Solar Companies in Sacramento, 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 Sacramento

Solar companies in Sacramento file through SolarAPP+ and the City's Public Permit Portal, and the City's application asks for SMUD's interconnection letter, so SMUD comes into the process before the permit. SMUD, not PG&E, is the utility: new solar customers are on its Solar and Storage Rate, which credits exports at 9.6 cents per kWh. Compare at least three written bids built on your own SMUD bill.

Start with your Sacramento electricity bill

Sacramento homes buy electricity from SMUD, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, not PG&E; the Energy Commission's map puts virtually the whole city in SMUD territory. SMUD bills a $27 monthly System Infrastructure Fixed Charge plus Time-of-Day energy prices, and a new solar customer goes on its Solar and Storage Rate, which credits exports at a flat 9.6 cents per kWh. A proposal built on PG&E's rules does not fit a Sacramento home.

Sacramento's SolarAPP+ path, step by step

The City lists four steps. Eligibility: residential structures with one or two units and ADUs only, licensed contractors only, and no ballasted systems. Review: the contractor submits the design to SolarAPP+ with its license information, pays SolarAPP+'s processing fee and downloads the approval documents. Application: in the City of Sacramento Public Permit Portal, under the Building tab, it chooses Residential Solar, enters the SolarAPP+ Approval ID, uploads the approval documents, the City's building application for solar energy systems, the SMUD interconnection letter and the construction plans, and pays the City's fees; a record number is then issued with the permit documents.

Inspection is requested in the same portal as a Residential Safety Inspection Request using that record number. Revisions go back through SolarAPP+. A project that does not qualify, or a contractor that prefers not to use SolarAPP+, can submit the residential solar application directly to the City for review instead.

How SMUD bills a Sacramento solar home

SMUD's standard residential rate is Time-of-Day. Since June 1, 2026, summer prices (June through September) have been $0.1550 per kWh off-peak, $0.2139 mid-peak and $0.3765 during the weekday 5-to-8 p.m. peak; outside summer they are $0.1285 off-peak and $0.1776 at peak. Every account also pays a System Infrastructure Fixed Charge of $27 a month, or $17 on the low-use version.

Customers approved to install solar on or after March 1, 2022 are on the Solar and Storage Rate, which credits every exported kWh at 9.6 cents regardless of hour or season. Power you use yourself avoids the Time-of-Day price, which at the summer peak is almost four times the export credit, so a bid's savings depend heavily on how much of the output it assumes you use at home. Ask each bidder to show that split.

What a Sacramento quote needs to explain

A comparison to ask for

Because the City's solar application asks for SMUD's interconnection letter, a Sacramento bidder should be able to tell you when it will request it from SMUD and roughly when it expects to file with the City. Ask each bidder for that sequence in writing, then compare how each one models SMUD's 9.6-cent export credit against your own hourly use.

Verify the company behind the Sacramento quote

Match the business name and license number on each Sacramento 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 Sacramento rates and bills page.

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

Sacramento solar quote questions