Net metering
Does net metering survive the sale
It depends which program the system is on — and on one point the honest answer is that nobody has shown us a primary source. Here is what we can and cannot stand behind.
Start with the interconnection date
What to do
General information about the programmes, not advice about a specific property. Which programme a system is on depends on its interconnection date and its utility, and municipal utilities sit outside the CPUC framework entirely. Utility rules change. Confirm the programme, the transfer requirement and any deadline with the utility in writing.
Estimated annual value of the arrangement
NEM 1.0
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NEM 2.0
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Net Billing (NEM 3.0)
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Estimates, on the same production assumption the savings calculator uses. NEM 2.0 is modelled at the retail rate less about 2.5¢/kWh of non-bypassable charges; Net Billing at 70% of output offsetting retail and 30% exported at roughly 6.5¢/kWh. Actual value depends on the household’s own consumption pattern.
One of these is settled. Two are not
Plenty of sites state confidently that net metering “transfers with the property”. For the Net Billing Tariff that is demonstrably wrong — SCE's own attestation, citing CPUC decision D.22-12-056, is explicit that the legacy period follows the customer rather than the system, so a buyer inherits no legacy period.
For NEM 1.0 and NEM 2.0, the widely repeated claim is that the balance of the twenty-year legacy period follows the home. It may well be right. We have not been able to find a primary source that says so, and we are not willing to repeat it as fact in a transaction where somebody is making a financial decision. Get the utility's position in writing, naming the service address, inside the contingency period.
Common questions
Can you tell me which program this house is on?
The interconnection date determines it, and that date is on the interconnection paperwork or obtainable from the utility. Identifying the system and its documentation is part of what an inspection and Transaction Support establish.
Why won't you just say NEM 2.0 transfers?
Because we have not seen a primary source confirming it. Repeating an industry claim as fact, in a document a buyer may rely on, is not something we are willing to do.
The property is in Riverside city. Does any of this apply?
No. Riverside, Banning, Moreno Valley and Anza run their own programs and sit outside CPUC net metering entirely. Anyone applying the NEM 1.0 / 2.0 / NBT timeline to those territories is using the wrong framework.
Working a weekend transaction? So are we
The office is open Monday–Friday 9am–6pm, but inspections run on weekends and requests are open around the clock. We'll call to confirm the date and time.
Requesting an inspection isn't a confirmed appointment — we'll contact you to confirm timing.