Utility program deep dive · Northern and Central California
PG&E residential battery and VPP economics
What the Solar Billing Plan, time-of-use rates, ELRP, DSGS and PG&E’s SAVE and SHARE pilots are worth to households: rate pathways, a capital stack, paybacks and financing.
VPP Economics has no affiliation with, sponsorship from, or endorsement by any utility, aggregator, platform, or device maker named here.
The short answer
- In PG&E territory, a home battery is mainly a bill-management tool. On the Electric Home (E-ELEC) rate, electricity costs about 55¢ per kWh from 4 to 9 p.m. in summer (EcoFlow, citing the tariff). Under the Solar Billing Plan, also called the Net Billing Tariff or NEM 3.0, exported solar earns about 3.9¢ on average (NRG Clean Power). A battery that stores midday solar for the evening is worth about $1,052 a year in our model. At California’s average installed price, that is a payback of about 13 years.
- Without solar, the rate choice matters most. Battery-only households can take the Home Charging EV2-A rate, whose 23¢ off-peak price is the cheapest way to recharge (PG&E, PG&E AL 7825-E). On EV2-A, a stand-alone battery shifts about $660 a year, almost three times the $230 it saves on E-ELEC.
- Upfront rebates are mostly gone. The Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) general-market and equity resiliency budgets are closed to new applications (PG&E). Low-income homes can still join a waitlist for $1.10 per Wh of storage (SGIP).
- VPP pay is real but short-dated. The Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP) pays $2 per kWh during grid emergencies, through October 2027 (PG&E AL 7816-E). The state’s Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) market-based VPP has no funding after the 2026 season and takes no new entrants (CALSSA). PG&E’s own VPP pilots, SAVE and the Google-funded SHARE, target specific neighborhoods and transmission constraints (Sunrun, PG&E).
What each PG&E program is
Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP)
$2 per kWh of measured reduction or export during emergency events, 4–9 p.m., May–October, usually 20–60 event hours a year, enrolled through a battery company or aggregator (PG&E, CPUC). Enphase says many participants earn $100–$250 a year (Enphase). Residential Power Saver Rewards ended after 2025.
Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) Option 3
A California Energy Commission program that pays aggregated batteries per kW for discharging when wholesale prices are high: $107.64 per kW-season for a four-hour battery in 2025–26, including a 30% bonus (CEC). Closed to new entrants, with no funding after 2026 (CALSSA). Tesla stopped sign-ups in March 2026 (Cali Energy).
SAVE (Seasonal Aggregation of Versatile Energy)
PG&E dispatched more than 1,000 Sunrun solar-plus-storage systems for more than 1,200 hours in 2025 to relieve specific lines and substations; customers received $150 per battery (Sunrun). No 2026 season had been confirmed by late September (Rate Relief CA).
SHARE (Smart Home Assets for Reliability and Efficiency)
A Google-funded proof of concept enrolling about 21,000 existing batteries and thermostats, about 12 MW, in Santa Clara and Alameda counties to unlock transmission capacity, through 2027 (PG&E, Latitude Media). Customer reward levels were not published.
Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP)
General-market storage at $0.15 per Wh and equity resiliency at $1.00 per Wh are closed (PG&E, NRG Clean Power). The Residential Solar and Storage Equity budget pays $1.10 per Wh of storage for low-income homes but is waitlisted (SGIP, CPUC).
Rate pathways for one battery
Annual value by rate pathway
One 13.5 kWh battery, stacked by source. Gross bill effects plus program pay.
Swipe to see the full chart →
Why solar homes come out ahead: under the Solar Billing Plan, a midday kWh exported to the grid earns a few cents, while the same kWh used at 7 p.m. avoids 32–55¢. The battery captures that gap every day of the year, not just in summer. Exporting at peak rarely beats self-use: one analysis of PG&E’s 2026 export price sheet found exporting won in only 14 of 576 hourly values, all on August and September evenings (Solar Bill Review).
Why a stand-alone battery should look at EV2-A: E-ELEC’s winter spread is about 3¢, too small to cover battery losses, so the battery earns almost nothing for eight months. EV2-A keeps off-peak at 23¢ year-round, so the spread is 31¢ in summer and 19¢ in winter. EV2-A’s battery-only eligibility is a pilot capped at 30,000 storage-only customers (PG&E). Legacy NEM 2.0 solar homes gain little from a battery because their exports are already credited near retail.
The capital stack
Ten-year capital stack by package
Incentives plus 10 years of bill savings and program pay, as a share of installed cost. Past the dashed line, the package more than covers its cost.
Swipe to see the full chart →
Only the income-qualified case covers its cost within 10 years. A solar home adding a battery recovers about three-quarters of the cost in 10 years from bill savings alone; backup value during outages has to cover the rest. Stand-alone batteries and batteries added to legacy NEM 2.0 homes fall well short.
Simple payback by package
Years to repay the installed cost from bill savings and program pay, before backup value.
Swipe to see the full chart →
Assets and combinations
The strongest PG&E case
Under the Solar Billing Plan, storing solar for the evening is worth about $1,052 a year, more than any program pays. The battery is sized to the evening load, not to exports.
Rate choice first
On EV2-A a battery shifts about $660 a year; on E-ELEC about $230. Neither covers a $14,000 battery without backup value.
ELRP now, DSGS ending
ELRP adds about $200 in a typical season through 2027. Batteries already in DSGS earned about $323 in 2026, but the program cannot be combined with ELRP and has no funding after 2026 (CALSSA).
The cheapest flexibility
EV2-A’s 23¢ off-peak price against 54¢ on peak is the largest spread a household can use without a battery (PG&E AL 7825-E). GM buyers can add a $15 monthly managed-charging credit (PG&E).
Shift load, store heat
WatterSaver pays $50 plus $5 a month for daily water-heater shifting (WatterSaver). SHARE subsidizes battery-enabled heat pumps by up to $10,000 in its pilot area (Latitude Media).
Device demand response
PG&E still runs SmartAC cycling (PG&E DR report), and SHARE enrolls existing smart thermostats alongside batteries (Latitude Media).
Behaviors each program needs
Cover 4–9 p.m. every day
E-ELEC, EV2-A and E-TOU-C peaks run seven days a week, so the battery should discharge every evening and recharge from solar or off-peak power.
Export on emergency evenings
Pay is per measured kWh, so a battery that is already empty at 7 p.m. earns less. Most events fall on hot late-summer evenings.
Resilience trades against savings
Holding a higher reserve for outages reduces the energy available for evening shifting and event pay.
Financing: buy, borrow or lease
Three ways to pay for one battery
One 13.5 kWh battery added to a solar home on the Solar Billing Plan and E-ELEC. Money in and out of the household, then cumulative cash over 10 years.
Swipe to see the full chart →
Owns the battery, no rebate
With SGIP’s general budget closed, the household pays the full $14,000, and homeowners receive no federal credit for systems placed in service after 2025 (Solar Cost Data).
Payments exceed savings
At 8% over 10 years, payments are about $170 a month against roughly $88 a month of bill savings.
The federal credit goes to the owner
Third-party owners can still claim the 30% commercial §48E credit (Solar.com), so a lease can cost less than a loan. Sunrun paid SAVE customers $150 per battery and kept the coordination fee (Sunrun); the contract determines who keeps program pay.
Near-zero cost, if funded
At $1.10 per Wh, the equity budget would cover a typical battery (SGIP). The waitlist is the constraint.
What ifs
The biggest unknown
If the Legislature funded a successor at 2026 rates, a battery on E-ELEC would add about $323 a year, more than its E-ELEC bill savings. Without it, ELRP is the only statewide residential battery payment after 2026 (CALSSA).
Location-based pay
PG&E says no decision has been made on scaled funding or enrollment (Latitude Media). If SHARE-style payments spread, batteries on constrained feeders could earn more than the statewide programs.
Pilot ends October 2027
The pilot runs to October 31, 2027 (PG&E AL 7816-E). The capital stack counts only one more season.
Tesla’s price helps a little
At $967 per kWh, the solar-home payback improves to about 12 years. The rate spread drives the result more than the hardware price.
Fixed charge lowers per-kWh prices
The Base Services Charge moved part of the bill into a fixed monthly fee (PG&E). Future shifts of that kind would shrink every time-shift row on this page.
CCA batteries
Most PG&E-area homes buy generation from a community choice aggregator (CCA). Some, such as Ava Community Energy in the East Bay, run their own battery programs on top of PG&E delivery rates.
Related: how ELRP pay flows from the grid to the household in the per-kWh money trail, and the PG&E C&I deep dive for demand charges and business demand response.
Method and caveats
An independent, hypothetical analysis for homeowners, renters, program managers, installers and other readers in Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s service area. Terms checked October 26, 2026.
Assumptions: 13.5 kWh battery; evening load of 10 kWh in summer and 8 kWh in winter (6 kWh of stored solar in winter for Solar Billing Plan homes); 90% round trip; 3¢ midday export value; ELRP at 5 kW for 20 event hours; bundled PG&E rates (CCA generation rates differ).
Figures are gross bill effects and program payments before financing, degradation, maintenance and taxes. Gross payments are not net profit. Program overlaps should be confirmed with PG&E and the enrolling company.
VPP Economics has no affiliation with, sponsorship from, or endorsement by PG&E, the California Energy Commission, Google, Tesla, Sunrun, Enphase, Renew Home or any company named here.