UNLEASH GOVERNMENT SAVINGS

Maximize Rebates on Solar, EV Charges, and Battery Systems

Residential (homeowners)

Federal tax credit situation for 2026
- Big change: the newer federal law passed in 2025 (“One Big Beautiful Bill”) ends the 30% residential solar + battery tax credit for owned systems after Dec 31, 2025. So if a homeowner buys with cash/loan and installs in 2026, no 30% federal credit.
- How that affects 2026: Residential customers will lean more on California incentives + utility bill savings rather than federal tax credits.

California battery rebates (SGIP) — still the headline incentive
- SGIP keeps running into 2026 while funds last, and it’s now heavily targeted:
  - Equity and Equity Resiliency categories can be very large (often the “game-changer” for homes in high-fire or medical-baseline situations).
  - Standard (non-equity) rebates exist but budgets are shrinking and can close when allocated.
- Practical meaning: in 2026, battery incentives are still real, but eligibility & available pots matter a ton.
Net billing / NEM 3.0 continues to favor batteries
- Under Net Billing Tariff (aka NEM 3.0), export compensation is low in most hours, so the economics push homeowners toward self-consumption + storage.
- Translation for 2026: even without the federal credit, solar-plus-battery often pencils better than solar-only because the battery lets you avoid buying peak-price power and avoid exporting cheap kWh.
Other CA residential items to be aware of
- Property-tax exclusion for solar is still in place through end of 2026 (currently scheduled to expire Jan 1, 2027).
- Some sources mention possible 2026 NEM tweaks (AB 942 chatter), but details are still unsettled and not something I’d bank a proposal on yet.

Solar
no federal 30% credit if installed/placed-in-service in 2026 for owned systems.

Batteries
SGIP is still the main state incentive, especially for Equity/Resiliency homes.

Economics
still strong for solar + battery, driven by NEM 3.0 rate arbitrage and outage value.

Federal commercial credits still exist in 2026 (with conditions)
- Commercial solar/storage uses Section 48 / 48E ITC-style credits. These remain available in 2026, but the 2025 law set a tighter timeline and earlier sunset than the IRA originally did.
- Key points for 2026 projects:
  - Projects that “begin construction” by mid-2026 can lock in the higher credit structure before phase-down/sunset windows later in the decade.
  - To get the full ~30%, projects generally must meet prevailing wage & apprenticeship rules; otherwise base credit is much smaller.

Federal commercial credits still exist in 2026 (with conditions)
- Commercial solar/storage uses Section 48 / 48E ITC-style credits. These remain available in 2026, but the 2025 law set a tighter timeline and earlier sunset than the IRA originally did.
- Key points for 2026 projects:
  - Projects that “begin construction” by mid-2026 can lock in the higher credit structure before phase-down/sunset windows later in the decade.
  - To get the full ~30%, projects generally must meet prevailing wage & apprenticeship rules; otherwise base credit is much smaller.

SGIP for commercial storage
- SGIP is also available for non-residential customers in investor-owned utility territories (PG&E, SCE, SDG&E, SoCalGas).
- Rebates are typically smaller per-kWh than Equity Residential levels, but still meaningful for:
  - Peak shaving / demand charge reduction
  - Resiliency for critical loads
  - Solar-paired storage monetizing TOU spreads

Net billing / tariff value
- For C&I, tariff value comes from:
  - Demand-charge management
  - TOU arbitrage
  - Sometimes export value adders depending on utility and program windows
- NBT/NEM 3.0 itself is residential-focused, but the overall CA rate direction still rewards load shifting with batteries.

Depreciation & adders
- Businesses can still stack:
  - ITC + accelerated depreciation (MACRS/bonus)
  - Potential ITC “adders” (energy community, domestic content, etc.) if they qualify.

Federal ITC is still on the table in 2026, unlike residential—but start-construction timing and labor rules matter for full value.

SGIP storage rebates remain a solid CA stacker.

Best economics are still solar + storage, especially where demand charges are painful.

Homeowners in 2026: “Federal 30% credit is gone, but California SGIP can still cover a big chunk of the battery—especially if you qualify for Equity/Resiliency—and NEM 3.0 makes batteries the smart play.”

Businesses in 2026: “Federal ITC + depreciation are still strong if we start construction on time and meet labor rules, and SGIP helps the storage side. We design around demand-charge and TOU savings.”