What PG&E pays for your solar in 2026
If you export solar to PG&E, you’re paid the Net Billing Tariff export rate, not the retail rate. Here’s how that ‘buyback’ number is set in 2026 and how to stop leaving money on the table.
How the buyback rate is set
Under NEM 3.0, PG&E doesn’t buy your exported solar at a single price. It uses the CPUC’s Avoided Cost Calculator, which sets a different value for every hour of every month based on what it would otherwise cost the grid to supply that energy. So your ‘buyback rate’ is really a schedule of hourly values (published in advance as a grid of months × hours), not one flat number.
Low midday, high on summer evenings
The pattern matters more than the average. Midday exports — when solar is everywhere and the grid is flush — are often worth just a few cents/kWh. But late on hot summer evenings, when demand spikes and the sun is gone, avoided-cost values are far higher — at times spiking to a dollar or more per kWh for a few hours in late summer. A battery that holds your power for those hours captures far more than exporting at noon ever would.
Import vs. export: mind the gap
Meanwhile you still buy peak grid power at roughly $0.40–$0.60/kWh on a time-of-use plan. Every kWh your solar or battery lets you avoid buying is worth that full retail price — far more than the export credit. That’s why ‘self-consumption’ beats ‘selling to the grid’ under NEM 3.0.
Getting the most from your exports
Three moves maximize value: (1) right-size the array to your usage rather than over-building to export; (2) add storage and set it to discharge into the evening peak; and (3) pick the time-of-use plan that best fits your load and battery. Under NEM 3.0 you still get a monthly bill; an annual ‘true-up’ then reconciles any leftover export credits at the end of your solar year. The rooftop designer estimates production for your address so you can see the trade-offs.
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What is PG&E's solar buyback rate in 2026?
There isn't one flat number. Under NEM 3.0, PG&E credits exported solar at hourly avoided-cost values that change every hour and month - often just a few cents per kWh midday, but sometimes over $1-$3/kWh on hot summer evenings. Confirm the current values, which the CPUC publishes.
Why is my solar credit so much lower than my rate?
Because NEM 3.0 pays you the grid's avoided cost to export, but charges you full retail to import. The fix is to use your own solar and store it in a battery for the evening peak instead of exporting it midday.
Does a battery increase what PG&E pays me?
Indirectly, yes. A battery lets you export during the high-value evening hours and avoid buying expensive peak power, which is worth far more than midday export credits.
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