Los Angeles County · SCE
Solar Panel Installation in Santa Monica, CA
Santa Monica has the most aggressive green building requirements in the region and a permitting department built around them, which works in your favor on timeline.
We are based in Northridge, 18 miles away, and we design Santa Monica systems around Southern California Edison’s actual rate structure rather than a national average. Permits go through City of Santa Monica Building & Safety. Roofs here are typically flat modern and composition shingle, which determines the mounting hardware we quote.
Santa Monica at a glance
- Electric utility
- SCE
- Southern California Edison
- Peak sun hours
- 5.3 hrs/day
- Annual daily average
- Permitting authority
- City of Santa Monica Building & Safety
- Los Angeles County
- Export credit
- ~$0.05/kWh
- NEM 3.0 net billing
- SGIP battery rebate
- Available
- SCE customers may qualify
- From our shop
- 18 miles
- Northridge, CA
A typical Santa Monica project
What a $300 bill looks like after
Modeled on SCE’s approximate $0.36 per kWh and 5.3 peak sun hours a day in Santa Monica. Your own numbers will differ — this is the shape of the answer, not a quote.
- System size
- 6.6 kW
- ~15 panels
- Annual production
- 10,214 kWh
- after standard derating
- Annual savings
- $3,297
- at today's rates
- Simple payback
- 11.1 yrs
- $100,252 over 25 years
SCE in plain language
Highest rates in the service area and the toughest export credits — which is exactly why a battery pays for itself fastest here. SCE customers also fund SGIP, so storage rebates are on the table.
You buy at
$0.55
peak, 4–9pm
You sell at
$0.05
exported surplus
That gap is the entire argument for storage in Santa Monica. A battery lets you use your own midday production during the expensive evening window instead of selling it for a fraction of what you will pay to buy it back.
Run your own numbers
Pre-set for Santa Monica
Already loaded with SCE rates and 5.3 peak sun hours. Move the slider to your bill.
Step 1
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Who bills you?
Step 3
Your estimate
A Santa Monica system
System size
7.0 kW
~16 panels
Saved per year
$3,517
at today's rates
Estimated cost
$38,053
solar + storage, installed
Payback
10.8 yrs
$107,970 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 $1,723 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 5.3 peak sun hours a day with a 0.80 derate for inverter, wiring, soiling and heat losses: 10,895 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.
Also in Santa Monica
More than panels
Neighborhoods we cover in Santa Monica
Sunset Park · Ocean Park · North of Montana · Wilshire Montana · and everywhere in between.
Santa Monica questions
Answered with local numbers
Specific to Santa Monica, SCE, and City of Santa Monica Building & Safety.
How much does solar cost in Santa Monica?
A typical Santa Monica home paying around $300 a month to SCE needs roughly a 6.6 kW system, which lands near $21,120 installed before storage. Adding the 13.5 kWh battery we would normally pair with it brings the project to about $36,645. Roof type matters here: flat modern and composition shingle is what we mostly see in Santa Monica, and that affects mounting hardware and labor.
Is solar worth it in Santa Monica with SCE?
Highest rates in the service area and the toughest export credits — which is exactly why a battery pays for itself fastest here. SCE customers also fund SGIP, so storage rebates are on the table. At 5.3 peak sun hours a day, a 6.6 kW array in Santa Monica produces roughly 10,214 kWh a year. Against SCE's approximate $0.36 per kWh, that is around $3,297 of annual value, putting simple payback near 11.1 years.
Who issues solar permits in Santa Monica?
Permits for Santa Monica go through City of Santa Monica Building & Safety, and interconnection is handled separately by Southern California Edison. Those are two different clocks and they do not run in parallel by default. We file both and chase the corrections, which is usually where projects stall when homeowners manage it themselves.
Do you install batteries in Santa Monica?
Yes, and Santa Monica sits in SCE territory, so SGIP storage rebates may apply. Because SCE runs NEM 3.0 net billing, exported power earns roughly $0.05 per kWh while peak power costs up to $0.55 — storing your production rather than selling it is where the return comes from here.
How far is Santa Monica from your Northridge shop?
About 18 miles. That is comfortably inside our core service area, so surveys and service calls are quick to schedule.
Nearby
We also serve
Ready for a Santa Monica system design?
Send us one SCE bill. We will come back with a layout, a production model, and a real number.