California Home Battery Payback Calculator (2026)
Priced on Southern California Edison TOU-D-PRIME rates and below-retail export rules. No federal tax credit is assumed — Section 25D ended 2025-12-31.
Why California is different
California is the deepest home-battery market in the US, and the least forgiving of loose math. Since NEM 3.0 took effect (December 2022), SCE credits new solar exports at an avoided-cost average of about 6 cents/kWh — roughly a fifth of the 34.5-cent average retail price on the TOU-D-PRIME plan. That gap is the entire battery case: every kWh you store instead of export is worth about 55 cents, concentrated in the 4-9pm weekday window from June through September. Two things temper the result: the SGIP general-market rebate closed on 2025-12-31 (only an income-qualified waitlist remains), and PSPS public-safety shutoffs make backup valuable but hard to price. California's savings are real; its subsidies are mostly gone.
Rate structure
| Rate | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Peak rate (discharge window) | $0.61/kWh · 16:00-21:00 weekdays, June-September | |
| Off-peak rate (charging) | $0.26/kWh | |
| Export credit | $0.06/kWh · NEM 3.0 avoided-cost average (ACC) | |
| Average residential retail | $0.345/kWh · SCE-specific figure (Public Advocates Office 2026-06 average 34.4¢); the EIA statewide average of 33.61¢ (2026-07) is shown for comparison |
Verification status: Verified. Corrected 2026-10-18 against the current official TOU-D-PRIME sheet (the earlier 0.58/0.34 were never checked against it, and 0.34 is actually the TOU-D-B off-peak rate). The daily basic charge is a fixed cost and is not modelled.
Export mechanism: below-retail export
California credits new solar exports below retail (NEM 3.0 avoided-cost average (ACC)). Energy you store and use yourself avoids the peak purchase but gives up the export credit, so its value is peak minus export — about $0.55/kWh. That gap is what a battery monetises.
Incentives and VPP
| Program | Status | What it means for a battery |
|---|---|---|
| SGIP | Mostly closed | General market closed 2025-12-31; income-qualified RSSE waitlist $1.10/Wh. Default $0 — most homeowners no longer qualify. |
| Virtual power plant (VPP) | verify | typically $100-250/yr — verify with your provider |
Outage context
PSPS public safety power shutoffs make backup valuable in SCE territory
Typical payback in California
Precomputed with the same model as the calculator, at the California rates above and the reference installed cost of $15,400 (13.5 kWh usable, pre-incentive). Your numbers move with your bill, your quote and your rate plan.
| Scenario | Year-1 savings | Simple payback | 10-year net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Have solar · $200/mo bill · 13.5 kWh · $15,400 installed | $1,033 | 14.9 years | −$3,612 |
| Have solar · larger bill · $600/mo bill · 13.5 kWh · $15,400 installed | $2,439 | 6.3 years | $12,433 |
| Battery only · $200/mo bill · 13.5 kWh · $15,400 installed | $657 | 23.4 years | −$7,898 |
Estimates only — not financial, tax, or installation advice. Backup value and program payments are shown separately and never folded into the payback ratio.
State data pack
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Default utility | Southern California Edison |
| Rate plan modelled | TOU-D-PRIME |
| Average residential retail | $0.345/kWh |
| Verification status | Verified |
| Data as of | 2026-10-18 |
| Official sources | SCE TOU-D-PRIME rate page (2026-10-18) · CPUC DER Cost-Effectiveness (Avoided Cost Calculator) (2026-10-18) |
Frequently asked questions
How much can a battery actually save on my California bill?
At the rates above, each self-consumed kWh is worth the peak rate minus the export credit ($0.61 − $0.06 = $0.55). The model caps discharge at how much of your usage actually falls in the evening peak, so the reference scenarios above are the honest range — your bill, your quote and your rate plan move them.
Does California pay for home batteries?
General market closed 2025-12-31; income-qualified RSSE waitlist $1.10/Wh. Default $0 — most homeowners no longer qualify. Program terms change mid-cycle — verify on the program's own page before counting on any rebate.
Is a battery worth it in California without the federal tax credit?
Section 25D ended 2025-12-31, so every result on this site assumes no federal credit. That makes the break-even installed price the most useful number on the results screen: it is the price at which the ten-year arithmetic stops working at your assumptions. Compare every quote against it, and read the outage context above — backup is real value, just not a cash flow.
Calculate with California data →
Keep reading
| All state guides — ten states, ten different answers | Directory |
| Data & method — every constant with its source and verification date | Data |
| Full guide — how to read a payback number and the mistakes that inflate it | Article |
| How the model works — included, excluded, and a worked example | Method |
This page is educational. It is not financial, tax, or installation advice. Data as of 2026-10-18.