Are There Any Solar Rebates? California Solar and Battery Help

Start with the name on your electric bill

Your city alone does not identify the right program. Read the electric provider on your bill before following an advertisement or installer’s estimate. A rebate for a neighboring utility does not automatically apply to your account.

Four places to look

DAC-SASH offers a no-cost rooftop solar pathway for eligible households. Burbank Water and Power lists a battery rebate. LADWP’s income-qualified solar and storage program currently has a waitlist. SCE says its Residential Solar and Storage Equity budget is exhausted and applications are waitlisted. Open the individual guides below for eligibility and official application links.

What happened to the federal credit?

The IRS says the homeowner Residential Clean Energy Credit does not apply to property placed in service after December 31, 2025. Do not subtract a 30% homeowner credit when estimating a new 2026 project. Other program assistance requires its own eligibility review.

Rebate, assistance and bill savings are different

A rebate reduces eligible project cost after its conditions are met. An assistance program may arrange a project for qualifying households. Utility bill savings depend on operation and rates. Keep these as separate lines in your comparison instead of adding every advertised benefit together.

A practical example

Imagine two neighbors: one receives electricity from BWP and the other from LADWP. They should follow different program guides even if their roofs and batteries would be identical. Each should request a written price with no assistance, then a second estimate showing only assistance their administrator confirms. These are planning examples, not eligibility determinations.

Before committing

Save the dated program page and your application confirmation. Ask who files the application and who pays if funding is unavailable. A waitlist entry is not an award. Recheck the official source before signing; the review date on this guide records our research, not a promise that funds remain available.

One California cluster, with regional and program guides

Southern California: start with the Los Angeles County featured story, Ventura County starting-point guide or San Diego funding guide. The CPA battery rebate is covered in one shared Los Angeles–Ventura program article. Burbank, LADWP and SCE each have a separate guide because their rules differ.

Other California regions: SMUD has a Sacramento-area battery incentive guide; 3CE has a shared Central Coast program-status guide; MCE has a shared solar battery bill-credit guide. Choose the provider on your bill. We group communities that share the same program, and identify local differences within the relevant guide rather than repeating the same rebate in many articles.

Questions worth asking

• Which utility supplies my electricity?
• Is this solar assistance, a battery rebate or a utility bill program?
• Have I received a funding approval or only a waitlist acknowledgment?
• What would I owe if the incentive is unavailable?