Less than the power you buy. On Southern California Edison's Net Billing Tariff, which SCE calls the Solar Billing Plan, each kilowatt-hour your panels send to the grid earns an Energy Export Credit. Its price depends on the hour, the month and the type of day, and it comes from the state's Avoided Cost Calculator. It usually sits well below the retail rate you pay.
That gap is the whole story of solar on Edison since 2023. Power you use in your own home is worth your full rate. Power you export is worth what the grid would have paid for it elsewhere. A system sized and timed for your own use pays back faster than one built to export.
Who is on SCE's net billing tariff?
Edison customers whose solar interconnection application was submitted on or after April 15, 2023. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) adopted the tariff in Decision 22-12-056, and it covers the state's three large investor-owned utilities: PG&E, SCE and SDG&E. Most people still call it NEM 3.0.
In our service area, that means Edison homes in Santa Clarita, Fontana, Ontario, Long Beach, the City of San Fernando and Hidden Hills. In Downey, Whittier and Calabasas, Edison delivers the power and Clean Power Alliance generates it. Corona, Moreno Valley and Rancho Cucamonga are split by address between Edison and a city utility.
It does not cover city-owned utilities. LADWP, Burbank Water and Power, Glendale Water and Power, Pasadena Water and Power and Riverside Public Utilities each run their own solar program. Most of the San Fernando Valley is on LADWP, and our guide to LADWP net metering explains how that one works.
How does SCE price an exported kilowatt-hour?
There is no netting. Every kilowatt-hour you buy from Edison is billed at your rate. Every kilowatt-hour you send out earns a separate credit. The two are never cancelled against each other first, which is how the older net metering tariff worked.
Each year, SCE sets a table of export prices from the CPUC's Avoided Cost Calculator as approved on January 1 of that year. The table has a price for each of the 24 hours, in each month, with separate prices for weekdays and for weekends and holidays. SCE calls the year your prices come from your vintage year.
SCE says exports during high-demand hours, like summer evenings, earn more than exports at midday or in winter. The trouble for solar is timing. Panels produce most at midday, when exports are worth the least.
Do SCE export prices change every year?
Not for a system that is already connected. SCE fixes a customer's export prices to their vintage year for nine years. A home that joins in 2026 keeps the 2026 table for nine years, even if later tables are lower or higher.
That lock matters when you compare quotes. A savings estimate should use the export table for the year you actually join, not an average or a retail rate.
What rate plan does a net billing customer pay?
Residential customers on the Solar Billing Plan move to the TOU-D-PRIME time-of-use rate. Its highest prices run from 4 to 9 p.m. every day. SCE describes it as having lower peak rates than its other 4-to-9 plan, a higher daily basic charge, and no baseline credit.
So the evening window is when power from the grid costs the most, and it is also after your panels have mostly stopped producing. That is why, on Edison, what you do with midday solar matters more than how much of it you make.
How does the SCE solar true-up work?
You get a bill every month. Export credits from that month are applied to it, but they can only reduce some charges. SCE says fixed fees, non-bypassable charges and taxes cannot be paid with solar credits, so even a home that exports more than it uses still owes something each month.
Once a year, SCE sends a settlement bill, also called the true-up. SCE compares what you drew with what you sent out over the year and settles the credits. Unused credits are applied to eligible charges, then to an export-credit charge adjustment, and the rest are forfeited. If you still have surplus energy at that point, you may get a small payout at SCE's Net Surplus Compensation rate.
What does net billing mean for the size of a solar system?
Size to your own use, not to the roof. Under net metering, extra panels built credits worth close to your rate. Under net billing, the extra midday power mostly becomes exports at avoided-cost prices, and leftover credits can be forfeited at the true-up.
A good Edison design starts with 12 months of your own usage, broken out by time of day where SCE's data allows it. It then sizes the array to cover your daytime use and plans for what happens between 4 and 9 p.m. A quote that says "offset 100% of your bill" without that step was probably built for the old rules.
Does net billing make a battery worth it on Edison?
It makes the case stronger than anywhere else in our service area. A battery stores midday solar that would have been exported cheaply and uses it in the 4-to-9 window, when TOU-D-PRIME prices are highest. Whether that pays for your home depends on your evening use and the battery's cost. Our guide to solar batteries in Los Angeles compares Edison with LADWP and the city utilities.
What changes in Clean Power Alliance cities?
In Downey, Whittier and Calabasas, Edison delivers the power and Clean Power Alliance generates it. CPA runs its own version of the tariff, also called a Solar Billing Plan, in effect since September 1, 2023. The bill shows both sides, so check both when you compare a quote.
What if your system was connected before April 15, 2023?
You stay on the older net metering tariff, often called NEM 2.0, for 20 years from your permission-to-operate date. SCE says the Solar Billing Plan does not change existing net metering accounts. When the 20 years end, the account moves to the Solar Billing Plan or whatever replaces it. Ask SCE before you add panels to an older system, so you know which tariff the new panels fall under.
If your installer has gone out of business, the tariff stays with the home, not with the company. Our guide for owners whose solar company is gone covers warranties and service, and solar repair covers systems we did not install.
What should an Edison customer check before going solar?
- Confirm the utility on your bill. In Corona, Moreno Valley and Rancho Cucamonga, the street decides whether you are on Edison or a city utility.
- Ask which export table the quote uses. It should be the net billing table for the year you will join, not a retail rate.
- Ask how the design handles 4 to 9 p.m. That window on TOU-D-PRIME drives the bill once the panels go quiet.
- Know your true-up month. Credits are settled once a year, and leftovers can be forfeited.
- Ask who services the system after install. A 25-year system will outlive many installers.
Want to see the numbers for your own bill? Our solar savings calculator gives a first estimate, and our solar installation page explains how a full design works.
Where do these facts come from?
We read these SCE and CPUC pages in October 2026. SCE updates its tariff sheets, so check the current versions before you sign.
- SCE: Understanding solar export pricing
- SCE: FAQs about the Solar Billing Plan and How Solar Billing Plans work
- SCE Schedule NBT (Net Billing Tariff)
- SCE time-of-use residential rate plans
- SCE: Net energy metering (existing customers)
- CPUC: Net energy metering and net billing and CPUC Decision 22-12-056