Solar Billing Plan

The Solar Billing Plan (SBP) is a successor program to Net Energy Metering (NEM) 2.0, for customers with solar panels. The program is for customers who submitted an interconnection application on or after April 15, 2023, and for customers who have completed 20 years on the NEM 1.0 or 2.0 tariff.

Solar Billing Plan for residential customers was implemented by PG&E in April 2024 and by Ava in July 2024. SBP for non-residential customers is set to be implemented in March 2026.

NEM customers are charged or credited based on their net energy usage each month. SBP handles imports and exports of energy separately. Imports are charged based on the retail rate and exports are credited at the Energy Export Credit (ECC) rate, which varies by day and hour. Customers’ charges and credits are then netted to calculate the monthly bill.

Ava is updating its solar policy to align with PG&E’s SBP policy. The SBP is intended to fairly compensate customers for excess generation, reduce the cost shift from solar customers to non-solar customers and encourage the adoption of solar with storage. A new tariff structure that incentivizes widespread battery storage adoption will better support our current grid needs, because battery storage allows customers to save solar energy for use or export in the evening hours, contributing to grid reliability and the displacement of fossil fuels.

Ava customers will transition based on their PG&E true-up date and expiration period on their current NEM tariff in summer 2024. NEM customers receive 20 years on their NEM tariff before transitioning to SBP. All new solar customers will start service on SBP.

On your PG&E blue bill, under “Your Enrolled Programs” you should see either Solar Billing Plan or Net Energy Metering. You may also login to your online PG&E account (pge.com/myaccount) or call Ava at 1-833-699-3223 to check your status.

No. Existing solar customers that were approved to turn on their solar system by April 14, 2023 are not impacted by this new program, unless they fall into one of the following categories:
Customers who increased the generation capacity by 1kW or 10% of their current system size
Customers who have completed their 20 year NEM legacy period on their original NEM program. Customers on NEM 1.0 who transitioned to NEM 2.0 at the end of their legacy period are not permitted to receive an additional 20 years on NEM 2.0.

The Base Services Charge is a fixed $15/ month charge for E-Elec (Electric Home) rate customers. This rate plan lowers the price you pay per unit of energy (kWh). Residential SBP customers are required to be on E-Elec.

Each month, customers will receive the Energy Export Credit for exported energy as a bill credit. This varies based on the hour and month the energy is produced. The values can be found on PG&E’s website here. 

There are also bonus credits for residential customers who interconnect between April 2023 and 2027. Customers will receive the credit for 9 years.The initial credit value is based on the interconnection date and the locked in value is based on the permission to operate date. This credit does not apply to residential new construction that is required to install solar.

• 2023
  Residential $/kWh: $0.022
  Low Income, DAC, Indian Country $/kWh: $0.090
• 2024
  Residential $/kWh: $0.018
  Low Income, DAC, Indian Country $/kWh: $0.072
• 2025
  Residential $/kWh: $0.013
  Low Income, DAC, Indian Country $/kWh: $0.054
• 2026
  Residential $/kWh: $0.009
  Low Income, DAC, Indian Country $/kWh: $0.036
• 2027
  Residential $/kWh: $0.004
  Low Income, DAC, Indian Country $/kWh: $0.018
• 2028
  Residential $/kWh: $0
  Low Income, DAC, Indian Country $/kWh: $0

In addition, all SBP Ava customers will receive an export bonus credits for 5 years (2024-2029) during peak hours. Ava CARE/ FERA customers will receive a bonus credit for 5 years for all exported electricity.

• Ava Peak Hours Bonus Credit: Flat adder between 3-8pm, non CARE/ FERA only, for 5 years, $0.025/ kWh (3-8pm)
• Ava CARE/FERA Bonus Credit: Flat adder at all hours for 5 years, $0.01/kWh

Each year, customers will receive compensation for their exported electricity via the net surplus compensation calculation. This is the same as NEM 2.0, however, the amount will be reduced by the approximate value of Energy Export Credits already provided in prior months. Customers with a credit value greater than or equal to $100 will be sent payment via check. Customers with less than $100 will see this rollover on their bill as a credit.

All SBP customers are billed monthly. Charges from imports and credits from exports are summed to calculate your monthly bill. You pay for consumption monthly if you do not have enough SBP credits in your account balance to cover monthly charges. If you generate more electricity than you use in a given billing month, the excess SBP credits will rollover to the next month. Each year, on your April billing cycle, you will be compensated or cashed-out for any surplus generation that amounts to a credit balance. If your cash-out value is less than $100, this will stay on your account and can be used for future monthly charges. If your cash-out value is greater than or equal to $100, you will be sent a check.

Yes. All Ava and PG&E SBP customers are billed monthly, with an annual true-up statement that compensates customers who have annual surplus generation that amounts to a credit balance. Ava’s annual cash-out/true-up for surplus generation occurs every April, while PG&E’s annual true-up is based on the month your system was interconnected.

The true-up adjustment reduces the Net Surplus Compensation (NSC) amount, the amount that Ava pays customers for surplus generation, by the approximate value of Energy Export Credits already provided in prior months. It is calculated based on the surplus kWh multiplied by a rate equal to PG&E’s average real world retail export compensation rates for all NBT customers in their service territory over the past 12 months.

With the solar billing plan, you will receive monthly billing and are not able to carry over charges.

Customers will see their NEM credits transfer into their Energy Export Credit balance with Ava. They will not experience an off-cycle true-up. The exception is annual NEM true-up customers, who will undergo a true-up at the transition to SBP to be placed on monthly billing.

Accounts that terminate or leave Ava service prior to April are eligible for the Ava annual cash out process and will be sent a check for any surplus generation that amounts to a credit balance. Customers that opt out and choose PG&E should be advised that PG&E will perform a true‐up of their account at the time of return to PG&E bundled service, and that PG&E’s standard terms for transitional rates apply to customer returns with less than a six‐month advance notice if they have been an Ava customer for 60 days or more.

Yes, as an Ava customer you continue to be a PG&E customer for the delivery portion of the bill. Ava customers pay Ava for electricity generation and PG&E for delivery and transmission services.

As an Ava customer, you are a joint customer of Ava and PG&E. You continue to earn delivery credits with PG&E in addition to credits from Ava when you export to the grid, which are used to cover delivery charges. These are referred to as “Energy Delivered” credits on the bill.