How Much Is Solar in San Diego, CA? $2.47/W, 10.1-Yr Payback
In San Diego, CA, an 8 kW system at $2.47/W produces about 1,576 kWh per kW and pays back in roughly 10.1 years at 32.47¢/kWh with the federal credit at $0.
· Source: EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A (July 2026 data) · next EIA update ~Oct 23
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- San Diego production
- 1,576 kWh/kW/yr
- California average
- 1,610 kWh/kW/yr
- Electricity rate
- 33.6¢/kWh
- 8 kW installed cost
- ~$19,760
- 2026 federal credit
- $0
- Payback (utility math)
- 10.1 years
Why this number
A kilowatt of panels in San Diego produces about 1,576 kWh a year, placing it 4 of 7 among the California cities modeled here. The state spans Riverside at 1,640 down to Eureka at 1,302, a 26% span, and San Diego sits inside it at a payback of about 9.9 years.
An 8 kW system in San Diego, priced out
| Metric | Estimate for San Diego | California statewide |
|---|---|---|
| Production, unshaded 20° south | 1,576 kWh per kW/yr | 1,610 kWh per kW/yr |
| 8 kW output after a 10% roof derate | ~11,347 kWh/yr | ~11,592 kWh/yr |
| Average residential rate | 33.6¢/kWh (EIA) | 33.6¢/kWh |
| Installed cost, 8 kW | ~$19,760 at $2.47/watt | ~$19,760 |
| 2026 federal credit | $0 | $0 |
| Export rule | Net billing — exports credited below retail | Net billing — exports credited below retail |
| Export credit modeled | 6.50¢/kWh | 6.50¢/kWh |
| Annual value of that output | ~$1,968 | ~$2,011 |
| Rough payback (your utility) | 10.1 years | 9.7 years (state-average model) |
| 25-year net position | $37,427 | — |
Only the first two rows differ. Everything financial — rate, tariff, price per watt — is inherited from California without change, which is the point: a city page that quietly used a different electricity rate from its state page would be guessing, not measuring.
Doing nothing is not free either. Twenty-five years of the electricity an 8 kW San Diego array would produce, with rates rising at 2.5% a year, comes to roughly $130,278.
Solar aside, the EV vs. gas cost calculator runs San Diego’s 33.6¢/kWh rate against what a gas car costs to fill instead.
Run it with your own bill
Shared methodology · identical on every city page
- Production figures are unshaded, south-facing, 20° PVGIS values. A real roof — its own pitch, orientation, a tree or a chimney — typically produces 10–25% less; every payback here already carries a 10% real-roof derate.
- Paybacks include $150/yr of running costs and one $2,000 inverter replacement in year 14, which is why they run longer than paybacks quoted elsewhere.
- State export rules cover investor-owned, state-regulated utilities. Municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives are exempt in most states and set their own terms.
- Installed cost is the state-level EnergySage market figure, not a city quote; a swing of 50¢/W moves payback by roughly a year and a half either way. Get three quotes before trusting any payback — including ours.
California is not one solar market
Across the 7 California cities with their own modeled figures, production spans 26% — Eureka at 1,302 kWh per kW to Riverside at 1,640. Every column except production is identical down this table: same 33.6¢/kWh retail rate, same export regime, same $2.47/W installed cost. The payback differences are caused by weather and nothing else.
| Location | kWh per kW per year | 8 kW output | Annual value | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside | 1,640 | 11,808 kWh | $2,048 | 9.5 yrs |
| Los Angeles | 1,610 | 11,592 kWh | $2,011 | 9.7 yrs |
| Bakersfield | 1,579 | 11,369 kWh | $1,972 | 9.9 yrs |
| San Diego (this page) | 1,576 | 11,347 kWh | $1,968 | 9.9 yrs |
| Fresno | 1,546 | 11,131 kWh | $1,931 | 10.1 yrs |
| Sacramento | 1,541 | 11,095 kWh | $1,924 | 10.1 yrs |
| Eureka | 1,302 | 9,374 kWh | $1,626 | 11.9 yrs |
| California state average | 1,610 | 11,592 kWh | $2,011 | 9.7 yrs |
Against the state figure, San Diego runs 2.1% below California’s 1,610 kWh per kW — a payback 0.4 years longer than the statewide 9.7-year estimate on the same hardware at the same price.
What sets San Diego apart
The marine layer costs San Diego its mornings for much of May and June, which is why a coastal city this far south still trails the inland valleys.
Your utility, officially
California’s average residential rate is 33.6¢/kWh, but the bill in San Diego comes from San Diego Gas & Electric Co at 32.47¢ — 3.4% below the state figure. These are the residential figures San Diego’s utility reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Form EIA-861 for 2024 — computed as revenue ÷ sales from the official file, not estimated:
| Utility | EIA ID | Residential avg price | Residential customers | Net-metering (residential, self-reported) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego Gas & Electric Co | 16609 | 32.47¢/kWh | 1,364,361 | 325401 customers / 1803.374 MW |
How exports are treated matters as much as the headline price: San Diego Gas & Electric Co is modeled here under the state’s net billing rules, and that treatment is baked into every payback figure on this page.
If an EV is in the picture, note that California’s major utilities run the time-of-use tariffs our EV + TOU whole-home calculator ships presets for — worth running before sizing an array, because overnight charging is load daytime solar cannot touch. (And if the EV itself is still hypothetical, check where the EV tax credit stands in 2026 first.)
San Diego Gas & Electric bills the city, and in the 2024 EIA-861 file it is the most expensive utility in California: 32.47¢/kWh averaged across 1,364,361 residential customers — above Pacific Gas & Electric’s 31.7¢, well above Southern California Edison’s 28.25¢, and more than double what a Salt River Project customer pays in Phoenix. Among mainland utilities this site tracks, only Con Edison in New York City charges more. That price is the entire foundation of San Diego solar economics, and it is also why the city’s adoption number is the most remarkable in the federal file: SDG&E reported 325,401 residential net-metering customers and 1,803.374 MW for 2024. Nearly one in four homes it serves already has solar on the roof. No other large utility in our data comes close to that ratio.
SDG&E is investor-owned and CPUC-regulated, so new systems fall under California’s Net Billing Tariff (NEM 3.0), in force since April 2023. Exports are credited from the Avoided Cost Calculator — a different price for every hour of every month, split weekday and weekend, 576 values a year — so there is no single export rate, and anyone quoting you one is averaging. Commonly reported annual averages land in the 5-8¢ band; this site models 6.5¢. Set that against 32.47¢ retail and the design imperative is obvious: a kilowatt-hour used in your own home is worth roughly five exported ones, which is why batteries went from an upsell to the default architecture in San Diego quotes. We could not fetch SDG&E’s program pages to verify current tariff documents, so confirm the live details on SDG&E’s own site.
On rate structure, SDG&E residential service defaults to time-of-use — it moved its customers onto TOU defaults years before the other California utilities — so evening consumption is priced at a premium exactly when your panels have quit for the day. That is punishing for a solar-only home and rewarding for a solar-plus-storage one that can discharge into the evening window.
The quarter-of-homes statistic carries one practical warning: the neighbors’ systems you are comparing against were mostly interconnected under the old net-metering regimes and keep those legacy terms for years. Their payback stories are real and not reproducible. Yours will be a NEM 3.0 story, and it lives or dies on self-consumption at 32.47¢.
Source: EIA Form EIA-861, 2024 final release , accessed 2026-09-02. Average price is total residential revenue divided by total residential sales for the year — your own rate depends on your tariff and usage tier.
Who else serves the metro
San Diego Gas & Electric bills nearly all of San Diego, but its EIA-861 territory covers two counties that also include Pacific Gas & Electric at 31.7¢, Southern California Edison at 28.3¢, and Anaheim’s municipal utility at 17.1¢. SDG&E’s own 32.47¢ sits above all three — about 15.4¢ above Anaheim’s — so a payback run on SDG&E’s headline price looks worse than one run on any neighboring system, and each system carries its own export rules. California’s July 2026 average, 33.61¢, is a later figure, not directly comparable to these 2024 numbers. Which rate applies to a home depends on its ZIP code, not the city on the envelope.
| Utility (EIA-861, same service counties) | 2024 avg residential price | Residential customers |
|---|---|---|
| Southern California Edison Co | 28.3¢/kWh | 4,594,415 |
| Pacific Gas & Electric Co. | 31.7¢/kWh | 5,047,461 |
| Imperial Irrigation District | 17.9¢/kWh | 142,078 |
| City of Anaheim - (CA) | 17.1¢/kWh | 105,839 |
The exact answer is a ZIP question, not a city question: look up your utility by ZIP . Candidates: utilities EIA-861 lists in 2 service counties of the metro’s main utility; prices are 2024 revenue ÷ sales from the official file.
San Diego against the rest of California
Same rate, same export rule, same installed price per watt — only the sunshine changes:
| City | kWh per kW | Payback |
|---|---|---|
| Riverside | 1,640 | 9.5 years |
| Los Angeles | 1,610 | 9.7 years |
| Bakersfield | 1,579 | 9.9 years |
| San Diego | 1,576 | 9.9 years |
| Fresno | 1,546 | 10.1 years |
| Sacramento | 1,541 | 10.1 years |
| Eureka | 1,302 | 11.9 years |
A 26% production span across one state is the reason a single statewide number is only ever a starting point.
What California pays San Diego for exported power
California does not credit exports at the retail rate, and that rule reaches San Diego unchanged. The program is Net Billing Tariff (NEM 3.0) , in force since 2023-04-15, crediting surplus power at a published rate of 6.50¢/kWh against a retail rate of 33.6¢.
Export credits come from the CPUC Avoided Cost Calculator , which sets a different price for every hour of every month split weekday/weekend — 576 values a year — so there is no single export rate. Commonly reported annual averages land in the 5-8c band against a retail rate near 34.7c; 6.5c, the midpoint, is used here.
Because a typical home uses only about 40% of its generation as it is produced, most of what a San Diego array makes is sold at that lower rate. That is why the payback above is 10.1 years and not the 5.2 years the same hardware would return under full-retail net metering. Raising self-consumption is the lever that closes the gap.
Because the ACC is hourly, your own average depends on when your array actually exports. Evening export is worth far more than midday export.
Sources and method
- Production: modeled with PVGIS v5.2 PVcalc (European Commission JRC) using the PVGIS-NSRDB radiation database — the same NREL satellite dataset PVWatts draws on for the Americas. Assumptions: 4 kWp, standard c-Si, 14% system loss, roof mounting, 20-degree tilt, due south, horizon shading on. The 1,576 kWh per kW figure for San Diego is a modeled location point, not an interpolation from the California average. PVGIS is free to use with JRC attribution requested; the underlying NSRDB is public domain (NREL/DOE).
- Real-roof derate: a separate 10% deduction for azimuth, pitch and shading, applied in the shared model rather than folded into the production data — so you can adjust it if your roof is genuinely unobstructed.
- Electricity rate: U.S. Energy Information Administration, average price by state . This is California’s residential average; EIA does not publish a San Diego figure, so the state rate is used and labeled as such.
- Export rules: Net Billing Tariff (NEM 3.0) , from our California state page and the shared export-rules dataset behind it.
- State average rate: EIA Table 5.6.A, July 2026 data (released Sep 2026), used for every state-average comparison on this page.
- Payback model: shared with the solar savings calculator and the state pages — 2.5%/yr utility inflation, 0.5%/yr degradation, $150/yr running costs, one $2,000 inverter replacement in year 14, federal credit $0. The rest of the toolset — battery, sizing, financing — is under all calculators .
- Incentives: DSIRE . City and utility programs change more often than state ones — check yours directly.
Electricity rate, export regime, production figure and installed cost on this page were last verified on 30 August 2026. Export credits reset on annual tariff cycles and incentive budgets run out mid-year, so treat every figure as a snapshot at that date and confirm current terms before acting. Nothing here is tax or financial advice.
Frequently asked questions
How much do solar panels cost in San Diego in 2026?
About $19,760 for a typical 8 kW system at $2.47 per watt, before any incentive. With the federal credit at $0 in 2026 that is close to your net cost. Note that the price per watt is a California market average — there is no reliable city-level cost data, so treat it as a starting point and get three quotes.
What is the solar payback in San Diego?
Roughly 10.1 years on this model, using San Diego’s own production figure of 1,576 kWh per kW and its own utility tariff (32.47¢/kWh) with each utility’s real export treatment. That includes $150 a year of running costs and one inverter replacement, which many published paybacks leave out.
Is San Diego better or worse for solar than the rest of California?
Against the state figure, San Diego runs 2.1% below California’s 1,610 kWh per kW — a payback 0.4 years longer than the statewide 9.7-year estimate on the same hardware at the same price.
Is solar worth it in San Diego in 2026?
At 33.61¢/kWh and 1,576 kWh per kW, an 8 kW system in San Diego pays back in about 9.9 years on this model. Treat that as a starting point for reading real quotes rather than as a quote: your roof’s orientation, its shading and the price you are actually offered will move it more than your city does.
How we calculated this
Year-1 saving = production (kW × the city’s modeled kWh per kW) × the blended kWh value (retail rate for self-use, the state export rule for exports). Payback = net cost ÷ year-1 saving, with the federal credit at $0 for 2026 purchases and cost per watt from the state’s installed-price band. Production is modeled from PVGIS/NSRDB irradiance for the city.Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) electricity rates · DSIRE incentive records · public IRS/OBBBA guidance. Figures are modeled estimates, not quotes or tax advice. See our methodology.
Compare with the rest of California
- Solar panel cost in California — The statewide picture: California’s rate, incentives, export rules and the 1,610 kWh per kW average this page corrects.
- Solar panel cost in Riverside — 1,640 kWh per kW and a 9.5-year payback — better than San Diego on identical hardware.
- Solar panel cost in Los Angeles — 1,610 kWh per kW and a 9.7-year payback — better than San Diego on identical hardware.
- Solar panel cost in Bakersfield — 1,579 kWh per kW and a 9.9-year payback — better than San Diego on identical hardware.
- Solar panel cost in Fresno — 1,546 kWh per kW and a 10.1-year payback — worse than San Diego on identical hardware.
- Solar panel cost in Sacramento — 1,541 kWh per kW and a 10.1-year payback — worse than San Diego on identical hardware.
- Solar panel cost in Eureka — 1,302 kWh per kW and a 11.9-year payback — worse than San Diego on identical hardware.
- Solar panel cost in Reno — 1,596 kWh per kW in Nevada — the closest production match to San Diego in our data.
- Solar panel cost in Honolulu — 1,610 kWh per kW in Hawaii — the closest production match to San Diego in our data.
- All city solar figures — The 66 US cities with their own modeled production data, and the spreads between them.