Solar Billing Plan

In December 2022, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved a successor tariff for solar customers, the Net Billing Tariff, now known as Solar Billing Plan (SBP). All new solar customers will be placed on SBP as part of an effort to reduce cross-subsidies for solar customers on one of the legacy Net Energy Metering (NEM) tariffs.

SBP aims to promote grid reliability, incentivize paired solar and battery storage, and control electricity costs for all Californians.

SBP is set to begin April 2024 for residential customers and June 2024 for commercial customers.

What Does This Mean for Solar Customers?

• Solar Billing Plan does not replace Net Energy Metering.
• New solar customers who submitted their interconnection application to PG&E on or after April 15, 2023, will be automatically enrolled into Solar Billing Plan as approved by the CPUC. These customers will be moved to SBP on their true-up date or their permission to operate date.
• NEM 1.0/NetGreen solar customers who are nearing the end of their 20-year legacy will be automatically enrolled into Solar Billing Plan on their true-up date.
• NEM 2.0/NetGreen solar customers who submitted their interconnection application prior to April 15, 2023, will remain in their existing 20-year legacy period before being transferred to SBP or its successor program.

With SBP, solar customers will pay the retail value for the energy they consume from the grid based on the price of their time-of-use (TOU) rate. Under SBP, energy exported to the grid will be priced at its hourly and seasonal value to the grid. One of SBP purposes is to incentivize customers to install battery storage so they can store electricity produced by their solar array in the daytime to use or export to the grid in the evening, at the most valuable and expensive time to use electricity.

Sending extra energy during sunny times will result in a lower financial credit, compared to a higher financial credit during peak hours. Export rates can be found here.