Pacific Gas and Electric has reached a major clean-energy benchmark: Rooftop solar systems on 1 million homes are now connected to its grid across Northern and Central California.
The milestone comes with an important caveat for homeowners, though, as the state's NEM 3.0 policy has changed how much many new solar customers can earn when they send extra electricity back to the grid.
What happened?
A PG&E news release announced that the utility crossed the 1 million-home threshold in California on June 4.
PG&E spokesperson Paul Doherty described the moment as "definitely a major milestone, not just for PG&E, but for California's clean energy transition."
PG&E serves around 5.6 million electric accounts, which means roughly one-fifth of its customers have home solar tied to the grid.
California's market is huge overall too: More than a quarter of homes use solar, and statewide installed capacity is in the tens of gigawatts, according to Solar Energy Industries Association data cited by The Sacramento Bee.
That growth has unfolded alongside a major policy shift. In April 2023, the California Public Utilities Commission's Net Billing Tariff — better known as NEM 3.0 — took effect, changing the financial outlook for rooftop solar.
Solar households still lower their utility purchases by using their own power first. What changed is that the extra electricity they export is usually credited at wholesale prices instead of the much higher retail rates many earlier customers received.
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Why does it matter?
California's rooftop-solar fight has never been only about clean energy. It has also focused on who should bear the cost of maintaining the electric grid.
Earlier net metering rules let solar customers reduce their bills with credits close to retail electricity prices. Critics said that setup increasingly pushed fixed grid costs onto households without solar.
Analysts estimated that rooftop solar incentives still make up a meaningful share of residential electricity bills because many earlier customers remain grandfathered into older rules for 20 years, The Sacramento Bee explained.
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High electricity prices can also make other climate-friendly home upgrades less appealing.
Matt Newman, co-founder of Bluesky Consulting, told the Bee, "The higher the price of electricity, the less incentive someone has to buy an electric car or install a heat pump to cool their house."
What's being done?
One of the biggest changes has been the fast rise of battery storage. Because NEM 3.0 places greater value on power sent to the grid during peak-demand periods, more homeowners are adding batteries so they can hold onto daytime solar electricity and use or export it later, when it is worth more.
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Readers can also check out EnergySage's solar map, which shows the average cost of a home solar panel system on a state-by-state level, as well as details on solar panel incentives for each state. Together, these resources can help readers get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. It can also make home solar more useful under newer compensation rules by helping you shift when you use or sell electricity.
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While it's clear there are still issues to be worked out to make the grid and its pricing fair for everyone, PG&E has expressed a commitment to making it work.
Doherty said, "The main point that I want to get across with that is that we're a strong advocate for solar energy for all our customers. We believe solar will remain an important part of California's clean energy mix."
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