California Solar Incentive Programs

SGIP's remaining RSSE budget pays $1,100/kWh for battery storage and $3,100/kW for solar for income-qualified households. All ratepayer-funded SGIP budgets closed to new applications on December 31, 2025. The RSSE (low-income) waitlist remains open. Check with your utility (PG&E, SCE, SDG&E) for waitlist status and income eligibility requirements.

DAC-SASH is California's strongest remaining solar incentive for qualifying households. At $3/watt, a 4 kW system earns $12,000, often covering the entire installed cost. Participants must be enrolled in PG&E, SCE, or SDG&E's CARE or FERA low-income programs and live in a top-quartile disadvantaged community per CalEnviroScreen. GRID Alternatives administers the program and coordinates installation.

• Active CARE or FERA enrollment with your investor-owned utility
• Home in a top-25% CalEnviroScreen-designated disadvantaged community
• Owner-occupied single-family home (including manufactured homes)
• Served by PG&E, SCE, or SDG&E (not LADWP or other municipal)

NEM 3.0 (officially the Net Billing Tariff) replaced full retail-rate net metering for new IOU solar customers in April 2023. Electricity your panels send to the grid is now credited at avoided cost values, far below the retail rate of 25 to 50¢/kWh you pay when buying from the grid. This makes batteries much more valuable: storing midday solar production and using it during evening peak-rate hours (when you'd otherwise pay the highest retail rates) is now the core California solar strategy. Existing NEM 2.0 customers are grandfathered for 20 years. LADWP is a municipal utility and not subject to CPUC rules, LADWP customers still receive full retail-rate net metering.

California Revenue and Taxation Code §73 excludes qualifying solar and wind energy systems from triggering a property tax reassessment. On a $25,000 system in a county with a 1.1% effective property tax rate, this saves roughly $275/year while you own the home (the exclusion ends at a change in ownership). An extension bill (AB 2389) stalled in the Legislature in May 2026, so the exclusion currently ends for systems completed on or after January 1, 2027. If you are planning a California solar install, complete it before year-end.

• Solar or wind energy system installed on real property in California
• System completed before January 1, 2027
• Any system size (residential or commercial)

PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) allows homeowners to finance solar and energy storage. The financing is attached to the property rather than the borrower, and repaid through an assessment added to your property tax bill, over a term that cannot exceed the useful life of the improvement. Interest rates vary by provider. PACE assessments are repaid through your property tax bill and place a lien on your home until paid off, a consideration if you plan to sell or refinance. Consumer protection requirements apply in California (SB 242 and AB 1284 of 2017). Compare multiple PACE providers and read the contract carefully before signing.