California solar payback calculator
Four quick questions. Low, likely and high ranges from your utility’s rates. No federal tax credit assumed.
In Florida? Use the Florida calculator.
- Step 1: Enter your ZIP and utility
- Step 2: Add your monthly bill
- Step 3: See your payback range
- Free, no sign-up
- California utility rates, every assumption listed
- No federal tax credit assumed
How we calculated this
- We place your ZIP code on the map and look up how much sun a rooftop solar array gets there using the PVWatts solar model, adjusted for the shade you picked.
- We work backwards from your bill through your utility’s published rates to estimate how much electricity you use in a year.
- We size a system to cover most of that usage and price it with a range of local installed costs.
- We apply California’s rules for solar you send back to the grid, then project savings with a range of rate increases.
- We show low, likely and high results, with every assumption listed. No federal tax credit is applied.
Every source and assumption is explained in our methodology. Estimates are not a quote; installer prices and your actual usage will differ.
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Real stories from California
Publicly reported accounts, with links to the original reporting. See all stories.
California (statewide)
Three in four new California home solar systems came with a battery in 2025
pv magazine reported that Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory data show 74% of new residential solar installations in California included storage in 2025, up from 58% in 2024, while the share across the U.S. rose to 37% from 25%. The article ties California's shift to the net billing tariff in effect since April 2023, which cut the value of exported rooftop power in many hours and made storing daytime solar for later use more valuable. The median home battery was 13.5 kWh in both years.
What it means for you: In California a battery is now the usual part of a new solar quote, so compare solar alone with solar plus a battery for your own usage before you decide.
California and the United States
Forecasters expect U.S. home solar to slow in 2026, with California still growing
Bloomberg News reported a BloombergNEF projection that the U.S. will add 4.1 gigawatts of residential solar in 2026, down 15% from 2025 and the lowest in five years, mainly because a 30% tax break for homeowners expired late in 2025. California and Florida were the exceptions: California installations were forecast to grow 17% in 2026, and Florida's residential additions to reach 710 megawatts, up 62%. About 40% of new residential systems included a battery as of early 2026.
What it means for you: Without the homeowner tax break, solar has to pay back on today's prices alone; a growing market is not proof it pays back for your home, so check your own numbers.
San Jose, Bay Area 2019 report
During PG&E's 2019 shutoffs, solar alone went dark and batteries made the difference
ABC7 reported that during PG&E's public safety power shutoffs, solar panels without storage shut off with the grid as a safety precaution, and local installers saw higher interest in batteries. Sunrun said several hundred of its homes kept lights, TVs and refrigerators running through the events. One San Jose homeowner with 31 roof panels and a battery installed about 18 months earlier stayed powered through a shutoff and reported about 24 hours off the grid.
What it means for you: If outages are your reason to buy, a battery is the part that provides backup; solar panels alone will not keep your lights on.