Plug-in solar savings calculator for PG&E, SCE and SDG&E

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Rate plan

Standard (E-1 tariff rate)Time-of-use

Discount program

NoneCAREFERA

Kit

Where will the panels go?

Excellent: south-facing, tilted, no shadeTypical: well-placedShaded or vertical balcony

How much of the kit's power will you use at home?

90%

Power you don't use is sent to the grid and earns nothing, so a kit sized to your daytime use saves the most.

Optional: your rate before any CARE/FERA discount ($/kWh)

Leave blank to use the default rate shown below.

Over the years

What the kit could save over its life if electricity prices keep changing. These are projections, not promises; try the settings.

Yearly change in electricity prices

3.0%

How long the kit lasts

20 years

Panel output lost each year

0.5%

Net savings after 10 years: $2,609
Net savings after 20 years: $7,222
Payback: 3.0 years
Yearly return (IRR): 34.6%
Value today (NPV at 4.94%): $3,952

Savings minus the kit price, year by year

See the numbers by year

Year	Savings that year	Total minus the kit price
1	$322	-$678
2	$330	-$347
3	$339	-$9
4	$347	$338
5	$356	$694
6	$364	$1,058
7	$374	$1,432
8	$383	$1,815
9	$392	$2,207
10	$402	$2,609
11	$412	$3,021
12	$422	$3,443
13	$433	$3,876
14	$444	$4,320
15	$455	$4,774
16	$466	$5,240
17	$477	$5,718
18	$489	$6,207
19	$501	$6,708
20	$514	$7,222

Adding a battery

A battery can store midday power for the expensive evening hours on a time-of-use plan. It isn't backup power, and we never count outages in dollars.

Usable battery size

Sources: Price change: EIA: Electric Power Annual Table 2.10, average price by state, 2025 and 2024 (opens in a new tab) · Lifetime: CraftStrom: warranties (20-year panel product warranty, 80% output after 20 years) (opens in a new tab) · Panel output loss: NREL: Photovoltaic Degradation Rates, an Analytical Review (Jordan and Kurtz, 2012) (opens in a new tab) · Discount rate (Oct 30, 2026): U.S. Treasury: Daily Treasury Par Yield Curve Rates, October 2026 (opens in a new tab) · Battery efficiency: NREL: Cost Projections for Utility-Scale Battery Storage, 2025 Update (85% round-trip efficiency) (opens in a new tab) · PG&E time-of-use rates: PG&E: Schedule E-TOU-C tariff (opens in a new tab). Projections, not promises. Not financial advice.

Your estimate

Savings per year: $322
Simple payback: 3.1 years

Power the kit makes per year: 880 kWh
Used at home: 792 kWh
Sent to the grid (earns $0): 88 kWh

Power you send back to the grid is valued at $0, so only the power you use at home saves money.

Under the 1,200 W AC per-home limit. Wattage is only one SB 868 requirement; the kit also needs safety certification and an outage shut-off.

Savings estimates ignore future rate changes and assume no credit for exported power.

Estimates only. This is not electrical, legal or financial advice.

Next steps

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How we calculated this

PG&E E-1 rate: 40.7¢/kWh
Standard tiered plan (range 32.56¢/kWh to 40.7¢/kWh). Rates from PG&E's E-1 tiered tariff, effective June 1, 2026: Tier 1 for usage within your baseline allowance, Tier 2 above it. Your kit's output cuts your highest-priced usage first, so we use the Tier 2 rate. If your usage stays within your baseline allowance, your savings will be lower.
Source: PG&E: Schedule E-1 residential tiered tariff (opens in a new tab) · checked Oct 22, 2026
Discount program: None
No CARE or FERA discount applied.
You set this.
Placement: Typical: well-placed: 1.1 kWh per watt per year
How much power each watt of panel makes in a year in this spot. Basis: Model Base.
Source: Voltflow: California solar production factors (opens in a new tab) · checked Oct 18, 2026
Power used at home: 90%
Exports earn nothing, so size the kit to what you use during the day. Default 90% (our model's Base case).
You set this.
Example kit (800 W, $1,000): 800 W AC, $1,000.00
Our financial model's Base case: typical 800 W kit at the model's $1,000 average order value. Not a real product.
Source: our financial model
Power sent back to the grid: $0 per kWh
Summaries of SB 868 say plug-in devices are kept off the net billing tariff, so exported power earns nothing. Not yet confirmed against the enacted text.
Not yet confirmed against the enacted text of SB 868.
Fixed monthly charge: Not reduced by solar
Standard customers pay a fixed charge of about $24.15/month (CARE about $6, FERA about $12) that solar cannot remove.
Source: NRG Clean Power: the new California fixed charge (opens in a new tab) · checked Oct 18, 2026