How Solar Affects Your Bill
Understanding PG&E rate plans, Time-of-Use schedules, and how solar offsets your electricity costs in the Bay Area.
Table of Contents
Will solar actually save me money?
Rule of thumb: if your PG&E bill runs over $250/month and your roof isn't buried in trees, you can most likely switch to solar, with battery backup, for less than what you're already sending to PG&E every month.
How Much Does Solar Actually Cut Your Bill?
Choosing to offset 50% of your usage still cuts your PG&E bill in half, every month, starting immediately. Most of our customers target 80–100% offset, enough to erase nearly the whole bill. Offsetting 100% simply takes a little longer to pay back than 50% or 80%, since the system itself costs more upfront. Either way, you're doing one of two things: setting a finish line on your energy costs (100% offset, eventually you owe PG&E nothing), or locking in a permanently lower price per kilowatt-hour on the portion you no longer buy from them.
Here's what that looks like in real numbers. A typical Bay Area PG&E bill today runs around $250/month. Our own rate-projection tool shows that bill compounding to roughly $540/month within 10 years and $999/month by 2044 if PG&E's historical rate of increase continues. A fixed-rate solar lease/PPA, by comparison, started at just $95/month back in 2014 and still runs far below that trajectory today.
+154%
PG&E's Tier 1 rate has risen since 2014, with no ceiling in sight.
A solar payment is fixed the day you sign. PG&E's isn't.
New as of March 2026: PG&E also added a $24/month minimum delivery fee, on top of the per-kWh rate above. That's a fixed charge before a single kWh is billed.
Solar gives you a fixed monthly payment that won't move unless your own usage changes. You step off the PG&E rate escalator entirely.
Solar financing has a finish line. Once it's paid off, your electricity is essentially free. A PG&E bill never pays itself off.
Stay with the utility and you'll likely pay about the same total over the next 6–8 years , with nothing to show for it afterward.
PG&E's Rate Increases, Tier by Tier
January 2024 wasn't a one-time event. It was the start of a pattern. Every tier below has moved since then, and nothing on PG&E's side suggests it's done. See PG&E's own rate filings →
E-1 Rate Comparison: 2014 vs. March 2026
Cost per kWh by tier
Tier 1
+154%Tier 2
+173%Tier 3
+28%
Time-of-Use Rate Schedules
Every plan below charges the most during the exact hours you're actually home: cooking dinner, running the AC, charging the car. That's not a coincidence, it's the design. Solar customers on these same schedules stop caring which hours are expensive, because their panels, and a battery if they have one, are already covering it.
If you haven't actively chosen a plan, you're most likely on E-TOU-C. That's PG&E's standard default residential rate plan.
Rates effective March 2026. Source: PG&E Schedule E-TOU-C, E-TOU-D, EV2-A, E-ELEC.
Residential Time-of-Use Rate Schedule E-TOU-C
Summer
June through September
| Type | Rate/kWh | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Peak | $0.52 | 4PM–9PM every day, 7 days a week |
| Off Peak | $0.40 | All other times |
Winter
October through May
| Type | Rate/kWh | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Peak | $0.40 | 4PM–9PM every day, 7 days a week |
| Off Peak | $0.37 | All other times |
Residential Time-of-Use Rate Schedule E-TOU-D
Summer
June through September
| Type | Rate/kWh | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Peak | $0.48 | 5PM–8PM Non-Holiday Weekdays |
| Off Peak | $0.34 | All other times |
Winter
October through May
| Type | Rate/kWh | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Peak | $0.39 | 5PM–8PM Non-Holiday Weekdays |
| Off Peak | $0.35 | All other times |
EV2-A Rate Plan
Summer
June through September
| Type | Rate/kWh | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Peak | $0.54 | 4PM–9PM every day, 7 days a week |
| Partial Peak | $0.43 | 3PM–4PM and 9PM–Midnight |
| Off Peak | $0.23 | Midnight–3PM |
Winter
October through May
| Type | Rate/kWh | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Peak | $0.41 | 4PM–9PM every day, 7 days a week |
| Partial Peak | $0.39 | 3PM–4PM and 9PM–Midnight |
| Off Peak | $0.23 | Midnight–3PM |
E-ELEC Rate Plan
Summer
June through September
| Type | Rate/kWh | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Peak | $0.55 | 4PM–9PM every day, 7 days a week |
| Partial Peak | $0.39 | 3PM–4PM and 9PM–Midnight |
| Off Peak | $0.33 | Midnight–3PM |
Winter
October through May
| Type | Rate/kWh | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Peak | $0.32 | 4PM–9PM every day, 7 days a week |
| Partial Peak | $0.30 | 3PM–4PM and 9PM–Midnight |
| Off Peak | $0.28 | Midnight–3PM |
This Isn't Just Us Saying It
"PG&E Corporation Reports Solid 2025 Results"
"PG&E seeking rate hike so shareholders can profit more"
"PG&E paying their CEO $50 million a year while charging families $1,000 more a month is just wrong."
It's Only a Matter of Time.
PG&E made $2.7 billion in profit in 2025. Its CEO made $19.8 million. Your bill still went up.
How do you think they pulled that off? Take a guess. It probably wasn't magic. It was the rate increases hitting your bill every year.
(Source: PG&E Corporation's full-year 2025 earnings report, $2,703 million net income; and PG&E Corporation's 2026 proxy statement executive compensation disclosure, $19,785,133 total compensation for CEO Patricia Poppe.)
More of your neighbors switch to solar every year. They got tired of waiting for PG&E to stop raising prices. It never does.
The only real question left is when you switch too: before your bill climbs again, or after.
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Ready to Stop Paying PG&E's Rising Rates?
Solar can lock in your energy costs and protect you from future rate increases. Schedule a free consultation to see exactly how solar would affect your bill.