Solar Companies in Elk Grove, CA: Installer Counts and License Checks

Installers who connected the most home solar systems in Sacramento County in 2025

Counts from utility records, not a ranking or endorsement. Check each license's status and complaint history on the CSLB's Check a License page (checked Sept. 24, 2026). The data set covers PG&E, SCE and SDG&E customers only, so in Sacramento County it counts the areas PG&E serves.

Source: California Distributed Generation Statistics (CPUC), Interconnected Project Sites data set, data through May 31, 2026 (checked Sept. 24, 2026).

Home solar in Sacramento County by the numbers

PG&E approved 20 home solar systems in Sacramento County in 2025, from 17 installers; the top three were named on 30% of them. The busiest year since 2021 was 2023, with 41 (2025: -51%). Another 6 were approved from January through May 2026.

2025 mix: 40% leased or on a power purchase agreement, 60% owned by the household; 30% with a battery; median size 7.45 kW DC.

Hiring a solar company in Elk Grove

Solar companies in Elk Grove work with SMUD, not PG&E, and need an approval letter from SMUD before the City will accept a solar application; the CCSD Fire Department also signs off before a SolarAPP+ permit and whenever a battery is installed. The City issues SolarAPP+ permits through eTRAKiT for rooftop systems up to 38.4 kW. SMUD buys exported power at 9.6 cents per kWh. Compare at least three written bids built on your SMUD bill.

Start with your Elk Grove electricity bill

Elk Grove is entirely SMUD territory on the California Energy Commission's utility map, so neither PG&E's Solar Billing Plan nor a community choice provider applies. New systems go on SMUD's Solar and Storage Rate, which pays 9.6 cents per kWh for exported power at any hour or season, and SMUD caps system size at 110% of your last twelve months of use, or 120% with a battery. A proposal built on PG&E's export credits is modeling the wrong utility.

SMUD, CCSD Fire and the City: three sign-offs

An Elk Grove solar job touches three agencies. SMUD comes first: the City will not take a residential solar application without SMUD's approval letter, and SMUD's solar team handles that step. For the automated SolarAPP+ route, the City's steps also call for an approval letter from the CCSD Fire Department, and CSD Fire approval is required any time a battery backup system is installed.

Only then does the permit itself come in. Every residential solar submittal goes through eTRAKiT. Eligible projects use SolarAPP+: main-dwelling rooftop systems up to 38.4 kilowatts, no ballasted or building-integrated panels, licensed C-46, C-10 or B contractors only, and service equipment up to a 400-amp main service with 225-amp disconnects and busbars. SolarAPP+ charges a $25 processing fee that covers up to three revisions. Other projects take plan review, which the City asks you to allow at least three business days for, or ten for a system over 38.4 kW.

How SMUD treats an Elk Grove solar home

SMUD, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, sets its own solar rules. New systems go on its Solar and Storage Rate, which buys exported power at 9.6 cents per kWh whatever the hour or season. SMUD lets a system be sized up to 110% of the last twelve months of consumption, or up to 120% on the Solar and Storage Rate if a battery is added, and it charges a one-time interconnection fee on every new solar, solar-plus-storage or storage-only system, applied since March 1, 2022 and collected with the application.

SMUD does not sell solar systems and offers no rebate for solar panels, but it does offer battery storage incentives. The contractor you choose files the interconnection application with SMUD; SMUD says the contractor should hold a C-10 electrician's license or a C-46 solar license. Elk Grove has not filed an annual SB 379 permit report in the Energy Commission's data file, so ask each bidder how many Elk Grove jobs it has taken through SMUD recently.

What an Elk Grove quote needs to explain

A comparison to ask for

Because SMUD limits the system to 110% of your past year's use, or 120% with a battery, two bids for the same Elk Grove home should land on similar sizes. If one is much larger, ask how it fits SMUD's limit. Then compare what each design exports at 9.6 cents against what it saves on power you would otherwise buy from SMUD.

Verify the company behind the Elk Grove quote

Match the business name and license number on each Elk Grove proposal to the CSLB record, then use our contractor verification steps, the quote comparison guide and the PPA, loan, lease and cash comparison.

Permit fees and the filing route are on the Elk Grove solar cost and permit page.

Elk Grove solar quote questions