Solar in Los Angeles, California · 2026
In LA, your utility decides your solar math.
City of LA homes usually start with LADWP net metering. Much of LA County starts with SCE, the Net Billing Tariff, and a battery. Solar.com prices both paths from current installer pricing and models the bill impact before you talk to anyone.
Enter your address and we detect your utility, model your tariff, and show current local bids.
The market · the boundary that decides everything
Solar is already the norm on LA streets. Your utility decides the design.
This is not early-adopter territory: roughly 1 in 4 owner-occupied single-family homes in the City of LA is already connected to rooftop solar, with 100,000+ LADWP solar homes and 24,000+ county systems added in 2025 alone. The same house produces very different solar math on each side of the utility boundary, so Solar.com resolves the provider first, then prices the system around that tariff.
LADWP is outside CPUC NEM 3.0 and still runs its own net metering. Exports can offset retail electricity, so the first system to test is usually solar-only, with storage added for backup or time-of-use control.
SCE homes are on the Net Billing Tariff. Exported solar is worth far less than retail power, so the winning design stores afternoon production and uses it during the 4 to 9pm peak window.
Nearby Pasadena and Glendale are separate municipal utilities with their own rules. The address model handles that automatically; this page focuses on the two LA paths most homeowners hit.
Bill math · EIA-861 rate history applied forward
Waiting turns today's bill into a much bigger liability.
We take the representative LA usage model, apply each utility's current effective rate, then let the bill grow at that utility's historical escalation. The point is not precision; it is the scale of the exposure solar is competing against:
25-year total
$145K-$288K
every bill on those lines, added up: LADWP low end, SCE high end
With solar
~85%-95%
modeled bill reduction after unavoidable utility charges and import timing
Year-one spend addressed
$3.1K-$4.0K
modeled utility spend solar competes against, by utility
Modeled estimate. The bill model uses 10,861 kWh of annual usage, matching a 6.4 kW LA production model at 100% annual offset. Gross avoided utility spend is not net savings: system price, financing, fixed charges, minimum bills, and household usage changes still apply, and the address-level model names those assumptions.
Current installer pricing · four ways to pay
What solar is priced at in Los Angeles, and how people pay for it.
These numbers model a representative LA system from current installer pricing, including LA County regional pricing, and are labeled as modeled estimates until your address is run.
Solar only
The LADWP baseline
$2.54/W
about $16,300 for a representative 6.4 kW LA system
Solar + battery
The SCE default
$28K-$33K
modeled installed range for 6.4 kW plus one standard battery
| Cashyou buy it outright | Loanyou own it, financed | Prepaid TPOupfront discount pathprepaid lease, third-party owned | Monthly leasetraditional TPO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | About $16,300 in the representative LA model | $0 down, monthly payment varies by approved terms | Pay once; credit value is passed through as an upfront discount | $0 down; monthly payment set by provider |
| Who owns it | You | You | Third-party owner, with purchase options at term milestones | Third-party owner |
| Federal tax credit | None for purchased systems | None for purchased systems | Owner claims it and applies value as an upfront discount | Owner claims it and reflects value in the monthly rate |
| Maintenance | You manage service, equipment warranties still apply | You manage service, equipment warranties still apply | Owner monitors, maintains, and insures the system | Owner monitors, maintains, and insures the system |
| Best for | Ownership with no finance payment | Ownership without writing a full check upfront | Lowest upfront power cost path when TPO is available | Lowest entry cost and no ownership responsibility |
Pricing source: current installer network pricing as of August 17, 2026. Your live quote can move with panel choice, roof complexity, electrical work, battery count, utility, and financing path.
Your installer network in Los Angeles
The top local crews are already here. What's missing is the sales markup.
Fifteen vetted installers currently price Los Angeles County projects through our network, and they compete for Los Angeles jobs on the exact pricing you see above. Every one of them passes licensing, insurance, and reputation screening before they can price a single job. When you run your address, the network competes and you see the winning price online, with no in-home sales visit and no commission built into the number.
Installer count from our current network pricing for Los Angeles County. We do not rank or advertise individual partners on this page; the competition happens inside your quote, where it counts. If a local installer quotes you a better qualified price, our Best Price Guarantee matches it.
Where we are quoting
Tap an LA area to see the utility context.
Choose a market and the map highlights how the utility split shows up across greater Los Angeles. Your address check still determines the exact provider and tariff.
Area boundaries are approximate and shown for orientation only.
Tap a neighborhood to see which utility serves it. Your utility decides your solar math, and we detect it automatically from your address.
Equipment installers are quoting now · PVWatts v8 production model
The LA equipment stack is premium and battery-ready.
The equipment notes come from what installers in our network actively quote. Your bid will show exact models, warranties, and substitutions for your roof.
REC, Qcells, Hyundai class panels
premium black modules frequently priced in LA books
LA roofs need strong hot-weather output and clean aesthetics. Installers here favor modern high-wattage modules rather than bargain-bin panels.
Enphase IQ microinverters
well suited to complex basin and hillside roofs
Panel-level electronics help with shade, mixed roof planes, and per-panel monitoring. That matters in neighborhoods with palms, hillsides, and older roof geometry.
Enphase IQ Battery or Tesla Powerwall 3
the standard SCE self-consumption pairing
In SCE territory, storage is the economic engine. The model assumes a battery that can shift afternoon production into evening usage, not just backup power during an outage.
Month by month, a kilowatt here earns its keep
LA models at about 1,697 kWh per kW each year; a representative 6.4 kW system produces about 10,861 kWh annually.
Equipment shown is representative. The actual bid packet names the installer, exact equipment, workmanship warranty, manufacturer warranty, and any roof or electrical adders.
2026 incentive reality check
What is still real for LA solar.
Federal tax credit
Cash and loan purchases do not receive a federal tax credit anymore. For Prepaid TPO and lease plans, the third-party owner claims the credit and can pass the value through as an upfront discount or lower monthly rate.
LADWP net metering
Retail-value export credit is the economic incentive. It turns exported solar into a direct bill offset, which is why LADWP homes can often start with a simpler solar-only design.
California property tax exclusion
Adding solar does not raise your assessed property taxes under California's active solar energy system exclusion, currently set to sunset on January 1, 2027.
SGIP battery rebate
General-market residential storage budgets are largely closed. Remaining funds focus on income-qualified, medical-baseline, or outage-risk households in eligible territories. The address model screens for this automatically.
Straight answers
Frequently asked questions.
How much do solar panels cost in Los Angeles?
Current installer pricing puts a representative 6.4 kW Los Angeles solar-only system at about $2.54 per watt, or about $16,300 before roof-specific adders. Adding a standard battery typically adds about $12,000 to $16,000, depending on the equipment and installer.
Does LADWP still have net metering in 2026?
Yes. LADWP is a municipal utility outside CPUC jurisdiction and still credits residential solar exports at or near retail value under its own net metering structure.
Is Los Angeles on NEM 3.0?
Only partly. City of LA addresses served by LADWP are on municipal net metering. Much of LA County served by SCE is on the Net Billing Tariff, where exports earn avoided-cost credits and batteries drive the savings case.
Do I need a battery in Los Angeles?
In SCE territory, yes for a competitive savings model. The battery stores afternoon solar and discharges into evening usage instead of exporting at low avoided-cost rates. On LADWP, a battery is optional for outage backup and time-of-use control, but the solar economics can work without it.
How much can an LA electric bill grow if rates keep escalating?
Using EIA-861 historical escalation from 2015 to 2024, a representative LADWP bill model grows from about $254 per month today to about $413 per month in year 10 and $850 per month in year 25. The SCE model grows from about $337 per month today to about $714 per month in year 10 and about $2,200 per month in year 25.
Is it cheaper to lease or buy solar in Los Angeles?
It depends on how you define cheaper. Cash and loan purchases are ownership paths, but there is no federal tax credit for purchased systems anymore. Prepaid TPO is third-party owned, so the owner claims the credit and can pass the value through as an upfront discount. A monthly lease lowers entry cost, but you do not own the system.
Your roof, your tariff, your bid set
See the modeled price for your actual address.
We detect LADWP, SCE, or a nearby municipal utility, design around your roof, include the battery when the tariff calls for it, and show current local installer pricing.
Pricing: modeled from current installer pricing for LA County at 6.4 kW. Bill impact: macro utility-rate model using 10,861 kWh of annual usage, 100% annual usage offset, and battery dispatch where required. All savings are modeled estimates; your live quote names roof, tariff, equipment, financing, and utility assumptions.
Solar installer reviews · Los Angeles
The best-reviewed solar installers serving Los Angeles
We read the full text of 8,244+ published customer reviews of Los Angeles County's established solar companies and scored what reviewers actually report, 0-10. These are the top-rated installers active in the county, ranked by review score, never by payment.
- 1Paradise Renewables7.9review score
- 2Green Convergence7.8review score
- 3Altadena Energy & Solar7.8review score
- 4Semper Solaris7.7review score
- 5Evolution Energy7.5review score
Review scores are computed from every published customer review of each company and are separate from install-volume rankings (see how scores work). Any of these companies can bid on your project through solar.com; your address decides the price.