Solar & Battery Incentives, Utility by Utility
The programs that apply to your house depend on who bills you. Here is the whole map.
Incentives
What is actually on the table in 2026.
There is no single answer to "what incentives can I get" in Northern California, because the region is a patchwork. Two houses fifteen minutes apart can sit under completely different utilities with completely different solar rules and completely different battery money.
So this page is organised the way the money really works: by whoever sends you the power bill, then the statewide programs that apply no matter who that is.
Incentives change and have eligibility rules. We confirm exactly what your home qualifies for during your free quote.
By utility
Find the name at the top of your bill.
SMUD
Sacramento Municipal Utility District — the power company for most of Sacramento County.
- SMUD buys excess solar at 9.6¢ per kWh, any time of day, under its Solar and Storage Rate — which is why storing your own power is where the savings are.
- The SMUD battery incentive (My Energy Optimizer Partner+) is a one-time enrolment incentive of $300 per kWh of eligible capacity, up to $6,000 per household, for qualifying batteries paired with solar.
- You must enrol within 90 days of permission to operate and stay enrolled for three years. Ongoing payments for grid events come on top of the enrolment incentive.
- Taking the battery incentive moves legacy net-metering customers onto the Solar and Storage Rate, so we run both scenarios before you commit.
Cities: Sacramento · Elk Grove · Folsom · Rancho Cordova · Citrus Heights · Galt
PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric — the wires and the bill across most of the rest of the region.
- PG&E has some of the highest electric rates in the country, so solar pays back faster here than almost anywhere.
- Under PG&E's current solar billing (net billing), exported solar earns little — a battery lets you use your own power in the 4–9 PM peak instead.
- Virtual power plant: through participating battery programs, PG&E's Emergency Load Reduction Program pays about $2 per kWh a battery sends to the grid during grid emergencies — typically up to a few hundred dollars a year, not a payback plan.
- Statewide SGIP programs apply on top.
Cities: West Sacramento · Yuba City · Marysville · Manteca · Vacaville · Dixon · Suisun City · Antioch · Brentwood
Pioneer Community Energy
PG&E delivers the power; Pioneer provides the generation across much of Placer and El Dorado.
- Pioneer pays ½ cent per kWh more than PG&E for over-production sent to the grid.
- Otherwise the PG&E solar-billing and battery logic applies, and the statewide SGIP programs apply.
- Parts of Loomis, Auburn and El Dorado Hills sit in PG&E's Tier 2 or Tier 3 High Fire-Threat Districts and see Public Safety Power Shutoffs. Batteries keep the home running through a shutoff.
- In those zones, SGIP Equity Resiliency can cover 80–100% of a battery for qualifying households.
Cities: Rocklin · Lincoln · Loomis · Auburn · El Dorado Hills
Ava Community Energy
PG&E delivers the power; Ava provides the generation in parts of San Joaquin County.
- The Ava SmartHome Battery program launched in April 2026 and is first-come, first-served.
- It pays an upfront rebate of $90 per kWh for market-rate customers, or $500 per kWh for income-qualified (CARE/FERA) customers, on the portion of the battery you share with Ava's virtual power plant — 40%, 60% or 80%.
- On top of the rebate it pays $3 per month for each shared kWh, for five years.
- PG&E solar-billing logic and the statewide SGIP programs apply as well.
MCE
PG&E delivers the power; MCE provides the generation in parts of Solano and East Contra Costa.
- The MCE Solar Storage Credit is a bill credit of $10 per month for a 7–20 kWh battery, or $20 per month for a battery over 20 kWh.
- It is for MCE customers on a time-of-use plan who set the battery to discharge daily from 4 PM to 9 PM — which is the schedule we would set anyway.
- PG&E solar-billing logic and the statewide SGIP programs apply.
Valley Clean Energy
PG&E delivers the power; Valley Clean Energy provides the generation for Woodland and Davis.
- The PG&E rate and battery logic above still applies, because PG&E still delivers the power and bills you.
- We walk you through Valley Clean Energy's own solar billing during the quote rather than quoting numbers here.
- Statewide SGIP programs apply.
Roseville Electric
A city-owned utility with its own solar program and its own interconnection rules.
- Roseville runs its own electric utility, which means its solar rules are its own — not PG&E's and not SMUD's.
- We handle the application and explain the current rules in your quote.
City: Roseville
Lodi Electric Utility
Also city-owned, also with its own solar rules.
- Lodi Electric Utility is city-owned and sets its own solar policy.
- We handle the paperwork and explain how it works during your quote.
City: Lodi
Statewide
These apply no matter who bills you.
SGIP low-income solar + storage
The Residential Solar and Storage Equity path is for income-qualified households — roughly 80% of area median income or below, or enrolled in CARE, FERA or ESA. It reaches up to $1,100 per kWh of battery and $3,100 per kW of solar when both are installed together, which often covers most of the system. Funding is limited and waitlists are common; we check availability and handle the application.
SGIP fire-zone battery
Equity Resiliency reaches up to $1,000 per kWh and often covers 80–100% of the battery cost, for households in Tier 2 or Tier 3 High Fire-Threat Districts, or with two or more Public Safety Power Shutoffs, who also meet an income, medical-baseline or similar qualifier.
Property tax exclusion
California does not raise your home's assessed value for adding solar or a battery. The system does not push your property tax bill up.
Virtual power plant payments
Several of the battery programs above pay you for letting the utility draw on your storage during grid emergencies. It is a useful annual cheque, not a payback plan, and we are careful not to present it as one.
Federal: the 30% credit for purchased home solar ended December 31, 2025. Some third-party-owned (lease or PPA) programs can still apply a federal credit through 2027. Incentives change and have eligibility rules. We confirm exactly what your home qualifies for during your free quote.
The paperwork
We file it. You sign it.
Incentive programs are not won by deserving them. They are won by filing correctly, in the right order, inside the window — and every program above has its own forms, its own portal and its own deadlines.
Sun Worx prepares the applications, submits them alongside your permit and interconnection filings, tracks them, and tells you when money or credits are confirmed. Where a program has a waitlist, we say so up front rather than building a quote around funding that may not arrive.
Questions
Sorting out what applies to you.
Which utility am I on, and does it matter?
It matters more than almost anything else on this page. SMUD, PG&E, Roseville Electric and Lodi Electric each run their own solar rules, and on top of PG&E's wires you may be served by Pioneer Community Energy, Ava Community Energy, MCE or Valley Clean Energy. Look at the top of your bill — the name that appears there decides which block above applies to you.
Do I have to enrol in anything to get the SMUD battery incentive?
Yes. The SMUD battery incentive runs through My Energy Optimizer Partner+, you have to enrol within 90 days of receiving permission to operate, and you stay enrolled for three years. We put that enrolment on the schedule so the window does not quietly close on you.
Can I add a battery to solar I already have?
Usually, yes — and the incentives are the reason it is worth looking at now. Before anything else we check your current rate plan, because in PG&E territory many existing solar customers can add storage and keep the rate they are on, while in SMUD territory taking the battery incentive moves legacy net-metering customers onto the Solar and Storage Rate. We run it both ways before you decide.
How do I know if I qualify for the income or fire-zone programs?
The income path looks at household income against the area median, or at whether you are already enrolled in CARE, FERA or ESA. The fire-zone path looks at whether your address sits in a Tier 2 or Tier 3 High Fire-Threat District, or whether you have been through two or more Public Safety Power Shutoffs, plus a second qualifier. We check both against your actual address and tell you what we find.
Find out which of these is yours.
Give us your address and we will confirm the utility, the programs and the deadlines that apply.
Based in Sacramento, serving Northern California. Call or text 510-773-1922 or email [email protected].