PG&E solar programs in 2026: what PG&E offers and what is closed

Every PG&E solar program, and its status

PG&E’s solar programs fall into three groups. If you have panels, the Solar Billing Plan decides how you are billed. If you cannot install panels, Green Saver and Solar Choice sell you solar power through your bill, but one is full and the other is on hold. The programs that pay money are state programs PG&E lists or administers.

Sources, all checked September 23, 2026: PG&E incentives page, Solar Billing Plan, Green Saver, Solar Choice, Generator and Battery Rebate, CPUC and the SGIP tracker.

Does PG&E pay for solar panels?

No. PG&E’s own page of clean energy incentives lists three programs, all run under state rules: Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH), the Disadvantaged Communities Single-Family Affordable Solar Homes program (DAC-SASH) and the Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP). It sends everyone else to the national DSIRE database (PG&E, checked September 23, 2026). If a salesperson tells you a system comes with a “PG&E rebate,” ask which of those three programs it is and ask for the reservation in writing.

PG&E does give account holders a calculator that estimates cost and payback from your own usage. How to read it is in the PG&E solar calculator guide. If the bill itself is the problem, PG&E’s assistance programs are in help paying your PG&E bill.

If you have solar: the Solar Billing Plan

New PG&E solar customers are billed on the Solar Billing Plan, the utility’s name for the CPUC’s Net Billing Tariff. PG&E says customers who submitted their interconnection application after April 14, 2023 are on it, that residential customers are automatically enrolled in the Electric Home time-of-use rate plan, and that you get monthly statements plus an annual True-Up (PG&E). The CPUC says export credits are “usually lower than the retail rate,” and that residential PG&E and SCE customers who apply to interconnect before the end of 2027 get slightly higher export credits for nine years (CPUC). PG&E calls these Energy Export Bonus Credits and says the credit value is set when your system receives permission to operate. How the monthly statements and the True-Up fit together is in how the Solar Billing Plan bills you.

One charge solar cannot cancel: PG&E’s monthly Base Services Charge, about $24 for most customers from March 2026, “is not eligible to be offset by monthly generation credits” (PG&E). What the net metering lines on a PG&E bill mean is in NEM charges on a PG&E bill, and the difference between the old and new rules is in net billing vs. net metering.

If you cannot put panels on your roof: Green Saver and Solar Choice

Green Saver (20% off, at capacity)

Green Saver is PG&E’s community solar discount for income-qualified customers in disadvantaged communities, the same 20% the CPUC describes for its DAC Green Tariff. PG&E says eligible residential customers get “a 20% discount on electricity bills,” applied on top of any CARE or FERA discount. To qualify you must live in a disadvantaged community as defined by CalEnviroScreen or within a tribal community, be eligible for or enrolled in CARE or FERA, and buy your electricity from PG&E, not a community choice aggregator or Direct Access provider. Customers on any net metering schedule or on master-meter rates cannot join.

The catch is capacity. PG&E says the program “is currently at capacity” and that, as directed by the CPUC, it auto-enrolls eligible customers as space opens. There is no contract and no fee to leave, but you cannot re-enroll for a year after you leave (PG&E, checked September 23, 2026).

Solar Choice (on hold)

Solar Choice lets PG&E generation customers buy solar power to match 50% or 100% of their use, with the charges and credits listed separately on the bill. PG&E says participation “may result in either a bill premium or discount depending on a customer’s rate schedule and PCIA vintage.” Enrollment “is on hold per California Public Utility Commission directive in Decision 21-12-036,” and anyone who tries to enroll goes on a waitlist. Community choice customers and net metering customers are not eligible (PG&E, checked September 23, 2026).

If your power comes from a community choice aggregator, neither program is open to you; ask the aggregator what it offers. Renters’ options across utilities are in solar for renters in California.

Income-qualified homeowners: DAC-SASH

The CPUC says DAC-SASH “enables income-qualified homeowners in DACs to receive no-cost rooftop solar installations.” Eligible customers are single-family homeowners in disadvantaged communities who “must be eligible for CARE or FERA,” or who live in San Joaquin Valley pilot communities. The program pays “$3/watt incentives” and has a budget of $10 million a year from 2019 to 2030. GRID Alternatives administers it statewide, and you apply through GRID (CPUC, checked September 23, 2026).

Whether your household qualifies for CARE or FERA, and how much those discounts take off, is in PG&E CARE and FERA discounts and income limits. What “free solar” offers usually are is in whether free solar panels are real in California.

Batteries: SGIP, not the PG&E portable battery rebate

Two PG&E-branded battery programs are easy to confuse. SGIP is the state incentive for home battery storage, and PG&E administers it in its territory. On September 23, 2026 the SGIP tracker showed most residential categories closed or on a waitlist (SGIP tracker). The category-by-category status is in the SGIP battery rebate guide.

PG&E’s Generator and Battery Rebate Program is for portable equipment, not a home battery wired to solar. It pays “up to $300 per qualified customer account,” plus “up to an additional $200” for CARE or FERA customers, toward a qualifying portable generator or a portable battery of 290 to 1,000 Wh. Your address must be in a Tier 2 or 3 High Fire-Threat District, a High Fire Risk Area, or on an Enhanced Power Safety Settings circuit, and applications are due within 12 months of purchase or by December 31, 2026, whichever is sooner (PG&E). PG&E’s other battery money, including its rebate for customers with repeated safety outages, is covered in PG&E solar battery rebates in 2026.

Offers that use PG&E’s name

Because PG&E does not sell solar, a solar offer is a contract with a private company, whatever the flyer says. The CPUC’s consumer guide lists “You can get free solar energy at no cost to you” and “You will never pay an electricity bill ever again” as false claims to watch for, and says an honest salesperson “would never rush you to sign” (CPUC, checked September 23, 2026). With solar on a PG&E account you keep a PG&E bill, and with a lease, PPA or loan you get a second monthly bill as well.

The same questions apply in other utility territories; see SMUD’s solar programs and LADWP’s solar programs for the two largest city-owned utilities, or solar rebates by California utility for the rest.

A referral request is optional and separate

California Rate Relief is a referral service. We are not a licensed contractor. We are not PG&E and do not run or decide eligibility for any program on this page; apply through PG&E, GRID Alternatives or the SGIP administrator named above.