Solar Panels in California: 2026 Cost, Incentives & Savings

• Cash

  $3.00/W

  $23,100

  Subset classified as cash

• Middle published case

  $3.60/W

  $27,720

  All host-owned systems

• Loan

  $4.50/W

  $34,650

  Financed subset, before interest

Before incentives. A loan price here excludes interest. The federal residential credit under section 25D ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025. Berkeley Lab, U.S. Distributed Solar and Storage, August 2026 data update.

How to read California

California's 2025 EIA residential average was 31.35 cents per kWh, among the highest in the country. New solar interconnections use the net billing tariff that followed NEM 2.0, with export compensation often far below retail and dependent on the hour. High retail prices and low export prices push the value toward using solar on site, which is why batteries show up in so many California proposals.

Utilities

Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric are the large investor-owned utilities. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Sacramento's SMUD are major municipal utilities with their own rules. Community choice aggregators such as San Jose Clean Energy sit on top of PG&E delivery. The bill can show both.

Export credits and tariffs

Do not model a new California system as classic one-for-one net metering. The CPUC net billing tariff for new applications after the NEM 2.0 sunset pays exports on an avoided-cost basis. Older systems may remain on older riders. The proposal must say which one it used. Our estimate uses the EIA state average and will look optimistic if most of your energy is exported.

Climate and roofs

Coastal marine layers, Central Valley heat, and wildfire-related outages are three different solar conversations. Coastal roofs may see less annual sun than inland roofs a short drive away. Public Safety Power Shutoffs made backup a practical topic in some counties. A battery for outages is not the same purchase as a battery for export shifting.

Cities

• Los Angeles

  LADWP and SCE split the basin. Net billing and municipal rules are not the same document.

• San Diego

  SDG&E, a strong coastal resource, and the same statewide net billing shift as the rest of the investor-owned utilities.

• San Jose

  PG&E wires, a community choice aggregator on many bills, and a South Bay roof stock of single-family houses.

• Sacramento

  SMUD, a municipal utility with its own solar rules, in a hot-summer Central Valley city.

• Fresno

  PG&E in the San Joaquin Valley: hot summers, a strong resource, and high bills for cooling.

• Riverside

  A municipal utility inside the city and SCE in the surrounding Inland Empire.