How does buying solar work in California?

Licensing: who may install solar on a California house

Four CSLB classes can legally install photovoltaic systems, per CSLB's Solar Smart page: A (General Engineering), B (General Building, which CSLB ties to the Business and Professions Code 7057 definition of two unrelated building trades), C-10 Electrical and C-46 Solar, whose text covers work to install, modify, maintain and repair thermal and photovoltaic systems. Classes C-4, C-36 and C-53 are for solar heating only. Ask any company for its license number and class and check them on CSLB's license lookup.

The person who sells the job needs a registration of their own. Under B&P 7153 and 7154, as CSLB bulletin 20-22 reads them, a home improvement salesperson must register with CSLB and with the solar contractor they sell for, unless the buyer starts the sale at a fixed retail storefront.

CSLB receives and reviews solar complaints (B&P 7170) and reports them every year. You can reach it at 800-321-CSLB (2752) or P.O. Box 26000, Sacramento, CA 95826. The California Energy Commission keeps solar equipment lists but says listing is not a statewide installation requirement, though some utilities or local governments may ask for it.

No federal credit, one cover page and the contract rules

The IRS says the Residential Clean Energy Credit was 30 percent for property installed 2022 through December 31, 2025, and that it is not available for any property placed in service after that date. A payment made in 2025 for a system completed in 2026 does not help, since the completion date of the installation controls. Batteries are covered by the same section.

Under B&P 7169 the front or cover page of every solar contract must carry the Solar Energy System Disclosure Document, printed in boldface 16-point type, with the total cost including financing costs, the complaint route and your right to cancel. The contract and the disclosure must be in the language the pitch was given in. Because CSLB treats a residential solar installation as home improvement, a contractor cannot take a down payment above $1,000 or 10 percent of the price, whichever is less (B&P 7159.5), and the contract needs start and completion dates.

You have three business days to cancel (B&P 7159), or five if you are 65 or older on a contract entered since January 1, 2021, and the contractor must return what you paid within 10 days of receiving your notice. Ask each company in writing for the total price with financing, the system size in kW DC, the cost per watt before incentives, the panel and inverter models, who files the utility application and who pulls the permit. A lease or PPA means you don't own the system, and CSLB's supporting-information form asks whether the contract can transfer to a new homeowner.

How California pays for the power you send out

Since April 15, 2023, customers applying for interconnection in PG&E, SCE and SDG&E territory take service on the net billing tariff (NBT), which the utilities call the Solar Billing Plan and many people call NEM 3.0. The CPUC credits exports from its Avoided Cost Calculator, hour by hour, and says the values are usually lower than import rates. The same CPUC text says export credits can rise above the retail rate on late summer evenings, and that about 70 percent of NBT customers had paired a battery by the end of 2024.

NBT customers keep the tariff for nine years. Residential PG&E and SCE customers who apply before the end of 2027 get an export adder for nine years, SDG&E is excluded, and customers required by building code to add solar do not get it. SCE's first-year enrollees get an extra $0.04 per kWh export credit. NBT customers must use an electrification time-of-use rate and are billed monthly.

The NEM tariffs are closed to new enrollments. PG&E's applications from before April 15, 2023 had to finish before April 15, 2026, and customers already on NEM 2.0 may stay 20 years from the date they interconnected. LADWP and SMUD are municipal utilities, and net billing and Rule 21 do not apply there. For batteries, the SGIP Small Residential Storage step at $0.15 per Wh is Closed at CSE, SCE, SoCalGas and PG&E as of October 23, 2026, and the equity budgets are for low-income households.

From permit to permission to operate

Under Gov. Code 65850.5 a city or county shall approve a solar application administratively, through a building permit or similar nondiscretionary permit, and review is limited to health and safety. SB 379 requires most cities and counties to run an online automated permitting platform for a residential system up to 38.4 kW AC with storage. The deadline was September 30, 2023 for cities and counties over 50,000 people and September 30, 2024 for smaller non-exempt cities; cities under 5,000 and counties under 150,000 are exempt. The CEC counted 363 jurisdictions self-reporting a platform as of October 8, 2025, and does not certify compliance. SolarAPP+ is one of the platforms and is not required by name.

Gov. Code 66015 says a residential PV permit fee may not exceed $450 plus $15 for each kilowatt above 15 kW, unless the city adopts a written finding. It is a limit, not a fee. Riverside's schedule of June 18, 2025 prints $350 for a residential system up to 15 kW, and Oakland's FY 2025-26 schedule prints $450 for the inspection. Chula Vista's September 2024 bulletin prints an expedited total of $453.

The utility applies Rule 21 after the permit. PG&E says permission to operate typically takes 5 to 10 business days, up to 30, with a $145 fee. SCE says about 10 business days for a simple solar-only request, up to 30 when busy, with the CPUC's $94 figure. SDG&E's October 2024 deck puts initial review at 15 business days, and its $132 fee is as of a December 2023 page copy. No residential Solar Billing Plan application fee appears on SDG&E's current solar pages, so get the figure from the installer in writing. The 2022 Residential Code R324.6 asks for two pathways at least 36 inches wide on separate roof planes, and the 2025 code took effect January 1, 2026 and may differ.

Selling a home with solar, and the January 1, 2027 tax date

Revenue and Taxation Code 73 excludes a new active solar system from property tax reassessment only for systems completed before January 1, 2027, and those systems stay excluded until a change in ownership. A system finished on or after that date falls outside the exclusion as the statute stands. Ask the company for the completion date in writing.

If the system is leased or on a PPA, ask whether the contract can transfer to the buyer. Customers on NEM 2.0 may stay on that tariff for 20 years from the date they interconnected, so keep the permission-to-operate letter with the sale papers. On a newly built single-family home, the 2025 Energy Code (section 150.1(c)14, effective January 1, 2026) requires PV, with five exceptions; additions are not covered.

What solar costs in California: the evidence we have

Each estimate row is a model and not a quote: published national ranges adjusted by what California installers are paid, with a typical city permit fee added where the work needs one. No federal credit is subtracted, because none applies to a 2026 installation. The wage and permit rows are pay and fees, and Berkeley Lab's median and the utility fees are shown as published. We print the model and the median side by side and don't reconcile them.

How solar estimates are built: every Estimated range is a model and no quote stands behind it. The starting point is published national cost ranges for the job, from third-party cost guides that we haven't verified and don't cite. California's solar installer wage ratio to the US (1.09, BLS May 2025) is applied to them, and a typical city solar permit fee is added where the work needs one. The wage and permit rows show what installers are paid and what a city's schedule charges, and neither is a price. We haven't collected quotes. Full method.

Questions about solar in California

• Los AngelesLos Angeles · 3,857,897 · 71% pre-1980
• San DiegoSan Diego · 1,385,061 · 54% pre-1980
• San JoseSanta Clara · 990,054 · 61% pre-1980
• San FranciscoSan Francisco · 836,321 · 77% pre-1980
• FresnoFresno · 543,615 · 51% pre-1980
• SacramentoSacramento · 524,802 · 55% pre-1980
• Long BeachLos Angeles · 458,491 · 80% pre-1980
• OaklandAlameda · 438,072 · 78% pre-1980

Solar guides that apply in California

• Batteries7 min read

  Battery storage basics: backup power, export credits and what the incentives say in 2026

• Export credits8 min read

  Net metering, distributed generation and net billing: how each state credits the power you send out

• Roof and panels6 min read

  Roof age and solar: when to replace the roof first, and what the codes say about the roof itself

• Home sale7 min read

  Selling or buying a home with solar panels: property tax, paperwork and what transfers

• Financing7 min read

  Solar leases, PPAs and loans: the questions to ask before you sign any of them

• Comparing quotes8 min read

  Solar quotes: what to compare, and what to get in writing, before you sign

• Federal credit7 min read

  The federal solar tax credit in 2026: what the IRS says and what it means for a quote

• Interconnection7 min read

  Utility interconnection timelines: what DTE, Consumers Energy, PG&E, SCE and SDG&E say

• Removal and reinstall6 min read

  When to remove or reinstall solar panels: roof work, a sale, a lease end and who does the job

• Seasons6 min read

  Winter and snow on solar panels: what to read in your papers and who to call