California

California’s Property Tax Exemption for solar energy systems (officially called the Active Solar Energy System Exclusion) prevents homeowners from paying additional property taxes when they install solar panels. When you add solar to your home, the county assessor will not increase your property’s assessed value, meaning your property tax bill stays the same despite the valuable improvement to your home.

This incentive applies to all qualifying solar energy systems that generate electricity or heat water (except for swimming pool heaters). The financial benefit can be substantial – for example, a $20,000 solar system would typically increase property taxes by $200-400 annually in California, but this exclusion eliminates that additional cost. The program is currently authorized through January 1, 2027, and no application is needed for existing homeowners. If you’re purchasing a newly built home with solar already installed, you’ll need to file form BOE-64-SES with your county assessor to claim the exclusion.

The Disadvantaged Communities Single-Family Affordable Solar Homes (DAC-SASH) Program is a California state initiative designed to make solar energy accessible to low-income homeowners in disadvantaged communities. This program provides substantial financial assistance through fixed, upfront incentives that significantly reduce the cost of installing solar panels on your home.

Eligible homeowners can receive up to $3 per watt toward their solar installation costs. To qualify, you must: own and live in your home, receive electrical service from PG&E, SCE, or SDG&E, be enrolled in or eligible for CARE or FERA income-qualified utility bill programs, and your property must be located in a designated disadvantaged community (DAC) area. If you think you might qualify, you can visit the GRID Alternatives website for more information about the application process.

The California Equity Fund is a state program designed to make clean energy more accessible to low-income households. Created under Assembly Bill 209 in 2022, this program allocated $630 million to support battery storage incentives for qualifying Californians through the Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP).

The program offers substantial rebates for battery storage systems based on capacity, with rates of $150, $850, or $1,000 per kilowatt-hour depending on eligibility factors. Additionally, participants can receive enhanced net billing credits under the NEM 3.0 program, with CARE program enrollees receiving approximately 35% off their electric bills and FERA program participants receiving about 18% off.

To qualify for these incentives, you must be enrolled in California’s CARE/FERA program, live in a Disadvantaged Community, or be part of a California Tribal community. Higher rebate tiers are available for residents of areas with higher fire risks, more frequent power outages, or those participating in specific assistance programs like DAC-SASH.

This program represents California’s effort to address equity concerns in renewable energy adoption, ensuring that clean energy benefits reach communities that have historically had less access to solar and storage technologies. For specific eligibility requirements and application details, homeowners should contact their utility provider or visit the California Public Utility Commission website.

California’s Net Billing program (also known as NEM 3) is a solar incentive structure that replaced the previous Net Energy Metering 2.0 program for most major utilities in the state. Under this program, when your solar panels produce excess electricity that flows back to the grid, you receive credits on your utility bill based on the time and value of that electricity. Unlike previous programs that credited solar exports at retail rates, Net Billing values exports based on the utility’s avoided costs.

For customers of Pacific Gas & Electric (PGE), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDGE), the export credit values change hourly based on the grid’s needs, using each utility’s Avoided Cost Calculator. Imperial Irrigation District (IID) offers a fixed rate of $0.0698 per kWh with monthly settlement. Any unused credits during your annual true-up period are typically paid out at approximately 3-5 cents per kWh for the major utilities.

This program applies to all new solar installations with interconnection applications submitted after April 15, 2023. If you submitted a complete application before this date, you may still qualify for the more favorable NEM 2.0 program. It’s important to note that municipal utilities like Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP) maintain their own net metering programs and aren’t subject to the NEM 3 rules.

When considering solar under Net Billing, timing your energy usage becomes more important than ever. Since export values vary throughout the day, you’ll maximize savings by using your solar electricity directly rather than exporting it. Additionally, Net Billing customers can select their annual true-up month by contacting their utility, giving you more flexibility in managing your solar credits.