Understanding Your Bill with Solar

Saving money is one of the biggest reasons for going solar. Homeowners often ask how they can tell how much money they’re saving by producing their own energy. The answer is that you can calculate the return you’re getting on your solar investment fairly easily, but exactly how you go about it depends on your solar billing structure and understanding how your utility company structures the information in your monthly billing statements.

The main difference between solar billing structures is how you’re compensated for “surplus” energy produced by your solar panels which was sent back to the utility grid because you didn’t need to use it. People living in some areas may also be subject to “time of use” billing or “demand charges” which are theoretically meant to reduce strain on the utility grid. 

Beyond this, seeing how much you’re saving with solar is simply a matter of understanding the way that different utility companies organize their billing statements. It would be impossible for us to cover each of the utilities in all of the states we operate in here. Fortunately, most of the major utilities in the states where we’re currently doing solar installs already have guides to interpreting your bill.

CALIFORNIA

Pacific Gas & Electric(Opens in new window)

Southern California Edison(Opens in new window)

Los Angeles Department of Water & Power(Opens in new window)

San Diego Gas & Electric(Opens in new window)

Sacramento Municipal Utility District(Opens in new window)

Glendale Water and Power