SDG&E Net Metering: How NEM 2.0 and the Solar Billing Plan Work in San Diego

SDG&E runs two solar billing systems. Homes that applied before April 15, 2023 stay on net energy metering, NEM 2.0, which credits exports at retail rates for 20 years from interconnection. Newer systems are on the Solar Billing Plan, SDG&E’s NEM 3.0, which uses the EV-TOU-5 rate and credits exports at hourly avoided-cost values, with no export bonus in SDG&E territory.

This page is one part of our guide to California solar billing.

This guide covers who is on each plan, what you pay for grid power, how SDG&E splits export credits into generation and delivery, how the true-up works, and what changes if San Diego Community Power or Clean Energy Alliance supplies your electricity.

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Which SDG&E solar plan are you on?

The date your interconnection application went in decides it. The CPUC says customers applying since April 15, 2023 take service on the net billing tariff, which the utilities call the Solar Billing Plan. Earlier applicants kept net energy metering. The CPUC allows NEM 2.0 customers to stay on it for 20 years from the date they interconnected, and SDG&E says that when the legacy period ends, the account moves to the Solar Billing Plan.

From the CPUC’s net billing page, Decision 22-12-056 and SDG&E’s solar pages.

How SDG&E NEM 2.0 works

On NEM 2.0, what you export earns a credit at the retail price for that hour, which the CPUC describes as crediting exports at import rates. The CPUC requires NEM 2.0 customers to take a time-of-use rate and to pay non-bypassable charges on the power they draw in each metered interval. Those charges cannot be erased by credits.

SDG&E lets residential NEM customers pay the bill in full each month, or pay part of it as long as the balance is cleared by the annual anniversary date. At the end of each 12 months you get a true-up bill for what remains; generation credit can go toward it, and then the credit balance resets to zero. SDG&E warns that even a home that exports more than it uses all year may still owe fixed monthly fees. If you exported more than you used over the year, the CPUC says the surplus is paid at net surplus compensation, about 2 to 3 cents per kWh.

SDG&E’s time-of-use plans and current prices for NEM 2.0 homes are in SDG&E peak hours and TOU plans. How long your own account keeps NEM 2.0 is covered in when NEM 2.0 expires.

The Solar Billing Plan: SDG&E’s NEM 3.0

SDG&E says residential Solar Billing Plan customers are on the EV-TOU-5 plan, which has on-peak, off-peak and super off-peak periods. The CPUC’s net billing decision named EV-TOU-5 as SDG&E’s eligible rate for these customers. SDG&E’s total rates table effective August 1, 2026 lists these bundled prices per kWh:

EV-TOU-5 also carries a Base Services Charge of $0.79343 per day, about $24 over a 30-day month, or $0.39688 per day for FERA customers. The spread between super off-peak and on-peak, about 13 cents against 80 cents in summer, is wider than on either PG&E’s or SCE’s net billing rate.

How SDG&E credits what you export

SDG&E issues two credits for each exported kWh: a Generation Export Credit and a Delivery Export Credit. It says generation credits can offset only generation import charges, and delivery credits only delivery import charges. Neither can pay what SDG&E calls required charges: the Base Services Charge, customer, meter and facilities charges, demand charges and surcharges, non-bypassable charges and any fixed charges.

The values are set by the CPUC and vary by time of day and season. SDG&E posts them in an Export Data and Pricing spreadsheet in its My Energy Center; a month-by-month reading of that file is in SDG&E Solar Billing Plan rate and 2026 export credits. The CPUC says the original customer keeps net billing terms for nine years. For how SDG&E’s values compare with the other utilities’, see NEM 3.0 export rates across California.

Why SDG&E customers get no export bonus

PG&E and SCE customers who applied before the end of 2027 get a small fixed bonus on each exported kWh. SDG&E customers do not. In Decision 22-12-056 the CPUC modeled SDG&E residential paybacks at 4.70 to 8.43 years without a bonus, because of the utility’s higher rates. Since that was already under the nine-year target, it set SDG&E’s residential bonus at $0.000 per kWh for CARE and non-CARE customers alike.

Monthly bills and the annual true-up

You still get a monthly bill on the Solar Billing Plan. SDG&E says that in months with excess export credits, the credits roll over to later months until used or until you end service. At the end of each 12-month cycle, SDG&E runs a true-up. If your exports exceeded your imports for the year, it switches the compensation for the excess from avoided-cost values to net surplus compensation rates, which it says keeps the same exports from being paid twice.

That adjustment is one reason a solar bill can look higher than expected at true-up. The other common causes are covered in why NEM charges run high and why an SDG&E bill runs high.

San Diego Community Power and Clean Energy Alliance customers

SDG&E says that if San Diego Community Power or Clean Energy Alliance supplies your electricity, the community choice aggregator sets the price for your generation import charges and generation export credits. SDG&E still handles delivery.

San Diego Community Power says it runs a true-up for the generation portion of your service at the same time as your SDG&E true-up. It pays net surplus at a wholesale rate plus its own $0.0075 per kWh bonus; its table shows $0.03684 per kWh for January 2026. Customers automatically receive a check when the amount is above $100. Clean Energy Alliance customers should ask it for its own terms.

Multiple meters: NEM Aggregation is closed to new applicants

SDG&E says its NEM Aggregation program closed to new applications after February 14, 2024. It says customers who applied after that date would take service on NEM Aggregation temporarily, until their accounts moved to the new Solar Billing Plan Aggregation, which it scheduled for early 2025. How aggregation and virtual net metering work under the CPUC’s newer rules is in virtual net metering and meter aggregation.

Batteries in SDG&E territory

SDG&E’s own Solar Billing Plan page recommends pairing solar with a battery so you can use stored energy during the 4 to 9 p.m. on-peak hours, when prices are highest. With summer on-peak near 80 cents and no export bonus, the hours you use your own solar matter more in San Diego than almost anywhere in the state. The state’s SGIP battery incentive is administered here by the Center for Sustainable Energy, and its equity budget was waitlisted when checked; see the SGIP status page and what a backup battery runs and costs.