Solar still pays in Southern California Edison territory because SCE charges about 34 cents per kWh, nearly double the national average, and the Inland Empire sun is strong. But every new SCE system is on NEM 3.0 net billing, which pays little for exported power, so a battery drives the savings. MySolarFY estimates a roughly 9-year simple payback on a cash 6 kW solar-only system in SCE territory, as of August 2026.
Southern California Edison, SCE for short, is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, serving about 15 million people across central and southern California. Its residential power is expensive, close to double the national average, and the Inland Empire gets some of the best rooftop sun in the country, so solar still pays across SCE territory. The catch is that the rules changed. Since April 2023 every new SCE solar customer is placed on California’s NEM 3.0 Net Billing Tariff, which credits the power you export at a low avoided-cost value instead of the full retail rate, so a battery now does much of the heavy lifting. This guide covers SCE’s rates, how its net billing actually works, the strong Inland Empire production, the California incentives that still apply in 2026, and the honest payback math, then you can check your address in about a minute. Updated for 2026.
SCE solar in 60 seconds
- SCE charges about 34 cents per kWh, nearly double the U.S. average, which is what makes solar pay. Its average residential rate is roughly 34 cents per kWh as of July 2026 (SCE rate advisory), against a U.S. average near 18.83 cents (EIA, as of March 2026).
- Every new SCE solar home is on NEM 3.0, the Net Billing Tariff. Exported power is credited at low avoided-cost values, not retail, under CPUC Decision D.22-12-056, for interconnection applications submitted on or after April 15, 2023 (CPUC, as of 2026).
- A battery is now central to the payback, not a luxury add-on. SCE’s residential time-of-use plans price power highest from 4 to 9 pm, exactly when your panels wind down, so storing your own midday solar to use in the evening is where the value sits under NEM 3.0.
- Inland Empire production is strong. A 6 kW system is modeled at about 9,988 kWh a year in coastal Irvine and 10,298 kWh a year in Riverside (NREL PVWatts, 2026).
- California incentives still help, but the big battery rebate narrowed. The general-market SGIP battery rebate closed to new applicants at the end of 2025; only income-qualified programs remain, alongside a property-tax exclusion that sunsets January 1, 2027 (California BOE, as of 2026).
- The 30% federal homeowner credit (Section 25D) ended after December 31, 2025 (IRS, as of January 2026), so an SCE customer who buys solar in 2026 cannot claim it.
Key numbers for an SCE solar home
- SCE average residential rate: about 34 cents per kWh, as of July 2026 (SCE).
- California statewide residential average: about 35.25 cents per kWh, as of April 2026 (EIA).
- U.S. residential average: about 18.83 cents per kWh, as of March 2026 (EIA).
- Live 6 kW production range: about 9,988 kWh a year in coastal Irvine to 10,298 kWh a year in Riverside (NREL PVWatts, 2026).
- Estimated simple payback, cash solar-only system under NEM 3.0: roughly 9 years before income-qualified programs (MySolarFY estimate, see the table below).
- California property-tax exclusion on the added solar value: active, sunsetting January 1, 2027 (California BOE).
Is solar worth it in SCE territory in 2026?
Usually, yes. For most owner-occupied SCE homes with decent sun, solar pays off. SCE’s average residential rate is about 34 cents per kWh as of July 2026 (SCE), nearly double the national average, so every kilowatt-hour you make and use on site offsets an expensive one. Our own estimate puts a cash solar-only 6 kW system near a 9-year simple payback under NEM 3.0, and a battery captures more of that value by shifting your midday solar into SCE’s costly 4 to 9 pm peak. Payback runs a little longer than in PG&E’s even pricier territory, but the strong Inland Empire sun helps close the gap. Savings depend on your roof, your usage, and whether you add storage, but SCE’s high rates and strong sun are what make its territory a solid solar market. The rest of this page shows the rate math, the net-billing rules, and the payback behind that answer.
Why SCE’s rates make solar pay across Southern California
Because the power it replaces is expensive. Solar pays on an SCE account for that one reason. SCE’s average residential rate is about 34 cents per kWh as of July 2026 (SCE rate advisory), a little below the California statewide average of about 35.25 cents that PG&E’s higher prices pull up, but still nearly double the U.S. average of 18.83 cents (EIA, as of 2026). Most SCE homes are billed on a time-of-use plan such as TOU-D-4-9PM or TOU-D-PRIME, where the price climbs during the 4 to 9 pm peak, so the kilowatt-hours you can offset in those evening hours are the most expensive ones on the grid.
That rate gap is the case for going solar in SCE territory. Every kilowatt-hour your roof makes and you use on site is one you do not buy from SCE at 30-plus cents. The catch, and the reason this page keeps returning to batteries, is timing: SCE’s highest prices land roughly 4 to 9 pm, exactly when your panels are winding down for the day. How you capture the midday production you do not use on the spot is what NEM 3.0 changed.
| Residential electricity rate | Approximate rate (cents per kWh) | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| SCE average residential | 34 | SCE rate advisory, Jul 2026 |
| California statewide residential average | 35.25 | EIA, Apr 2026 |
| U.S. residential average | 18.83 | EIA, Mar 2026 |
See what solar and battery programs are available in your SCE ZIP code
Solar incentives, net-billing credits, installer availability, and electric rates change by utility and location. Enter your ZIP and we’ll match you with licensed installers who serve your area.
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Submitted securely and used to match you with licensed installers in your area. Some homeowners may qualify for $0-up-front lease or PPA options where available; those agreements can carry annual price escalators, may cost more over time than paying cash, and the system owner claims any available tax credit, not you.
Which cities and counties does SCE serve?
Much of central and southern California, but not everywhere. SCE covers about 50,000 square miles across 15 counties, from the coast to the desert, serving roughly 15 million people through about 5 million electric accounts (SCE company profile, as of 2026). That footprint includes big solar markets such as the Inland Empire (much of San Bernardino and Riverside counties), most of Orange County, Ventura County, the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, and parts of the Central Valley. If SCE is the utility named on your bill and it owns your meter, your solar interconnection and net billing run through SCE, and the rules on this page apply to you.
Important local trap: several cities inside SCE’s footprint run their own municipal utilities and are not on SCE or NEM 3.0. The city of Riverside (Riverside Public Utilities), Anaheim (Anaheim Public Utilities), Pasadena, Burbank, Glendale, Azusa, and Colton all have municipal power, so they set their own net-metering rules and their solar math is different. The city of Los Angeles is served by LADWP, and San Diego and far south Orange County by SDG&E. Confirm the utility on your actual bill before you compare quotes, because your address, not your city name, decides whether NEM 3.0 applies.
For the neighboring investor-owned utilities and the citywide picture, see our guides to solar under PG&E and NEM 3.0 in Northern and Central California and solar in Los Angeles under LADWP, which is off NEM 3.0. For SCE cities with their own guides, see solar in Long Beach, solar in Santa Ana, and solar in Irvine. For the statewide picture that sits behind all of this, start with our California solar and NEM 3.0 hub.
How does NEM 3.0 net billing work with SCE?
It credits your exported power at a low avoided-cost value, not the retail rate. NEM 3.0 is the biggest change to the SCE solar math, and it is why a new solar owner can still see a real SCE bill. California moved new solar customers onto the Net Billing Tariff under CPUC Decision D.22-12-056, which applies to SCE interconnection applications submitted on or after April 15, 2023 (CPUC, as of 2026). Under the old NEM 2.0, exported power earned close to the full retail rate. Under NEM 3.0, SCE credits your exports at avoided-cost values that are usually a fraction of retail, so simply pushing extra power to the grid at noon no longer covers your evening usage the way it once did.
A battery is what closes that gap on an SCE account. Because midday exports pay so little and evening power costs so much, storing your own production to run the house through the 4 to 9 pm peak is where the value now is. That is the core reason batteries sit on most new SCE solar systems, and it is also why an honest SCE payback estimate has to model solar with and without storage rather than assume the old one-to-one credit. A solar-only system still pencils out at SCE’s rates, but storage is what captures the value NEM 3.0 shifted into the evening. Homeowners who submitted a complete interconnection application before April 15, 2023 are generally grandfathered on NEM 2.0 for about 20 years, so the near-retail export math still applies to them. For the mechanics in plain English, see how net metering and net billing credit your solar exports. For how the statewide rules work, read how California NEM 3.0 net billing works.
| Export rule | NEM 2.0 (grandfathered) | NEM 3.0 Net Billing Tariff (new since April 2023) |
|---|---|---|
| Who is on it | Complete SCE interconnection application submitted before April 15, 2023 | New SCE solar applications submitted on or after April 15, 2023 |
| Value of exported power | Near full retail rate | Low avoided-cost value, a fraction of retail |
| Term | About 20 years from interconnection | Ongoing for new systems |
| What it rewards | Exporting surplus to the grid | Using or storing your own production on site |
SCE production: strong sun from the coast to the Inland Empire
A 6 kW system makes roughly 10,000 to 10,300 kWh a year here. Using NREL’s PVWatts model, a home in coastal Irvine (ZIP 92618) is estimated at about 9,988 kWh a year, a home in Riverside (ZIP 92503) in the sunnier Inland Empire at about 10,298 kWh a year, and San Bernardino (ZIP 92408) near 10,142 kWh (NREL PVWatts, 2026). These are strong numbers, and the extra Inland Empire sun helps a system offset more of your own usage before you ever export a kilowatt-hour, which is exactly what pays under net billing.
Your roof is not a ZIP code average, so model your own before you size a system. Pitch, orientation, and shading from trees, hills, or a neighboring building move these figures up or down, and your ideal system size under NEM 3.0 depends more on your evening usage and whether you add a battery than on squeezing out the last kilowatt-hour. Run your exact address on NREL’s free PVWatts calculator, then use the payback table below as a starting frame.
What is the real payback on an SCE solar system under NEM 3.0?
Here is our own estimate for a representative SCE home, with and without a battery. The table below is an original MySolarFY calculation, not a figure lifted from another site. It uses a 6 kW system producing about 10,150 kWh a year (the middle of the live PVWatts range above), values on-site use near SCE’s retail rate of about 34 cents per kWh, and values exported power at a low avoided-cost rate near 6 cents per kWh under NEM 3.0. Without a battery we assume about half your production is used on site and half exported; with a 13 kWh battery we assume about 85 percent is used on site. Costs are typical cash prices before any incentives. Treat these as estimates to frame your own quotes, not a guarantee.
| Scenario (6 kW, SCE territory, NEM 3.0) | Estimated cash cost, before incentives | How your solar is valued | Estimated first-year savings | Estimated simple payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar only, no battery | About $18,000 | Roughly half used on site at retail (near 34 cents), half exported at avoided cost (near 6 cents) | About $2,030 | Roughly 9 years |
| Solar plus a 13 kWh battery | About $30,000 | Most solar stored and used on site through the 4 to 9 pm peak, little low-value export | About $3,000 | Roughly 10 years |
How we derived first-year savings: we assume about 50 percent of production is used on site without a battery, versus about 85 percent with a 13 kWh battery, valuing on-site use near 34 cents per kWh (SCE retail) and exports near 6 cents per kWh (an illustrative NEM 3.0 avoided-cost value). Actual avoided-cost credits vary hour by hour and by season. Production of about 10,150 kWh a year is the midpoint of the coastal-to-Inland-Empire PVWatts range, and it assumes a home whose usage the 6 kW system roughly matches, on the order of a $2,900 to $3,400 annual SCE energy bill at these rates. Real avoided-cost export credits run lower in the shoulder seasons, so treat the 6-cent value as illustrative. Costs are typical cash prices before incentives and vary by installer and equipment.
Notice the payback is close either way, but what you get is not. A battery does not shorten payback dramatically at today’s prices, but it captures far more of your solar’s value under NEM 3.0, shields you from SCE’s most expensive peak hours, and keeps essential circuits running during a Public Safety Power Shutoff or other outage, which SCE’s foothill and high-fire-risk areas see more than most. To weigh storage specifically, see our guide to what a home solar battery costs and when it pays off.
Which California solar incentives still apply on an SCE account in 2026?
A property-tax break and a set of income-qualified programs. California has no state solar income-tax credit, so those are the incentives that matter on an SCE account. The state’s active solar energy system exclusion keeps the added home value of a solar system out of a property-tax reassessment, which is worth real money on California home values, but it is scheduled to sunset on January 1, 2027 (California BOE, as of 2026). A system that qualifies before that date keeps the exclusion until the home next changes ownership, so installing ahead of the sunset locks it in. The big battery rebate most people ask about, the Self-Generation Incentive Program, closed its general-market residential track to new applicants at the end of 2025; what remains in 2026 are the income-qualified paths, including the Residential Solar and Storage Equity (RSSE) program that opened statewide for income-qualified households in 2025 (CPUC SGIP, as of 2026).
| Incentive or program | What it does | Status in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| California active solar property-tax exclusion | Keeps the added home value of a solar system out of a property-tax reassessment | Active, scheduled to sunset January 1, 2027 (BOE) |
| SGIP, general-market battery rebate | Rebated home battery storage for typical residential customers | Closed to new general-market applicants at the end of 2025 (CPUC) |
| SGIP income-qualified and equity battery tracks | Higher battery incentives for income-qualified and high-fire-risk customers | Available to those who qualify (CPUC) |
| Residential Solar and Storage Equity (RSSE) | Solar-plus-battery help for income-qualified households, funded through AB 209 | Active, opened statewide for income-qualified households in 2025 (CPUC) |
| California state solar income-tax credit | A state credit against income tax | Does not exist; California has no state solar tax credit (DSIRE) |
Because these programs are set by the state and the CPUC rather than by SCE, they apply the same way across the territory. We keep the full statewide detail on our California home solar guide rather than repeating it in full here.
What the federal tax-credit change means for SCE customers
The federal homeowner credit is gone. But California’s programs and SCE’s high rates are not. The 30% federal Residential Clean Energy Credit, Section 25D, ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025, under the One Big Beautiful Bill, so an SCE customer who buys solar with cash or a loan in 2026 cannot claim it (IRS; IRS OBBB FAQ, as of January 2026). You will still see installer pages and AI answers claiming the 30% credit is available; the accurate answer for 2026 is that the homeowner version already ended.
One federal exception exists, and it is not yours to claim. A separate commercial credit, Section 48E, can apply to a leased or PPA system, but the business that owns the panels claims it, not the homeowner (IRS, as of 2026). On a lease or PPA you do not file for a federal credit yourself; the system owner does. The 25D homeowner credit, by contrast, ended after December 31, 2025. For the full timeline, see what the federal solar tax credit change means in 2026.
How to choose a solar installer in SCE territory
SCE territory has one of the deepest solar and storage markets in the country, from local Southern California companies to national brands, which is good for you because it means real competition on price and service. Rather than chasing a “best installer” list, screen any company against objective criteria:
- A valid California Contractors State License Board (CSLB) license, typically a C-46 solar or C-10 electrical classification, which you can verify online.
- NABCEP certification, the industry’s professional standard for PV and storage installers.
- Real experience with SCE interconnection and permission to operate, so your paperwork and inspection go smoothly.
- Battery and NEM 3.0 experience, since storage sizing is now central to the payback, not an afterthought.
- A clear written workmanship and equipment warranty, and a transparent quote that models your exports at real NEM 3.0 avoided-cost values, not the old retail credit. For a checklist, see how net billing affects what a fair quote should assume.
If you are in the Los Angeles, San Diego, or Inland Empire area, our guide to solar permitting in Southern California covers the local approval process. MySolarFY matches you with licensed installers that serve your SCE ZIP code so you can compare real local quotes side by side, with no obligation.
Check which solar and battery programs are available at your address →
Frequently asked questions
Is solar worth it on an SCE account in 2026? For most owner-occupied SCE homes with decent sun, yes. SCE’s average residential rate is about 34 cents per kWh as of July 2026 (SCE), nearly double the national average, so every kilowatt-hour you make and use on site offsets an expensive one. Our estimate puts a cash solar-only system near a 9-year simple payback under NEM 3.0. Savings are not guaranteed and depend on your roof, your usage, whether you add a battery, and how you pay, but SCE’s high rates and strong Inland Empire sun are what make its territory a solid solar market.
Do you still pay SCE if you have solar? Yes, almost always. With solar you remain an SCE customer, keep your grid connection, and still receive a monthly bill that includes fixed charges and any grid power you use beyond what your system offsets. Under NEM 3.0 your exported power is credited at low avoided-cost values rather than the retail rate, so a solar-only home can still owe SCE during the expensive 4 to 9 pm peak (CPUC, as of 2026). Sizing your system to your usage and adding a battery are how you shrink that remaining bill, which is why so many SCE solar homes now pair panels with storage.
Does NEM 3.0 apply to SCE? Yes. SCE is a CPUC-regulated investor-owned utility, so every solar interconnection submitted on or after April 15, 2023 is placed on the NEM 3.0 Net Billing Tariff under CPUC Decision D.22-12-056 (CPUC, as of 2026). Exports are credited at low avoided-cost values instead of the retail rate. Homes interconnected before that date are generally grandfathered on NEM 2.0 for about 20 years. Nearby municipal utilities such as Riverside Public Utilities, Anaheim Public Utilities, and LADWP in Los Angeles are not CPUC-regulated and are not on NEM 3.0.
What are SCE’s peak hours for solar? On SCE’s residential time-of-use plans, including TOU-D-4-9PM and TOU-D-PRIME, the highest prices land from 4 to 9 pm, generally on weekdays (SCE, as of 2026). That evening window is exactly when rooftop solar production drops off, so under NEM 3.0 the smart move is to store your midday solar in a battery and use it during those expensive hours rather than export it at a low avoided-cost credit. It is why storage sizing now drives the SCE payback.
What happened to the federal solar tax credit for SCE customers? The 30% federal Residential Clean Energy Credit (Section 25D) ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025, under the One Big Beautiful Bill, so an SCE customer who buys solar in 2026 with cash or a loan cannot claim it (IRS, as of January 2026). You will still see installer pages and AI answers implying it is available, but the homeowner version already ended. A separate commercial credit, Section 48E, can apply to a leased or PPA system, but the company that owns the system claims it, not you. California’s property-tax exclusion and income-qualified programs were not affected by the federal change.
Do I need a battery to make solar work with SCE? Not strictly, but it changes the value. A solar-only system still pays off at SCE’s high rates, roughly a 9-year payback in our estimate, because you offset expensive daytime and shoulder-hour usage directly. A battery captures the midday production you would otherwise export at a low avoided-cost rate and lets you use it during the 4 to 9 pm peak, which is where NEM 3.0 concentrates the value, and it adds backup during a Public Safety Power Shutoff. Our estimate shows a similar payback with storage but far more of your solar’s value retained. See our home battery cost guide to weigh it.
Reviewed by the SolarFY Editor, updated August 2026. Figures were verified against the linked SCE, EIA, CPUC, California BOE, DSIRE, and IRS sources in August 2026; SCE rates, NEM 3.0 avoided-cost export values, SGIP funding, and the property-tax exclusion sunset can change, so confirm current terms with SCE and the CPUC before you decide. Learn more about the SolarFY editorial team and our data and methodology. MySolarFY does not provide tax or financial advice; consult a licensed professional about your own situation.
