Solar Companies in Merced, CA: Installer Counts and License Checks

Installers who connected the most home solar systems on PG&E-served Merced addresses 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). These are PG&E customers whose service address the utility lists under Merced; the Merced Irrigation District customers are not in the data. The CEC's utility map puts the Merced Irrigation District on about 78% of city land on the CEC map, with PG&E on the rest.

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

Home solar on PG&E-served Merced addresses by the numbers

PG&E approved 490 home solar systems at PG&E-served addresses listed as Merced in 2025, from 72 installers; the top three were named on 58% of them. The busiest year since 2021 was 2022, with 717 (2025: -32%). Another 179 were approved from January through May 2026.

2025 mix: 62% leased or on a power purchase agreement, 38% owned by the household; 62% with a battery; median size 6.9 kW DC.

Hiring a solar company in Merced

Solar companies in Merced first need to know which utility serves the address. Merced Irrigation District covers about four-fifths of the city on the Energy Commission's map and still offers net metering, NEM 2.0, to new solar customers, with a $600 residential application fee; PG&E serves the rest under its Solar Billing Plan. The City permits both through SolarAPP+. Compare at least three written bids built on your own bill.

Connecting solar to Merced Irrigation District

MID runs its own electric utility for eastern Merced County, including most of the City of Merced. Its NEM 1.0 rate is closed, but its NEM 2.0 rate is open to new applications, for customer-owned solar up to one megawatt that is meant to offset part or all of the customer's own electricity use. That is a different arrangement from PG&E's Solar Billing Plan, and a proposal should say which one it assumes.

MID's process has five steps. The customer or contractor sends the application packet, with the PV application, Net Metering Payment Agreement, Interconnection Agreement, single-line diagram, equipment specification sheet and system contract, to solar@mercedid.org or MID's Energy Resources office, with a $600 fee for a residential project. MID reviews it and issues approval to proceed with construction, then inspects the system and places the meter, issues permission to operate and sets up the account.

Merced's permits and PG&E addresses

The City reported SolarAPP+ to the Energy Commission as its automated platform, and the SolarAPP+ program lists Merced as accepting solar with storage and main panel upgrades but not main breaker derates. The City's SB 379 reports show a very active market: 2,188 residential solar permits in 2024, about 40% with storage and 32% issued online, then 371 in 2025, about 79% with storage and every one issued online.

About a fifth of the city's area is PG&E territory on the Energy Commission's map. There, the Solar Billing Plan applies: monthly billing, an annual True-Up statement, and Energy Export Bonus Credits for customers who start before 2028. If your bill says PG&E, the MID steps above do not apply to you.

What a Merced quote needs to explain

A comparison to ask for

For an MID address, ask each bidder to model MID's NEM 2.0 rate and to include MID's $600 residential application fee; for a PG&E address, the Solar Billing Plan. A bidder who quotes the same savings for two Merced homes on different utilities has not checked either bill.

Verify the company behind the Merced quote

Match the business name and license number on each Merced proposal to the CSLB record, then use our contractor verification steps, the quote comparison guide and the PPA, loan, lease and cash comparison. What you pay the utility today is on the Merced rates and bills page.

Merced solar quote questions