibility before the sales conversation.
Certification & Onboarding:
Getting certified to sell ESS in Connecticut
Getting set up to sell ESS in CT is a two-step process. Most partners complete both within a week.
Register with CT Green Bank as an approved program contractor. This is a state requirement that happens outside of Palmetto. Submit your application directly to CT Green Bank using their contractor application form. This process is between you and CT Green Bank — Palmetto isn't involved in that review.
Sign the CT ESS Attestation Form with Palmetto's compliance team. Review and sign the CT ESS Attestation Form to confirm you understand the terms, conditions, and responsibilities that come with selling LightReach battery systems in CT. Once we receive your signed attestation, we'll review it within 5 business days and follow up via your submission ticket. Battery pricing won't be enabled until this step is complete.
Lightreach M1/M2 Requirements:
What you need to submit at each milestone:
Every CT battery project has a decision baked into the M1 submission: are you enrolling this customer in the ESS program, or not? That answer determines what paperwork you need.
M1 — Installation package
No matter what you decide, every CT storage project requires the CT ESS Confirmation Form at M1. This is how you tell us which path you're taking. There are no exceptions.
If you're opting the customer out, that form is all you need.
If you're enrolling the customer, you'll also need two additional items before M1 can be completed:
CT ESS Customer Disclosure Form — requires the customer's signature. This confirms they understand what they're agreeing to by participating in the program.
Reservation of Capacity (ROC) Email — this comes from CT Green Bank after you've submitted the customer's enrollment application through the CT Green Bank Customer Enrollment Platform. It confirms the program has a spot reserved for their system. You'll need to be a registered eligible contractor before you can access the platform.
M2 — Installation complete
M2 only has a requirement if the customer is enrolled. You'll need to submit one of the following — either works:
The Confirmation of Enrollment (COE) email from CT Green Bank, or
A PDF download from the application portal showing the customer's name and a project status of "Pending Payment"
Both documents confirm the enrollment went through. If you have one, you don't need the other.
Frequently Asked Questions
CT. Program FAQ Here - https://energystoragect.com/contractor-faq/
| Question | Answer |
1 | Are all LightReach AVL battery products eligible for the CT ESS program? | Yes, as of now. That said, both the LightReach AVL and the CT ESS approved equipment list are maintained separately and updated independently. Don't assume a product that was eligible last quarter still is — check both lists before quoting a system. |
2 | How does the enrollment incentive get paid, and who receives it? | CT Green Bank pays the enrollment incentive directly to the customer once the system receives a Confirmation of Enrollment. The customer must be listed as the incentive beneficiary on the application — not the installer, and not Palmetto. This is the customer's money, and the application needs to reflect that from the start. |
3 | How does the performance incentive get paid? | The customer's utility — Eversource or United Illuminating depending on their service territory — calculates the payment based on the battery's actual average contribution during grid dispatch events and pays the customer directly, twice per year. Once the system is enrolled, no further action is needed from the installer. |
4 | Is Palmetto LightReach an approved participant in the ESS program? | Yes. Palmetto LightReach is recognized by CT Green Bank as both an approved Third-Party Owner and an approved contractor, which is what allows us to originate and install systems that qualify for the program. |
5 | How do I estimate what a specific customer's incentive will be? | Use the CT ESS Residential Incentive Estimate Calculator at energystoragect.com. It accounts for system size, customer category (standard, grid-edge, underserved, low-income), and current program rates. Run this before the sales conversation — knowing the customer's specific dollar figure is one of the strongest tools you have.
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6 | Does it matter whether a customer enrolls through Tesla's Virtual Power Plant or directly? | Yes, and it's worth understanding the difference — including what each path costs the customer.
More InfoThe gross ESS program rate is $300/kW for standard customers regardless of enrollment path. When a customer enrolls through Tesla's VPP, Tesla retains 20% of the program incentive as a fee for administering the program — handling automated dispatch, reporting performance data to CT Green Bank, and managing the enrollment process on the customer's behalf. The customer nets $240/kW. In exchange for that 20%, the customer gets a simpler experience: enrollment happens in a few taps through the Tesla app, and Tesla manages all the back-end program administration automatically. If a customer enrolls directly — bypassing Tesla as the aggregator — they receive the full $300/kW with no deduction, but the enrollment process requires a bit more paperwork: the installer submits the application to CT Green Bank on the customer's behalf as part of the M1 process. For a 2 × Powerwall 3 system, the difference between the two paths is roughly $432/year. The pricing example in this document uses the $240/kW net rate, reflecting Tesla VPP enrollment. Both paths are available, and neither is wrong — it comes down to whether the customer values the simplicity of Tesla's managed enrollment or prefers to keep the full incentive through direct enrollment.
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7 | How are low-income customers defined, and how do we verify eligibility? | A low-income customer is one whose household income is below 60% of the state median income. Customers in this category qualify for a higher enrollment incentive. Installers who want to help a customer claim the low-income rate must complete the program's income verification process and execute the Low-Income Affidavit before submitting the application. Details are on the CT ESS income verification page. |
8 | How are "underserved communities" defined? | Underserved communities are economically distressed municipalities as designated by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD). The current list is built into the CT ESS incentive calculator — if a customer's address falls in one of these municipalities, the calculator will reflect the higher applicable rates automatically. |
9 | Can a customer participate in both ESS and ConnectedSolutions? | ? No. Connecticut's ConnectedSolutions program stopped accepting new enrollments on December 2, 2023. ESS is the active program for new battery enrollments in CT. |
10 | Is the CT ESS program available everywhere in Connecticut? | No. The program is available only to customers served by Eversource or United Illuminating (UI). Customers served by a municipal utility — such as Groton Utilities, Norwalk Third Taxing District, or Bozrah Light and Power — are not eligible. Before you invest time quoting an ESS-enabled system, confirm that the customer's utility is Eversource or UI. You can find this on their electric bill. |
11. | Where does the 7.2 kW average dispatch figure come from? | Tesla publishes a benchmark of 3.6 kW average contribution per Powerwall 3 on their CT ESS support page (tesla.com/support/energy/virtual-power-plant/ess-ct). Their assumptions are a 20% backup reserve setting and an average 3-hour event duration. For a 2 × Powerwall 3 system, that's 3.6 × 2 = 7.2 kW. This figure is independently supported by Enphase, who confirmed an equivalent average dispatch figure of 7.1 kW for a comparable 10 kW system.
More InfoFor context on what to expect: enrolled systems typically see 30–60 summer dispatch events per year and a smaller number of winter events. Events generally occur between noon and 9 PM and last up to 3 hours. Customers are notified in advance through the Tesla app (or their manufacturer's equivalent), and can opt out of any individual event if needed — though opting out will reduce their performance incentive for that season. The performance incentive is calculated based on the battery's average contribution across all events in a season, which is why the 7.2 kW average dispatch figure — rather than the battery's full 10 kW nameplate output — is the right number to use when estimating incentive value.
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12. | What is a grid dispatch event? | A grid dispatch event is a period when demand on Connecticut's electric grid spikes and the grid operator calls on enrolled battery systems to help by sending stored energy back to the grid.
More InfoThese events typically happen on the hottest summer afternoons or the coldest winter days — the times when electricity demand is highest and the grid is under the most strain.
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Key resources:
CT ESS Incentive Calculator — run this before every sales conversation to get a specific dollar figure for your customer's system and eligibility category
CT Green Bank Grid Edge Map — check whether your customer's address qualifies for the higher grid-edge enrollment incentive
CT Program Contractor FAQ — CT Green Bank's own answers to common contractor questions about the program
CT Green Bank Customer Enrollment Platform — where you submit enrollment applications and receive your ROC and COE
Eligible equipment list — confirm that the battery product you're quoting is currently approved under the program before you sell
Contractor application — apply to become an eligible CT ESS contractor with CT Green Bank
Low-income verification — process and affidavit for verifying low-income customer eligibility and claiming the higher incentive rate
Tesla ESS CT — Tesla's CT ESS program support page, including VPP enrollment details and Powerwall performance benchmarks
Enphase CT — Enphase's CT ESS enrollment and grid services information for IQ Battery systems
SolarEdge CT — SolarEdge's CT ESS program information for Energy Bank systems
If you’re an Authorized Install Partner representative, please reach out to your Relationship Manager or LightReach Team to request pricing and begin onboarding.