Battery Storage in Los Angeles
The part that actually beats NEM 3.0.
Under net billing, solar alone sends your cheap midday power to the grid for pennies and buys it back at peak. A battery keeps it. This is the single biggest lever on a California solar bill in 2026.
Is a home battery worth it in California?
How we approach it
Built for the 4-9pm window
That is when SCE charges the most and when your panels have stopped producing. We size storage to carry your evening load through it, every day, not just during outages.
SGIP rebates where you qualify
SGIP is funded by investor-owned utility ratepayers, so SCE customers can apply and municipal customers cannot. We tell you which side of that line your address falls on before you plan around it.
Whole-home or critical-load backup
In fire zones and PSPS territory we design for whole-home backup. Elsewhere a critical-load subpanel covering the fridge, network, and a few circuits is usually the better value.
Retrofits onto existing solar
You do not need to have bought your panels from us. We add storage to systems from any installer, including companies that have since gone out of business.
Estimate it
See the numbers on your own bill
Step 1
Step 2
Who bills you?
Step 3
Your estimate
Your system
System size
6.6 kW
~15 panels
Saved per year
$3,484
at today's rates
Estimated cost
$36,645
solar + storage, installed
Payback
10.5 yrs
$108,000 over 25 yrs
Why the battery matters here. SCE runs NEM 3.0 net billing, which pays about $0.05 for a kilowatt-hour you export but charges up to $0.55 to buy one back at 6pm. Storing your own production instead of selling it adds roughly $1,706 a year on this bill. SGIP storage rebates may also apply in this territory.
Show the assumptions
Usage derived from $320/mo at SCE’s ~$0.36/kWh blended rate, giving 10,667 kWh a year.
Production at 5.6 peak sun hours a day with a 0.80 derate for inverter, wiring, soiling and heat losses: 10,792 kWh a year.
Self-consumption assumed at 88% of production; the remainder is exported at $0.05/kWh.
25-year figure compounds utility rates at 4.5% a year and degrades panel output 0.5% a year, net of system cost. Planning estimate only, not a quote.
Questions
Battery Storage, answered
Do I need a battery to make solar worth it in 2026?
In SCE territory, usually yes. NEM 3.0 credits exported power at roughly a nickel per kilowatt-hour while peak retail runs far higher, so storing your production instead of exporting it is where the return comes from. In LADWP, Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena, net metering is still close to retail rate, so a battery is more about backup than arbitrage.
How much of my house will a battery run?
A single typical home battery holds enough to carry lights, refrigeration, networking, and outlets through an evening or a normal outage. Running central air conditioning or an EV charger off stored power takes multiple units, and we will say so plainly rather than letting you discover it during the first heat wave.
Can I still get a rebate on storage?
SGIP remains the main storage incentive in California, with the largest rates reserved for income-qualified and medically vulnerable households in eligible utility territories. Funding is allocated by territory and some budgets are waitlisted, so eligibility is worth checking early.
Coverage
Battery Storage across 110 cities
Everywhere within 50 miles of Los Angeles, across seven electric utilities.
Related
Other things we do
Let’s talk about your project
Tell us the address and the problem. We will tell you what it takes and what it costs.