PG&E Net Billing (NEM 3.0) Explained for Solar Homeowners

Updated October 29, 2026 · By the Solar Installer Guide team

PG&E Net Billing credits electricity you send to the grid at hourly export values, rather than the full retail rate. For a new Fresno or Bakersfield solar project, that makes the timing of production and household use central to the design. You receive monthly bills and an annual True-Up, and solar export credits cannot erase the Base Services Charge.

PG&E Net Billing (NEM 3.0) Explained for Solar Homeowners

The short version

Complete interconnection applications on or after April 15, 2023 fall under Net Billing, which PG&E calls the Solar Billing Plan.
Qualifying applications through December 31, 2027 receive a nine-year export schedule measured from Permission to Operate.
Battery use and system size need an hourly usage comparison; a yearly production total leaves out the timing that matters.

Identify which solar billing rules apply

The Net Billing Tariff is commonly called NEM 3.0, while PG&E uses Solar Billing Plan. Complete interconnection applications dated April 15, 2023 or later take this tariff. Existing NEM 1.0 and NEM 2.0 systems have separate legacy rules tied to their original interconnection.

Use the complete application date to identify a new project's tariff.
Check an existing system's interconnection history before interpreting its bill.
A sales contract date is not a substitute for the utility record.

Start the quote discussion by naming the billing plan the proposal assumes. A new solar project in Fresno or Bakersfield should not be presented using an older neighbor's net-metering experience as if the billing were identical. Ask the installer to show the complete application date and tariff assumptions in writing. For an existing system, keep the original utility documentation with the current bill so you can distinguish legacy treatment from a new project's rules.

Permission to Operate, or PTO, is PG&E's written permission to turn on the system. It is distinct from the application and the local inspection, and the system must not be energized before it arrives. PTO also starts the nine-year schedule for eligible Net Billing applications. Keep those milestones separate when reading a proposal: signing, completing the application, finishing the installation and receiving permission each describe a different stage of the project.

Exports earn credits that change by hour

Electricity exported to the grid earns Avoided Cost Calculator values, often shortened to ACC. These values vary by month, hour and weekday or weekend. Export credits can offset per-kWh charges, but they cannot offset fixed, base-service or demand charges.

Export timing affects credit value; annual exported energy is not the whole calculation.
Electricity used at home and electricity exported have different billing effects.
Request the hourly export assumptions behind any proposal's bill analysis.

Think about where each unit of solar electricity goes. If your house uses it while the panels produce it, that energy does not need to be imported from the grid at that time. If you send it to the grid, the export receives the applicable hourly ACC value. A proposal that treats every exported unit as equal to a retail-priced imported unit does not describe PG&E Net Billing. Ask for imports and exports to be shown separately.

The residential Energy Export Bonus Credit, also called ACC Plus, adds a separate amount for eligible applications. The 2026 amounts are $0.0088 per kWh, or $0.036 for eligible low-income customers; the 2027 amounts are $0.0044 and $0.018 respectively. There is no bonus for application years after 2027. NEM-to-Net-Billing transfers and buyers of existing systems do not qualify. These are bonus amounts, not the entire export rate, and the bonus lasts nine years from PTO.

Understand what the nine-year schedule locks

Applications from April 15, 2023 through December 31, 2027 receive a locked nine-year ACC schedule based on the application year's vintage. The clock begins at PTO. This locks a schedule with changing hourly values, rather than a single payment for every exported unit.

The application year selects the ACC vintage; PTO starts the nine-year clock.
After nine years, averaged current export values apply.
Applications after 2027 do not receive this schedule lock-in.

A locked schedule still contains values that vary by time. It is not a fixed retail credit and does not freeze your household usage or promise a bill result. When an installer describes a locked rate, ask exactly which schedule and application year the analysis uses. Then check that the start date is measured from Permission to Operate, rather than from a deposit, contract signature or roof installation date.

After the nine-year period, averaged current values replace that locked schedule. A customer can choose to leave the lock-in early but cannot return to it. That makes an early exit a decision to evaluate using the actual schedules and your usage, rather than a sales shorthand about a better rate. For a long-term proposal, ask the installer to explain the export assumptions both during the locked period and after it ends.

Read monthly bills and the annual True-Up together

Residential Solar Billing Plan customers must use E-ELEC. PG&E sends monthly bills and performs an annual True-Up on a twelve-month cycle tied to the PTO anniversary. Leftover export credits roll into the next period; net excess generation is handled through Net Surplus Compensation.

Review monthly imports, export credits and charges throughout the year.
Keep the PTO anniversary with your records for the annual reconciliation.
Separate carried export credits from payment for annual net excess generation.

The annual True-Up does not turn this into a once-a-year billing plan. Read each monthly statement and compare the recorded imports and exports with the system's operation. In the Central Valley, hot summer air-conditioning demand and winter tule fog make an annual average a limited description of when electricity is used or produced. Those seasonal patterns are reasons to examine the time-based analysis, not a basis for predicting your bill from a neighbor's system.

At the annual reconciliation, distinguish export-credit accounting from net excess generation. Leftover export credits roll to the next period. Net excess generation receives Net Surplus Compensation, which PG&E describes as roughly two to four cents per kWh. That compensation is separate from the hourly export-credit schedule. Ask for both mechanisms to be named in a proposal, especially if its design produces more electricity over the year than the household uses.

Existing NEM customers keep a separate legacy clock

NEM 1.0 and NEM 2.0 customers may keep their legacy tariff for twenty years from interconnection. That period belongs to the system. A homebuyer inherits the years remaining, and a move from NEM 1.0 to NEM 2.0 did not restart the clock.

New NEM 2.0 applications are closed.
A home sale does not itself end the confirmed twenty-year legacy term.
At legacy expiration, the account moves to the Solar Billing Plan at annual True-Up.

If you are buying a Fresno or Bakersfield home with solar, request the original interconnection date and current tariff documentation. The seller's time on the plan does not start over for you. The useful question is how much of the system's twenty-year term remains. If a proposal discusses changing an existing system, have the installer explain its billing assumptions using that actual history rather than treating the project as a blank-slate installation.

The final electrical-clearance deadline also matters for projects that were still seeking NEM 2.0 treatment. Applications without final electrical clearance by 11:59 p.m. on April 14, 2026 moved to the Solar Billing Plan. A past application alone therefore does not establish present legacy status. Check the utility record before accepting an analysis built on NEM 2.0. Do not use an older estimate as proof that the completed project receives the same billing treatment.

The Base Services Charge remains with solar

Since March 2026, PG&E residential bills include a Base Services Charge of $24.15 per month for most customers. The charge is $6.00 for CARE and $12.08 for FERA and deed-restricted affordable housing. Solar customers pay it too, and Net Billing export credits cannot offset it.

The charge is part of residential billing, rather than a solar-only fee.
Per-kWh rates were lowered alongside the billing restructure.
Do not read an export-credit balance as payment of the base charge.

A design that offsets substantial household energy use can still leave fixed charges on the statement. Ask any installer presenting a bill analysis to identify the Base Services Charge separately from energy charges. The applicable amount depends on the customer's billing category; it is not a prediction of the household's total monthly bill. Export credits can offset only eligible per-kWh charges, so adding more projected exports does not make this fixed portion disappear.

The March 2026 restructure also lowered per-kWh rates. That means a comparison based on an older bill needs careful explanation of the rates it uses. Bring current statements and usage records to the discussion instead of relying only on a past annual dollar total. Ask the installer to show which charges change with imported energy and which remain fixed. This makes the assumptions visible without turning a modeled energy balance into a promised bill amount.

Size solar and storage around when you use power

Across our 17 covered Fresno- and Bakersfield-area towns, batteries accompanied a weighted 55% of 13,153 connections from September 2025 through August 2026. That shows storage is common locally. It does not prove the economics for your home or replace an hourly comparison of production and use.

Request matching solar-only and solar-with-battery designs using the same household usage.
Ask how the battery balances later household use, exports and backup reserve.
Separate outage-backup equipment and goals from bill-management assumptions.

A battery can store daytime solar for later use, changing the timing of imports and exports. In a Fresno household using air conditioning into the evening, the relevant question is how production lines up with that demand. A Bakersfield household with substantial daytime use presents a different pattern. Ask the installer to use your interval data and explain charging, discharge and reserve settings. A regional battery share cannot answer those operating questions for either household.

More solar capacity is not automatically a better fit just because it increases annual production. Compare designs that show when energy is used at home, stored or exported, and ask what happens after the locked export schedule ends. Use Is a Solar Battery Worth It in California in 2026? for the backup and storage questions, and How Much Do Solar Panels Cost in Fresno and Bakersfield? (2026 Data) for the limits of reported local price medians.

Frequently asked questions

Is PG&E Net Billing the same as NEM 3.0?

Yes. NEM 3.0 is the common name for the Net Billing Tariff, and PG&E calls it the Solar Billing Plan. Complete interconnection applications on or after April 15, 2023 take this tariff. Existing NEM 1.0 and NEM 2.0 customers have separate legacy terms tied to the system's interconnection date.

Does PG&E pay the retail rate for exported solar?

Under Net Billing, exports earn hourly Avoided Cost Calculator values that vary by month, hour and weekday or weekend. They do not receive the full retail rate. Ask for the actual export schedule and hourly assumptions behind a proposal, rather than accepting a yearly production total as a bill calculation.

Do I still get a bill every month with solar?

Yes. The Solar Billing Plan has monthly bills as well as an annual twelve-month True-Up tied to the PTO anniversary. Solar customers also pay the Base Services Charge. Export credits can offset eligible per-kWh charges, but cannot offset that fixed charge, so the annual energy balance does not describe every part of billing.

Does selling a home end its NEM 2.0 legacy period?

The confirmed legacy rule gives the system twenty years from interconnection. A buyer inherits the remaining years rather than starting a new term or automatically losing legacy treatment at sale. Obtain the interconnection date and tariff documentation so you can identify the remaining period before relying on the seller's billing history.

Do I have to add a battery under Net Billing?

Storage is a design decision to evaluate using your usage, equipment scope and backup goals. The local weighted battery share was 55%, which describes recent connections rather than your household's needs. Ask for comparable designs with and without storage and the hourly operating assumptions behind each, without treating either as a savings promise.

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