A PG&E bill can be confusing enough before solar enters the picture. Once you add net energy metering, time-of-use rates, exports, credits and a True-Up balance, it becomes very easy to look at the wrong number and come to the wrong conclusion.

The good news is that you do not need to understand every line item to get useful information from your bill. For most homeowners, there are a handful of numbers that tell you whether your solar system and your household electricity use are generally working together the way they should.

Start by Identifying Which PG&E Solar Billing Program You Have

Before trying to read a PG&E solar bill, determine which solar billing program applies to the property.

Most existing systems fall into one of two broad categories:

• NEM 1.0 or NEM 2.0: Traditional Net Energy Metering, where eligible charges and credits accumulate throughout the billing year and are reconciled at the annual True-Up.
• Solar Billing Plan: PG&E’s name for California’s newer Net Billing Tariff, often informally called NEM 3.0. Imports and exports are valued differently, and billing works differently from traditional NEM.

This distinction matters. A number that means one thing on a NEM 2.0 statement may not have exactly the same significance on a Solar Billing Plan statement.

If you are unsure which program you have, PG&E provides current information and sample statements on its solar billing information page.

Your PG&E Bill Does Not Show Total Solar Production

This is probably the most important thing to understand.

Your PG&E meter measures electricity moving between your home and the utility grid. It does not directly measure everything your solar panels produce.

For example, suppose your solar system produces 30 kWh during the day. If your home consumes 18 kWh while that energy is being produced, only the remaining 12 kWh reaches the grid.

Your solar monitoring system may show:

• 30 kWh produced

while PG&E may only see:

• 12 kWh exported

Both numbers can be correct.

The missing 18 kWh was simply used inside the home before it ever reached the utility meter.

Look at Electricity Delivered and Electricity Received

Depending on the exact statement and rate plan, PG&E will show electricity moving in both directions.

Electricity Delivered to You

This is electricity your home imported from the grid.

Grid imports normally happen at night, during cloudy weather, when household demand exceeds solar production, or whenever a battery is unable or configured not to cover the load.

Importing electricity does not automatically mean your solar system is malfunctioning.

Electricity Received by PG&E

This is excess solar electricity exported from your property to the grid.

If the system is producing more electricity than the house is consuming, the excess generally flows through the meter and becomes an export.

Looking at imports and exports together gives you a much better picture than looking at either number alone.

Pay Attention to Time-of-Use Periods

For many PG&E solar customers, when electricity is imported or exported matters almost as much as how much energy is involved.

Solar production is usually strongest around the middle of the day. Household electricity use often increases later in the afternoon and evening as solar production falls.

This creates an important distinction:

• You may export electricity during lower-value periods.
• You may import electricity later during more expensive periods.

As a result, exporting 10 kWh and importing 10 kWh does not necessarily mean those two amounts cancel each other out financially.

This becomes especially important with battery systems and under PG&E’s Solar Billing Plan.

Find Your Current Energy Charges and Credits

For customers on traditional Net Energy Metering, your monthly statement tracks the energy charges and credits accumulating during the current True-Up period.

A negative or credit balance generally means your exports and associated credits are currently ahead of your eligible energy charges. A growing positive balance means the account is moving in the other direction.

Do not ignore this number simply because it is not immediately due.

If the year-to-date balance climbs steadily through spring and summer, when solar production should normally be strong, it may be worth investigating why.

Check the Estimated or Year-to-Date True-Up Balance

For NEM customers, this is one of the most useful numbers on the entire bill.

Your True-Up balance shows where the account is heading as charges and credits accumulate through the billing year.

It is not necessarily the amount you will ultimately owe. Solar production, household consumption and electricity rates can change significantly throughout the year.

But the trend matters.

If your balance looks like this:

• March: $75 owed
• April: $140 owed
• May: $260 owed
• June: $410 owed

that deserves more attention than simply waiting to see what happens at the end of the year.

For a deeper explanation of how the annual reconciliation works, see my guide to the PG&E solar True-Up.

Do Not Confuse the Amount Due With Your Solar Performance

The amount due on the first page of your bill does not necessarily tell you whether your solar system is performing properly.

Depending on your billing program, that amount can include charges that are billed monthly rather than carried into the annual solar reconciliation.

Beginning in March 2026, for example, PG&E replaced the former Minimum Electric Charge for eligible residential NEM customers with a monthly Base Services Charge. That charge cannot be offset by solar generation credits.

Your statement may also contain gas charges, taxes, non-energy charges and other items unrelated to solar production.

So a monthly bill is not automatically evidence that something is wrong.

Compare Your PG&E Bill With Your Solar Monitoring

The utility bill becomes much more useful when compared with your inverter or solar monitoring data.

I generally look at three separate pieces of information:

1. Solar production: How much energy did the solar system actually generate?
2. Grid activity: How much electricity did PG&E deliver to and receive from the property?
3. Billing: What were those imports and exports worth under the customer’s rate plan?

Those numbers answer different questions.

A system could produce normally while the homeowner still has a high electric bill because household consumption increased. Conversely, electricity use may be unchanged while solar production has quietly fallen because of failed equipment.

What Can a PG&E Solar Bill Tell You About System Problems?

A utility bill cannot diagnose a failed inverter or bad solar panel by itself, but it can reveal patterns worth investigating.

Some warning signs include:

• Exports dropping significantly compared with the same season in previous years
• A rapidly increasing True-Up balance during high-production months
• Unusually high daytime grid imports
• A major difference from previous years without a corresponding change in household usage
• Solar monitoring showing production while utility data shows unexpectedly little exported energy

None of these automatically proves that the solar system has a problem. Weather, changes in consumption, rate plans, battery operation and other factors can produce similar results.

Why Your Solar App and PG&E Bill May Not Match

Homeowners frequently try to compare the production total in their solar app directly with the energy numbers on their PG&E statement.

That comparison usually does not work.

Your solar monitoring system measures generation. PG&E primarily measures the net electricity crossing the utility meter.

If you want to estimate total household consumption, you generally need to account for both grid activity and solar energy that was consumed directly inside the home.

This distinction becomes even more important when a battery is installed because energy can move between the solar system, battery, home and utility grid throughout the day.

A PG&E Solar Bill Is More Useful When You Look at the Trend

One month’s bill rarely tells the whole story.

Solar production changes dramatically with the seasons, and household consumption can change just as much. Air conditioning, electric vehicles, pools, heating equipment and changes in occupancy can all alter the numbers.

I would rather compare 12 months of PG&E data with 12 months of solar production than try to diagnose a system from one unusually high bill.

For Sacramento-area homeowners trying to determine whether higher bills are being caused by system performance, consumption or rate structure, a solar performance and utility-bill analysis can help separate those factors.

The Bottom Line

When reading a PG&E bill with solar, do not focus only on the amount due.

Look at:

• Your solar billing program
• Grid imports
• Grid exports
• Time-of-use periods
• Current energy charges and credits
• Your year-to-date or True-Up balance
• Your actual solar production

Most importantly, remember that your PG&E bill and your solar monitoring system are measuring different things.

Once you understand that distinction, the bill becomes much easier to read—and much more useful for determining whether a high electric bill is being caused by the solar system, the home, the rate plan or some combination of all three.