When Does NEM 2.0 Expire? How to Find Your Date and Plan for It

NEM 2.0 expires 20 years after your solar system was interconnected to the grid. That is the CPUC’s rule, set in its 2014 transition decision, and it runs account by account, not on one statewide date. NEM 2.0 began in 2016, so the first accounts reach their 20 years in the mid-2030s. The last ones, from applications filed just before the April 2023 cutoff, run into the mid-2040s.

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

Your exact date depends on when your system got Permission to Operate. Here is how to find it, what can end NEM 2.0 early, what doesn’t, and what to plan before your account moves to the current tariff.

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The rule: 20 years from interconnection

The CPUC says that under Decision 14-03-041, customers may remain on NEM 2.0 for 20 years from the date they interconnected, or switch to the current tariff if they choose. It created NEM 2.0 in 2016 under AB 327, after NEM 1.0 reached its sunset dates in 2016 and 2017, and closed it to new applicants when net billing took effect for applications filed on or after April 15, 2023.

SCE spells out the start of the clock: the eligibility period begins on the account’s Permission to Operate date. SCE says NEM 1.0 closed to new customers in 2017, so its earliest NEM 2.0 systems reach 20 years around 2037. SCE also let NEM 2.0 applications it had already deemed valid submit final documents until April 14, 2026, so a few SCE systems interconnected as late as 2026 keep NEM 2.0 into the mid-2040s.

How to find your own date

1. Find the Permission to Operate letter or email from your utility. The date on it is the starting point SCE uses.
2. Check your bill or online account for the program name, NEM 1.0, NEM 2.0 or the Solar Billing Plan.
3. Add 20 years, and put the year on your calendar.
4. Ask the utility to confirm the date in writing if anything about the system changed since installation.

What ends NEM 2.0 early

The common way to lose NEM 2.0 before 20 years is expanding the system too much. SCE lets NEM 1.0 and 2.0 customers stay on their program if they expand by no more than the greater of 1 kW or 10 percent of the original system size. Past that, the account moves to the Solar Billing Plan. Other utilities set their own limits, so get yours in writing before adding panels, and read our guide to adding panels to an existing system.

You can also leave voluntarily. The CPUC’s rule allows NEM 2.0 customers to switch to the current tariff. For most homes that would mean giving up retail-rate export credits early, so it rarely makes sense without a specific reason.

What doesn’t end it

A battery by itself doesn’t. SCE says adding only an eligible new energy storage system to your system does not affect the remainder of your 20-year NEM eligibility period, and Tesla’s support page says current policy lets NEM 1.0 and 2.0 customers add battery storage after Permission to Operate. Keep the solar capacity unchanged, and see adding a Powerwall to existing solar for the design limits.

Selling the house doesn’t either, at least at SCE. It says moving in or out of a residence with a NEM system, or transferring the account to someone else’s name, does not affect the NEM eligibility period of the original system. That is different from net billing, where the CPUC’s 2022 decision ties the nine-year legacy period to the customer who installed the system.

What happens on the day it ends

SCE says a NEM account continues on its current program until the 20-year period expires or the account loses eligibility, whichever comes first, and then moves automatically to the Solar Billing Plan or the successor plan available at that time. There is no application to file.

Two consequences follow. Your exports will be credited at hourly avoided-cost values instead of retail rates, which the CPUC says are usually lower. And the CPUC says customers who move to net billing from an earlier NEM tariff are not eligible for net billing’s nine-year legacy period, so the values you get will be whatever the tariff sets at the time.

NEM 1.0 accounts are expiring now

NEM 1.0 has the same 20-year structure, and because it dates to 1996, its oldest accounts have already reached the limit. PG&E’s solar bill page says NEM1 customers can remain on NEM1 for up to 20 years from interconnection and then transition to the NEM successor tariff, which that page lists as NEM2. PG&E’s Solar Billing Plan page, describing business customers from March 2026, lists those whose 20-year NEM agreement expired among the accounts billed on the Solar Billing Plan. If you have an older system, ask PG&E in writing which tariff your account moves to and when.

Planning the years before your date

The value of solar on NEM 2.0 is front-loaded: while it lasts, midday exports earn close to retail. After the switch, the same exports earn far less, and the math starts to favor using solar at home or storing it for the evening. That makes the last few NEM 2.0 years a good time to decide, without pressure, whether a battery belongs in your plan and what your panels and inverter need by then. The export values under net billing show what your credits will look like after the change.