Sell Solar Back to SDG&E: What You Actually Get (2026)

Quick answer

You don't really sell solar to SDG&E. You trade it for bill credits. Once SDG&E gives you Permission to Operate, every kWh you export earns a credit at that hour's export price, and those credits offset your bill. Cash only shows up at the annual true-up, and only for a net surplus.

Noon is cheap; summer evenings pay. In SDG&E's published export prices, Oct 1, 2026 paid about 5.5¢/kWh from 10am to 2pm and 19.2¢ at 6pm. On Aug 12, 2026, noon paid 6.1¢ and 6pm paid $1.07.

So the order is: use your solar yourself first, store some for 4-9pm, and export what's left.

Rates change - check sdge.com for today's numbers.

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Latest · auto-checked Oct 6

SDG&E Prepares Power Outages Ahead of High Winds · Briefs Finance, Oct 2
Solar today: SDG&E pays about 5.5¢/kWh for noon exports vs 19.2¢ at 6pm · North County power today

Pulled automatically from public feeds (news, NWS, SDG&E, NREL, Google Trends). Something we missed? Text PJ.

5.5¢

Average export price, 10am-2pm, Thu Oct 1, 2026

19.2¢

Best hour that same day (6pm)

$1.07

6pm on Wed Aug 12, 2026, a late-summer evening peak

SDG&E export prices (example days), from SDG&E's published file: generation + delivery, non-CCA, current-year prices (not a locked-in vintage). SDG&E export pricing.

The steps, in order

Know which plan you'd be on. Customers who submit an interconnection application on or after April 15, 2023 are on the Net Billing Tariff, which SDG&E calls the Solar Billing Plan (CPUC). Older NEM systems move to it when their 20-year legacy period ends (SDG&E). Residential Solar Billing Plan customers are on the EV-TOU-5 time-of-use plan, per SDG&E.
Pull your hourly usage first. Download 12 months from My Energy Center. Size the system to what you use, not to what you hope to sell. "Credits, not cash" below explains why.
Read and sign the California Solar Consumer Protection Guide. Per SDG&E, your solar provider is required to collect your signature on it before submitting your interconnection application.
A licensed contractor installs, and your solar provider submits the interconnection application. Any system that runs connected to SDG&E's grid needs interconnection under Electric Rule 21, which sets the interconnection, operating and metering requirements.
Your city or county permits and inspects. Per SDG&E, the city or county does an onsite inspection and issues the required permits.
SDG&E issues Permission to Operate (PTO). PTO means you're authorized to turn the system on as of a specific date. Don't switch it on, or export, before you have it.
Credits start. Exports earn hourly credits on your monthly bill, settled at a 12-month true-up, and the CPUC lets customers lock in their export credits for 9 years.
If your bill lists San Diego Community Power or Clean Energy Alliance, they set your generation credits. See "If you're on a CCA" below.

What you actually get

SDG&E publishes a full year of hourly export prices ahead of time. We pulled two example days from that file with our own tool. Every number in the first two tables is an SDG&E export price (example days), from SDG&E's published file: generation + delivery, for customers who buy power from SDG&E rather than a CCA.

Time of day	Thu Oct 1, 2026	Wed Aug 12, 2026
Overnight, 12-6am	7.9-8.7¢	8.1-8.8¢
Solar hours, 10am-2pm (average)	5.5¢	6.1¢
3pm	5.3¢	6.4¢
5pm	18.7¢	92.5¢
6pm (best hour both days)	19.2¢	$1.07
7pm	9.1¢	90.8¢
Evening, 4-9pm (average)	12.3¢	79.3¢
Evening average minus noon average	+6.8¢	+73.2¢

Example: a 6 kW roof on a clear day (about 33 kWh)

What you do with the day's solar	Oct 1	Aug 12
Export all of it as it's made	$2.05	$3.55
Store 10 kWh in a battery, export it in the 3 best evening hours, export the rest as it's made	$2.99	$12.40
What the battery added (before losses)	+$0.94	+$8.85

Example only, with the inputs labeled: 6 kW of panels × about 5.5 sun-hours, spread over a typical clear-day curve. That's a rough San Diego ballpark, not a forecast for your roof. Battery numbers are before round-trip losses. SDG&E also caps export credits for customers with paired storage at a set monthly amount based on system size and climate zone, so "store it and sell it at 6pm" has a ceiling. If you locked in export prices, your hourly numbers come from your lock-in year and may differ. If you're with a CCA, the generation part differs.

Using it yourself beats both columns. Every kWh you use at home instead of buying saves the retail price for that hour. On EV-TOU-5 that's 13.1¢ on weekdays 10am-2pm, 49.6¢ 2-4pm and 80.2¢ 4-9pm in summer (52.4¢ on-peak in winter), per SDG&E, effective Aug 1, 2026. Compare that with the 5.5-6.1¢ noon export price above.

Why SDG&E's price isn't the live market

SDG&E builds its export prices from the CPUC's Avoided Cost Calculator, averages them by hour for weekdays and weekends, and publishes the calendar for the year. The live wholesale market can look completely different. We log it daily:

Wed Sep 30, 2026	CAISO real-time, SDG&E area	SDG&E export price
5pm	6.0¢	13.2¢
6pm	5.7¢	45.0¢
7pm	5.7¢	58.2¢
8pm	5.6¢	31.0¢

CAISO real-time LMP for the SDG&E area (node DLAP_SDGE-APND): hourly averages of 5-minute prices from CAISO's public OASIS data, via our daily grid tape. From Sep 24 to Sep 30, 2026, the daily high ran 4.9¢ to 23.2¢, with no negative-price hours. SDG&E export prices: same published file as above. For a home on the Solar Billing Plan, the published calendar, not the live market, sets your credit.

Credits, not cash

Monthly bill, two buckets. Your bill is due monthly. Generation export credits only offset generation charges, and delivery export credits only offset delivery charges. Unused delivery credits are banked for future charges, per SDG&E.
Some charges can't be offset at all. SDG&E lists the Base Services Charge, customer and meter charges, non-bypassable charges and other fixed charges as non-nettable. On EV-TOU-5 the Base Services Charge is about 79¢ a day (roughly $24 a month), effective Aug 1, 2026.
Annual true-up. At the end of each 12-month period you get a true-up bill. If you imported more than you exported, there's no adjustment. If you exported more than you imported, the surplus gets re-priced: SDG&E backs out the credits those extra kWh earned, using the average export rate for all Solar Billing Plan customers over the past 12 months, and pays them at Net Surplus Compensation (NSC) rates instead.
The back-out rates are posted monthly. For September 2026 true-ups, SDG&E's table shows 8.672¢/kWh (generation) and 2.329¢/kWh (delivery). We didn't find SDG&E's own current NSC rate posted on its Solar Billing Plan pages; it shows on your true-up bill.

Bottom line: oversizing a system to "sell" a big yearly surplus doesn't turn it into income. Size to your own use, then shift what you can into 4-9pm. Plug-in balcony solar is the same story, only stricter: SB 868 (starting Jan 1, 2027) creates no payment at all for power sent to the grid.

If you're on a CCA

If your bill lists San Diego Community Power (SDCP) or Clean Energy Alliance (CEA), SDG&E still sets your delivery export credits, but the CCA sets your generation export credits and its own NSC rate, per SDG&E. Our tables above are SDG&E-only (non-CCA) prices.

San Diego Community Power

Adds a $0.0075 per kWh "Standard Adder" to exports, or a $0.11 per kWh "Equity Adder" for new residential customers enrolled in CARE or FERA. SDCP trues up your generation at the same time as your SDG&E true-up. NSC is paid at the wholesale rate plus the $0.0075 bonus; if it's over $100, SDCP mails a check, otherwise it rolls forward. SDCP Solar Billing Plan page.

Clean Energy Alliance

The default provider in Carlsbad, Del Mar, Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos, Solana Beach and Vista. Its Solar Impact option, for customers who applied for interconnection with SDG&E on or after April 15, 2023, adds $0.01 per kWh exported. At the 12-month true-up, NSC of $100 or more is paid by check; less carries into the next period until it reaches $100. CEA Solar Impact page.

Ways people actually get paid

Bill credits are the default. These are the paths that pay something beyond them, and what's open as of October 1, 2026.

Home batteries: grid-emergency programs

ELRP (SDG&E). SDG&E says eligible customers with battery storage can be paid for providing energy from their battery during a grid emergency through the Emergency Load Reduction Program. ELRP pays $2/kWh for verified load reduction, with events May through October between 4 and 9pm, triggered by CAISO. Per the ELRP enrollment site, direct individual sign-up is for non-residential customers, and aggregators and third-party demand response providers can enroll too, so ask your battery company or a demand response provider whether they enroll home batteries.
DSGS (California Energy Commission). Pays for load reduction during extreme events, May to October, through registered providers. For 2026, Option 1 is suspended for budget reasons, and the storage virtual power plant option (Option 3) is limited to aggregations that took part in October 2025, except aggregators of bidirectional EV chargers. If your battery company already runs a DSGS aggregation, ask; new ones are closed this year.
Third-party demand response. Under SDG&E's Electric Rule 32, homes and businesses can join demand response programs run by third-party providers, which manage those programs directly.
Get it in writing. Before you enroll, ask how program payments interact with your Solar Billing Plan credits and your battery warranty. Battery rebates are a separate story: SGIP is effectively closed and waitlisted. See is a home battery worth it under NEM 3.

EVs and charging

The charging exception. Supplying electricity to the public only to charge light-duty plug-in EVs doesn't make you a public utility (Public Utilities Code §216(i)). Charging by the kWh still needs a type-approved, sealed meter under California weights-and-measures rules.
V2G (your EV exporting to the grid). In SDG&E territory that takes a Rule 21 agreement, an export-compatible pricing plan such as SDG&E's Dynamic Export Pilot Rate, a bidirectional-capable EV and an approved charger, per SDG&E. SDG&E's own V2G testing is a pilot, not a residential program.
SB 913 (signed Sept 30, 2026). The Clean Local Power Act directs the CPUC to create pathways by June 30, 2028 for aggregated home batteries, solar, smart thermostats and EVs to count as grid capacity and be paid as resource adequacy, without double payment on top of NEM or net-billing credits. It pays households nothing today and opens a path for aggregators, not individuals.
Planning the whole setup? See the 2027 EV life build for North County and EV-TOU-5 vs TOU-DR1.

Bigger buildings, businesses and public agencies

Apartments and office buildings: SDG&E's Virtual Solar Billing Plan lets one solar system share its export credits across tenants by percentage. Each unit still gets its own monthly bill.
Businesses: ELRP pays businesses $2/kWh for verified load reduction during grid emergencies, per SDG&E.
Local governments (cities, counties, school districts and similar): RES-BCT lets a renewable facility of up to 5 MW transfer excess bill credits to the same agency's other SDG&E accounts.
Selling wholesale instead of offsetting a bill is project-developer territory, with its own interconnection studies. It isn't a rooftop setting.

Selling to a neighbor

Generally not an option. Under California law, anyone who owns or runs an electric plant for compensation is an "electrical corporation," a regulated utility (Public Utilities Code §218(a)). Renewable generators are exempt only for narrow uses: their own or their tenants' use, sale to up to two others for use on the same property or the property immediately next door (with conditions), and sale to a utility or public agency (§218(b)). EV charging is the separate §216(i) exception. Your exports flow onto SDG&E's grid and are credited by SDG&E; there's no setting that routes them to a neighbor for cash. Talk to an energy attorney before any side deal.

Order of value for a home

Order	What you do with a solar kWh	What it's worth (non-CCA)
1	Use it yourself, as it's made or stored for 4-9pm	Saves the retail price for that hour: 13.1¢ weekdays 10am-2pm, 49.6¢ 2-4pm, 80.2¢ 4-9pm (EV-TOU-5 summer; 52.4¢ winter on-peak)
2	Export it in the evening (from a battery)	4-9pm average: 12.3¢ on Oct 1, 79.3¢ on Aug 12. Capped monthly for paired storage.
3	Export it at noon	About 5.5-6.1¢ on our example days

Even the cheapest self-use hour (13.1¢) beats the noon export price by more than 2 to 1. The exception is a few hot late-summer evenings when the export price briefly tops retail (Aug 12, 6pm: $1.07 vs 80.2¢ on-peak). A battery set to export in those hours can capture that, up to SDG&E's cap. Practical moves: run the pool pump, dishwasher, pre-cooling and any home EV charging between 10am and 2pm. Rates change - check sdge.com for today's numbers.

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Questions

Does SDG&E pay you cash for the solar you send back?

Mostly no. On SDG&E's Solar Billing Plan, exports earn bill credits that offset charges on your monthly bill. At the 12-month true-up, any net surplus is re-priced at Net Surplus Compensation rates. San Diego Community Power mails a check when that surplus is over $100 and Clean Energy Alliance when it is $100 or more; smaller amounts roll forward.

How much does SDG&E pay for exported solar in 2026?

It depends on the hour. In SDG&E's published export prices (generation plus delivery, non-CCA), Oct 1, 2026 averaged about 5.5 cents per kWh from 10am to 2pm and peaked at 19.2 cents at 6pm. On Aug 12, 2026, noon averaged 6.1 cents while 6pm paid about $1.07. Rates change - check sdge.com for today's numbers. Weekends pay less: SDG&E's file shows about 2.0 cents at noon and 8.3 cents at 6pm on Sat Oct 3 and Sun Oct 4.

How do I start selling solar back to SDG&E?

Your solar provider submits the interconnection application to SDG&E under Electric Rule 21, after collecting your signature on the California Solar Consumer Protection Guide. Your city or county permits and inspects the install, then SDG&E issues Permission to Operate (PTO). Only switch the system on once you have PTO.

Can I sell my solar power to my neighbor in California?

Generally no. Under Public Utilities Code section 218, selling electricity to others makes you a regulated electrical corporation. Renewable generators have narrow exemptions: their own or their tenants' use, sales to up to two others on the same or immediately adjacent property under specific conditions, and sales to a utility or public agency. EV charging is a separate exception under section 216(i). Your exports are credited by SDG&E, not sold to a neighbor.

Is it better to use my solar or export it?

Use it yourself first, either as it's made or stored for 4-9pm. On EV-TOU-5, the plan Solar Billing Plan homes are on, power costs 13.1 cents per kWh on weekdays 10am-2pm and 80.2 cents 4-9pm in summer, per SDG&E. Midday exports earned about 5.5 to 6.1 cents on our example days. Exporting in the evening comes next, and exporting at noon is worth the least.

Sources checked for this page

Checked 2026-10-01. Rules and rates change; the official source wins over anything written here.

Know someone who needs this?

Something changed here? Text PJ and we'll update this page.

More free local tools: the North County toolkit.