SDG&E and Solar in 2026: The Solar Billing Plan, the EV-TOU-5 Rate and How Export Credits Work

Solar you add in SDG&E territory today goes on the Solar Billing Plan, California's net billing tariff, and SDG&E puts residential Solar Billing Plan customers on its EV-TOU-5 rate. Power you import is billed at EV-TOU-5 prices; power you export earns credits that change by the hour, from well under a cent at spring middays to about a dollar on some August evenings. The bill comes every month.

This page is one part of our tracker of California electricity rates.

Everything here is from SDG&E's Solar Billing Plan pages, its EV-TOU-5 rate table effective August 1, 2026, its 2026 hourly export-rate file and the CPUC's net billing page, all checked September 23, 2026. SDG&E also has the highest residential average rate of California's three big utilities, 45.5 cents per kWh in June 2026 per the CPUC Public Advocates Office, which is why the value of power you use yourself runs higher here than elsewhere.

Which SDG&E solar plan you are on

There are two groups of SDG&E solar customers. Anyone who applied to interconnect on or after April 15, 2023 takes service on the net billing tariff, the Solar Billing Plan. Customers who connected earlier under net energy metering (NEM 1.0 or 2.0) keep that arrangement for 20 years from their interconnection date, then move to the Solar Billing Plan; SDG&E's Solar Billing Plan page speaks directly to accounts reaching the end of that legacy period. The two plans bill differently, so the first step is knowing which one your bill shows. Our guide to reading an SDG&E bill, with or without solar shows where to look.

EV-TOU-5: what solar customers pay for imports

EV-TOU-5 has the widest price gap of any SDG&E residential plan. Its super off-peak price, about 13 cents, is among the cheapest SDG&E electricity a household can buy, while its summer on-peak price, about 80 cents, is among the highest. That shape is deliberate: it rewards charging a car or battery overnight or at midday and punishes grid use from 4 to 9 p.m. For a solar home, the practical rule is to use or store midday solar and avoid importing in the evening.

What SDG&E pays for exported solar

Solar Billing Plan exports earn two credits: a generation export credit and a delivery export credit. SDG&E sets both for every hour of the year, by month and by weekday or weekend, from the CPUC's Avoided Cost Calculator. SDG&E's own bill guide is clear that generation credits can only offset generation import charges and delivery credits only delivery import charges. The figures below are our reading of SDG&E's 2026 hourly export file, adding the two parts together; the 2026 values are the same for customers without a lock-in and for those who applied in 2026.

Two things follow. Spring and early-summer midday exports are worth almost nothing, often under one cent, while the same kWh used at home avoids a 13-to-50-cent purchase. And a few late-summer evening hours are worth far more than any other time, which is why a battery that can discharge in August and September evenings is worth more under this plan than extra panels that only add midday exports.

The monthly bill and the true-up

SDG&E bills Solar Billing Plan customers every month. Each bill charges for imported energy and applies the month's export credits; extra credits roll forward to later months. The Base Services Charge, customer and meter charges, non-bypassable charges and other fixed charges are what SDG&E calls non-nettable: export credits cannot pay them. After 12 months you receive a true-up bill. If you exported more than you imported over the year, SDG&E applies an Annual True-Up Adjustment for credits already given; if you imported more, the adjustment is zero. Then the account resets.

Legacy NEM customers are billed differently. SDG&E's NEM statement tracks net charges and credits as a running balance to the true-up date, and residential NEM customers may pay the full bill monthly or only part of it. They also moved to the Base Services Charge, which export credits do not offset. How that plan credits exports and how long it lasts are covered in SDG&E net metering (NEM 2.0) rules.

Solar credits and the 9-year lock-in

The CPUC guarantees the original customer who interconnects under the net billing tariff that tariff for nine years, and SDG&E publishes separate export-rate sets for customers who applied in 2025 and in 2026 that qualify for 9-year lock-in rates. The CPUC's summary of the extra “ACC Plus” credit for customers who interconnect before the end of 2027 names residential PG&E and SCE customers; it does not list SDG&E. Ask any proposal which export-rate set it used.

Is solar worth it with SDG&E?

SDG&E's high retail prices make power you use yourself valuable, and the low midday export credits make power you send back at noon worth little. So the economics hinge on self-use and on the evening: a system sized to your daytime load, paired with a battery that covers 4 to 9 p.m., avoids the most expensive imports. A proposal should show your remaining SDG&E bill on EV-TOU-5, including the Base Services Charge, not just a production estimate. For the wider comparison, read NEM 2.0 versus the net billing tariff, battery payback under net billing and the local numbers in San Diego solar savings.

For SDG&E's non-solar plans and hours, see SDG&E time-of-use rates and peak hours; for how SDG&E's prices got here, see SDG&E's rate increase history; and for which rate plan solar customers use at each utility, see solar rates in California.