No. NEM 3.0 is the nickname for the Net Billing Tariff the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) adopted in Decision 22-12-056. It covers PG&E, SCE and SDG&E customers who applied to interconnect on or after April 15, 2023. LADWP is a department of the City of Los Angeles, so its solar customers are billed under LADWP's net energy metering rider.
The difference shows up on the bill. LADWP nets what your roof sends out against what you buy over each billing period. Edison's net billing does no netting at all: each kilowatt-hour you buy is billed at your rate, and each one you send out earns a credit that depends on the hour and month it leaves your roof, usually below what you pay.
Why doesn't the CPUC's decision cover LADWP?
The CPUC sets rates and solar tariffs for investor-owned utilities, the ones with shareholders. Its net metering and net billing page says that content applies in the territories of the large investor-owned utilities: PG&E, SCE and SDG&E. Decision 22-12-056, dated December 15, 2022, rests on Public Utilities Code section 2827.1, which Assembly Bill 327 added in 2013 to make the Commission replace the older net metering tariff.
LADWP answers to a different chain. It is publicly owned, with no shareholders. Its Board of Water and Power Commissioners approves rate proposals, the Los Angeles City Council adopts them by ordinance, and the net metering rider is published with those rates.
The state's own net metering law leaves LADWP out, too. Senate Bill 656 in 1995 added Public Utilities Code section 2827, which tells electric utilities to offer net metering up to a cap. That section also says it does not apply to a city-owned utility serving more than 750,000 customers that also delivers water. LADWP reports 1.6 million electric customers and 681,000 water customers, so that section does not bind it, and the rider is LADWP's own.
How does LADWP credit the solar power you export?
LADWP's Net Energy Metering rider — a set of rules layered on top of your rate — works one billing period at a time, comparing what your net meter recorded in each direction.
Drew more than you sent back? You pay for the difference at your normal rate. On LADWP's standard tiered rate, the tiers apply to that net number, so the kilowatt-hours your panels cancel come off your most expensive tier first.
Sent back more than you drew? The energy charges drop out for that period, the other monthly charges stay, and the surplus becomes a dollar credit priced from the energy charges in your own rate schedule.
That credit rolls onto later bills until it is used up. It cannot pay taxes or minimum charges, and it only counts on the bill for the meter that measured it. Close the account with a balance left and the rider sets it to zero, with nothing more owed to you, and it describes no yearly cash-out. So panels sized far past your own use build credit you may never spend.
The rider covers customer-owned systems of up to 1 megawatt that are meant to offset part or all of the owner's own use. SCE differs: it values each export by the hour, and new SCE solar customers must take an electrification time-of-use rate.
What do LADWP's 2026 rates mean for a solar home?
LADWP's standard residential rate, R-1A, has three price tiers, a high season from June through September, and two temperature zones. Every Valley ZIP code on LADWP's zone table is in Zone 2, the hotter zone, 91324 around our Northridge office included. There, Tier 1 covers the first 500 kWh a month, or 1,000 kWh on a two-month bill.
For July through September 2026, LADWP's posted Tier 1 price, with adjustment factors included, is 26.4 cents per kWh, up from 24.3 cents in the same months of 2025. High-season Tier 3 is 41.0 cents. For October through December 2026, Tier 1 rises to 27.3 cents, and Tiers 2 and 3 share one price, 33.2 cents, as they do outside the high season. Those figures leave out taxes and fixed charges.
Base rates date from July 1, 2019. The increases since then have come through adjustment factors for fuel, renewable energy and grid reliability, reset each January, April, July and October from budgets the LADWP Board approves. The City's Office of Public Accountability put the effect of September 2025 approvals at roughly 2.7% on the median residential electric bill.
The Power Access Charge is $2.30, $7.90 or $22.70 a month on R-1A. It is a fixed charge, so it stays on the bill even in a month when you send out more than you use. LADWP sets its tier every October 1 from your highest monthly use in the past 12 months.
The time-of-use rate, R-1B, has a $12 monthly service charge. On weekdays, high peak runs 1 to 5 p.m. and low peak runs 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m.; base covers all other hours, weekends included. LADWP says solar homes that keep banking credits may be good candidates for R-1B, and net metering customers may choose either rate.
How do LADWP, SCE, Burbank and Glendale compare?
Four utilities serve the Valley and its edges. This is what each one's own documents, or its regulator's, said in September 2026.
| Utility | Who regulates it | Program for new solar | How exports are credited |
|---|---|---|---|
| LADWP | LADWP Board; rates adopted by Los Angeles City Council ordinance | Net Energy Metering rider | Netted against your use each billing period; surplus becomes a credit priced from your rate schedule's energy charges |
| Southern California Edison (SCE) | California Public Utilities Commission | Net Billing Tariff (NEM 3.0; SCE's Solar Billing Plan) for applications since April 15, 2023 | No netting: imports billed at your rate; each export credited at an Avoided Cost Calculator value set by hour and month, usually below retail |
| Burbank Water and Power | City of Burbank; City Council approved it January 14, 2025 | Solar Net Billing for permits applied for from January 1, 2026 | BWP's avoided cost of energy at the time; leftover dollars roll to the next bill, or a yearly check on request |
| Glendale Water and Power | City of Glendale (GWP is a city department) | Net energy metering, still open to new customers | Bill credit for excess generation, applied when needed; GWP posts a yearly NEM compensation rate, so confirm the current value |
Which San Fernando Valley neighborhoods are on LADWP?
LADWP serves nearly every address inside the City of Los Angeles. Each of these neighborhoods sits in a City of Los Angeles community plan area, so it is LADWP territory: Northridge, Granada Hills, Encino, Woodland Hills, Sherman Oaks, West Hills, Van Nuys, Winnetka, Chatsworth, Porter Ranch, Reseda, Canoga Park, North Hills, Tarzana, Mission Hills, Lake Balboa, Panorama City, Valley Glen, Arleta, Pacoima, Sylmar, Valley Village, North Hollywood, Sun Valley, Studio City, Lake View Terrace, Sunland-Tujunga, Shadow Hills, and the Los Angeles side of Toluca Lake.
Some of the Valley's edges are not LADWP. Burbank and Glendale run their own utilities. The City of San Fernando, Calabasas and Hidden Hills all appear on Southern California Edison's list of incorporated cities it serves, so the CPUC's net billing tariff governs new systems there, as it does for solar in Santa Clarita. Right at those borders, a few blocks don't follow the city line: near the City of San Fernando, along the Burbank and Glendale lines, and up canyons like Kagel Canyon. Toluca Lake is the clearest case, with LADWP on its Los Angeles side and Burbank Water and Power across the city line on its east side. Near an edge, the utility named on your bill settles it.
One trap: mailing addresses follow ZIP codes, not city lines, so trust the utility named on your bill. Every city we cover is in our Southern California service area directory.
How do you connect a solar system to LADWP?
A home system of 30 kW or less, with no service-panel upgrade, no three-phase service and no multi-meter setup like an apartment building, is what LADWP calls a Type 1 project. The steps:
- Apply through LADWP's NEM portal, and apply to LADBS for the permit.
- Get a work request number and pay LADWP's expenditure recovery charge.
- Get LADWP's preliminary review and an "OK to build."
- Install, pass inspections, and have LADWP set the net meter.
- Receive the Permission to Operate notice, then switch on.
LADWP's fee schedule, dated November 2020 and still linked from its interconnection page in September 2026, lists $130 at submittal for every solar or battery project, nothing more for a single-phase solar system of 30 kW or less, and $365 more for three-phase. The net meter costs nothing extra, and each correction visit after the second costs $100. Work on the electric service itself is priced case by case.
A main electrical panel upgrade makes it a Type 2 project, which can add an LADWP engineer's review, and systems over 10 kW AC also sign an interconnection agreement. LADWP may keep a finished array locked off until the inspections are done and the net meter is in.
Collective Solar designs the system, prepares the LADWP application and LADBS permit package, and services it afterward; see how a solar installation runs.
Can you lease solar or sign a PPA on LADWP?
You can lease, on LADWP's terms. The net metering guidelines the LADWP Board approved in 2020, and its Solar Lease Compliance Form, require a lease of at least 10 years, an option to buy, and payments neither based on the panels' output nor tied to LADWP's per-kWh rate. The form also hands the system's renewable energy credits to LADWP.
A power purchase agreement that bills per kilowatt-hour is another matter: the same guidelines prohibit the sale of energy by anyone other than LADWP. If an LADWP proposal prices power by the kWh, ask how it complies.
Buyers lost the federal residential credit (25D) when it ended on December 31, 2025, and what changed in 2026 explains the rest. LADWP's own Solar Rooftops program is another option: LADWP installs and owns a 1 to 10 kW system on an owner-occupied home, keeps the power, and pays $360 to $900 a year, depending on system size, for up to 20 years.
Is a battery worth adding on LADWP?
Mostly for backup. Because the rider nets kilowatt-hours over the whole billing period, a kilowatt-hour sent out at noon and bought back at night nets to about the same bill as one stored in a battery, so keeping the lights on in an outage is the stronger reason. Our guide on whether a solar battery is worth it in Los Angeles runs the LADWP and Edison math.
Every grid-connected battery gets a preliminary review and an inspection from an LADWP distribution engineer and electric service representative, but the fee schedule adds nothing for it beyond the $130.
For funding, LADWP administers the Self-Generation Incentive Program for income-qualified homes, with single-family households at or below 80% of Area Median Income. Its program page notes a lottery, says notification is not an award, warns that funding is limited and the waitlist long, and flags extra cost review after a February 20, 2026 CPUC ruling.
Will LADWP adopt its own version of NEM 3.0?
It could. The CPUC cannot change LADWP's rider, but LADWP's Board and the City Council can. Burbank's council approved Solar Net Billing on January 14, 2025, the program started January 1, 2026, and systems whose permits were applied for before then stayed on net metering.
As of September 2026, LADWP's posted rider still prices surplus credit from your rate schedule, not from an avoided-cost value. Read its current text before you sign.
What should an LADWP customer check before going solar?
- The name on your bill. It should say LADWP; the city on your envelope does not settle it.
- A full year of usage. Twelve months show both seasons and the tier your peak month reaches.
- A size that matches your use. Surplus credits vanish when you close the account.
- Standard or time-of-use. Ask to see savings on both R-1A and R-1B.
- A contract LADWP accepts. A lease must meet LADWP's terms; a per-kWh PPA conflicts with them.
- Who files what. Know who handles the NEM portal application, the LADBS permit and Permission to Operate.
Want a rough number first? Our solar savings calculator includes LADWP, and a design visit replaces its assumptions with your own bills.
Where do these facts come from?
The rules and figures in this guide come from these pages, read in September 2026:
- LADWP Net Energy Metering rider and LADWP NEM guidelines and lease form
- LADWP interconnection program, LADWP interconnection types and LADWP interconnection fee schedule (dated November 2020)
- LADWP residential rates, LADWP rate explainer, the Office of Public Accountability rates guide and its post on rising LADWP bills
- California Public Utilities Code section 2827 and LADWP customer counts
- LADWP Self-Generation Incentive Program and LADWP Solar Rooftops
- CPUC net energy metering and net billing and CPUC Decision 22-12-056
- Burbank Water and Power Solar Net Billing and Glendale Water and Power NEM program
- SCE list of incorporated cities served and City of Los Angeles community plans