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PG&E net metering: how solar credits work

PG&E has two plans for home solar. If you applied on or after April 15, 2023, you are on the Net Billing Tariff (NBT), which PG&E also calls the Solar Billing Plan. It does not net your kWh: you pay for each kWh that you take from the grid, and you get a credit in dollars for each kWh that you send to the grid, at a value that changes by month and hour. Older systems stay on net energy metering (NEM2) for 20 years.

New solar (from April 15, 2023)
Net billing
no netting: imports billed, exports credited in dollars
Required rate
E-ELEC
Residential Time-of-Use (Electric Home)
Export credit
By hour
Export Compensation Rate, locked for 9 years
Older solar
NEM2
for 20 years from permission to operate

The Net Billing Tariff values each kWh sent to the grid by month and hour, so the bill depends on when your panels export. To see the import part of the bill, use the PG&E E-ELEC calculator. With your hourly usage file, compare PG&E plans with your Green Button data.

Net Billing Tariff (applications from April 15, 2023)

  • Homes on NBT must take the E-ELEC rate (Electric Home), a time-of-use rate.[1]
  • There is no netting of the kWh that you take from the grid (imports) and the kWh that you send to the grid (exports). Imports are billed at the E-ELEC rates. Exports get a credit at the Export Compensation Rate.[2]
  • The Export Compensation Rate is a value in dollars per kWh for each month, hour and day type (weekday or weekend), from the CPUC Avoided Cost Calculator. PG&E posts the values at pge.com/energyexportcredit.[3]
  • If you applied from April 15, 2023 to December 31, 2027, your export values are locked in for nine years from the date of your permission to operate.[3]
  • Export credits pay only for the kWh charges of your bill. They do not pay the fixed charges (such as the base services charge) or the non-bypassable charges.[2]
  • You pay non-bypassable charges on each kWh that you take from the grid: Public Purpose Program, Nuclear Decommissioning, Competition Transition and Wildfire Fund charges.[2]
  • You pay each month. At the end of each 12-month period (the true-up), extra export credits carry forward to the next year. If you send more kWh to the grid than you use in the year, you get net surplus compensation for the extra kWh.[4]

ACC Plus: an extra credit for the first five years

  • Homes that apply in the first five years of NBT get an extra credit per kWh exported, the ACC Plus (also called the Energy Export Bonus Credit). The amount depends on the year of your complete application and stays the same for nine years from your permission to operate. It can pay any charge on the bill.[5][2]
ACC Plus credit by year of complete application, dollars per kWh exported[5]
Customer20232024202520262027
Residential$0.0220$0.0176$0.0132$0.0088$0.0044
Residential low income$0.0900$0.0720$0.0540$0.0360$0.0180

NEM2 (applications before April 15, 2023)

  • NEM2 is closed to new customers who applied after April 14, 2023.[6]
  • Customers on NEM2 can stay on it for 20 years from the date that they first got permission to operate.[7]
  • On a time-of-use rate, NEM2 nets the kWh in each time-of-use period of the month. Extra kWh in a period get a credit at the same price per kWh as that period.[8]
  • NEM2 customers also pay the non-bypassable charges on the kWh that they take from the grid. Export credits do not reduce them.[8]

Questions

Does PG&E still have net metering?

Only for older systems. Systems with an application on or after April 15, 2023 are on the Net Billing Tariff (Solar Billing Plan), with export credits by month and hour. NEM2 customers can stay on NEM2 for 20 years from their first permission to operate.

Which rate do I need with PG&E solar?

Homes on the Net Billing Tariff must take the E-ELEC rate (Electric Home).

Sources

  1. PG&E Electric Schedule NBT, Sheet 1 (Cal. P.U.C. Sheet No. 61546-E), Applicability. Effective August 28, 2026.
  2. PG&E Electric Schedule NBT, Sheets 16 and 17 (Cal. P.U.C. Sheet Nos. 57358-E and 57359-E), Special Condition 2, Billing. Effective February 15, 2024.
  3. PG&E Electric Schedule NBT, Sheet 10 (Cal. P.U.C. Sheet No. 59900-E), Export Compensation Rate. Effective July 1, 2024.
  4. PG&E Electric Schedule NBT, Sheets 18 and 19 (Cal. P.U.C. Sheet Nos. 57360-E and 57361-E), Relevant Period, Energy True-up and Payment Process. Effective February 15, 2024.
  5. PG&E Electric Schedule NBT, Sheet 11 (Cal. P.U.C. Sheet No. 57255-E), Avoided Cost Calculator Plus (ACC Plus). Effective July 1, 2024.
  6. PG&E Electric Schedule NEM2, Sheet 1 (Cal. P.U.C. Sheet No. 59440-E), Applicability. Effective November 3, 2023.
  7. PG&E Electric Schedule NEM2, Sheet 31 (Cal. P.U.C. Sheet No. 59213-E), Special Condition 8, NEM2 Legacy Provisions. Effective January 22, 2025.
  8. PG&E Electric Schedule NEM2, Sheets 11 and 13 (Cal. P.U.C. Sheet Nos. 56733-E and 61194-E), Billing on a time-of-use rate and non-bypassable charges. Effective March 1, 2026.

We read these documents on October 24, 2026. The tariff and the rules of the state regulator decide your bill. See also the solar savings calculator and net metering at FPL, Duke Energy Florida. All utilities: net metering by utility.