Guide · Azusa
Azusa is the one San Gabriel Valley city with its own electric utility, Azusa Light & Water, so SCE's NEM 3.0 rules do not apply there. Systems of 10 kW DC or less get traditional net metering: exports are credited kilowatt-hour for kilowatt-hour, unused credits roll over year to year, and any annual surplus is paid at 8.85 cents per kWh through June 2027. Batteries are allowed but must never export to the grid, the permit runs through the utility before the city, and there is no solar or battery rebate.
Facts checked September 21, 2026
Most of the San Gabriel Valley buys electricity from Southern California Edison. Azusa does not. Electric service inside the city limits comes from Azusa Light & Water, a utility owned by the city with roughly 16,500 electric customers. SCE's own list of the cities it serves includes Covina, West Covina, Glendora, San Dimas, and La Verne, and leaves Azusa out. That one fact changes almost everything about a solar project there.
It matters because solar companies that work mostly in SCE cities tend to bring SCE assumptions with them: NEM 3.0 export credits, TOU-D-PRIME, a permission-to-operate letter from the utility. None of those exist in Azusa. If a proposal for an Azusa home mentions NEM 3.0, the proposal was built for the wrong utility. Our Azusa service area page covers the city itself; this guide covers the utility rules.
For residential systems of 10 kW DC or less, you sign the utility's Interconnection and Net Metering Agreement. Under it, the utility bills the monthly difference between what it supplied and what you exported, on your normal retail rate schedule. If you export more than you use in a month, the kilowatt-hour credit carries forward and is netted against later consumption. Credits roll over from one year to the next, counted from the month your system went into service.
This is the old-fashioned kind of net metering that SCE customers lost in 2023, and it is the single biggest advantage Azusa homeowners have. Under SCE's Net Billing Tariff, exported power is credited at hourly avoided-cost values that sit well below retail for most of the day. In Azusa, a kilowatt-hour you export at noon offsets a kilowatt-hour you buy at 7 p.m. Read our NEM 3.0 guide if you want to see what the rest of the valley is dealing with.
If your system produces more than the house uses across a full year, the leftover credit is paid out under Schedule NGP, the Net Generator Payment. The rate is 8.85 cents per kilowatt-hour for July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, up from 8.60 cents the year before. Azusa Light & Water resets the figure every July 1 and pays the surplus within 30 days after the anniversary month of your interconnection.
That rate is far below retail. So while the monthly netting is generous, a system that overproduces all year is still selling power cheap. The right target in Azusa is a system that lands at or just under your annual consumption, not one that runs a surplus.
Larger systems, from over 10 kW DC up to 1 MW, fall under Schedule CEM, Co-Energy Metering. These go on a mandatory time-of-use schedule, and exports are credited only at the generation component of the TOU rate, which is a few cents per kilowatt-hour. The system also has to be sized at or below the customer's demand. For a typical Azusa home, the practical lesson is to stay at or under 10 kW DC so you keep the full net metering treatment.
The net metering agreement has a specific rule for energy storage. A battery cannot export power to Azusa Light & Water, either directly or by displacing your solar output behind the meter, and it must disconnect automatically when utility voltage drops. A Tesla Powerwall is configured to meet that rule, running in self-consumption and backup mode: it stores your midday surplus, runs the house on it in the evening, and isolates the home during an outage so the panels keep charging it through the day.
Because Azusa's export credits are already worth full retail, a battery in Azusa is less about the bill than it is in SCE cities. The reason to add one here is backup. The northern foothills of Azusa are a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, and the canyon above town has burned repeatedly, so outages are a real consideration for hillside homes.
Azusa has a permit sequence most cities do not, and getting it in the wrong order costs weeks. The steps for a residential system of 10 kW DC or less:
VertX prepares the agreement packet, files with both offices in order, and schedules both inspections. You sign; we chase.
| Item | Azusa Light & Water | SCE, for comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Export credit, systems 10 kW DC or less | Kilowatt-hour for kilowatt-hour, rolls over yearly | Hourly avoided-cost value, mostly well below retail |
| Annual surplus payout | 8.85 cents per kWh (July 2026 to June 2027) | Net surplus compensation at a low rate |
| Required rate plan | Your existing residential schedule | TOU-D-PRIME, 4 to 9 p.m. peak |
| Battery export | Not allowed; backup and self-consumption only | Allowed and credited |
| Permission to operate | No letter; utility inspection and meter install | PTO letter after interconnection review |
| Solar or battery rebate | None | None (SGIP general market closed) |
| Other rebates | Heat pump water heater $500, smart thermostat $50, EV charger $150 | Varies by program |
For an SCE home we size the array to consumption, pair it with a battery, and design around the 4 to 9 p.m. peak. For an Azusa home we size closer to full annual usage, because every exported kilowatt-hour is worth one purchased. We keep the system at 10 kW DC or under to stay on net metering, we treat the battery as a backup decision rather than a bill decision, and we file with the utility before the city. Bring us a recent Azusa Light & Water bill and we will show you the system that fits it.
Common questions
No. Azusa homes are served by Azusa Light & Water, a city-owned utility, not Southern California Edison, so SCE's Net Billing Tariff does not apply. For systems of 10 kW DC or less, Azusa Light & Water uses a traditional net metering agreement: exports are netted against what you use, kilowatt-hour for kilowatt-hour, and unused credits roll over from year to year. That is materially better than SCE's hourly avoided-cost export credits.
Any annual net surplus is paid out under Azusa Light & Water's Schedule NGP, the Net Generator Payment. The rate is 8.85 cents per kilowatt-hour for July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, and the utility resets it every July 1. Payment is made within 30 days after the anniversary month of your interconnection. The payout rate is much lower than retail, so the goal is still to match production to your annual usage, not to build a surplus.
Yes, with one rule. The interconnection agreement requires that any battery never export power to Azusa Light & Water, directly or by displacing your solar output, and that it disconnect automatically when utility power drops. In practice the Powerwall runs in self-consumption and backup mode, which is what most homeowners want: it carries the house through the evening and through outages.
Azusa Light & Water has to sign off before the city will accept the building permit. The signed interconnection agreement and the California Solar Consumer Protection Guide go to the utility's customer service office at 729 N. Azusa Avenue, which issues a release form. The City of Azusa Building Division then accepts the expedited solar submittal for 10 kW or less by email. After the city's final inspection, the utility does its own inspection and installs the net meter. VertX handles every step.
No. Its residential rebates cover a heat pump water heater ($500), a smart thermostat ($50), an EV charger ($150), and a few smaller items, credited on your electric bill. There is no rebate for solar panels or batteries. Note also that once you add solar, the utility does not let you enroll in its residential EV rate schedule.
