Solar Savings Direct, Inc FAQs

Solar Savings Direct makes it easy to add solar power to your home. Simply give us a call, and we'll run some quick calculations to determine the right system size for your house and your needs. We'll give you a free estimate right away.   

We'll then send a project manager to your house to gather some information for the installation. You don't even have to be home for the site visit! You'll sign a few documents and schedule the installation. Before you know it, you'll be saving on your electricity bills with your new solar energy system. 

We are proud to provide the best solar equipment to our customers. We offer Hanwa Q-Cell, Solaria, Silfab and REC panels. Your project manager will help you decide which manufacturer, model, and size panel will best support your energy needs.

Our work comes with a 25-year warranty. This includes all solar panel installations.

Call us today to schedule a free estimate so that we can go over the specifics of solar panel installation. Depending on the size and scope of your project, the cost can vary.

Net Energy Metering describes a billing structure between utilities and homeowners with solar. Under net metering, solar owners earn credit for the excess electricity they push onto the grid when the sun is shining. This credit is used to offset the cost of the electricity they pull off the grid when the sun isn’t shining.

Net metering policies have traditionally had a one-to-one offset. That means, the price of a kWh of electricity pushed onto the grid was equal to the price of a kWh pulled off the grid.

Under this structure, solar owners with systems designed to produce the same amount of electricity as the household consumes essentially replace their utility electricity bill with a lower monthly payment on their solar equipment. Over the 25-year warrantied life of a solar system, this leads to energy costs savings in the tens — or hundreds — of thousands of dollars.

NEM 3.0 is a new version of net energy metering policy approved by the CPUC on December 15, 2022. It applies to utility customers in the territories of California’s three major investor owned utilities:

• Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)
• Southern California Edison (SCE)
• San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)

It’s important to note that NEM 3.0 is not retroactive, so solar systems installed under NEM 1 or NEM 2 will remain under their current policy.

The biggest change between NEM 2.0 and NEM 3.0 is the value of export rates — or the value of excess electricity produced by solar systems. Under NEM 3.0, residential solar export rates will be based on an “Avoided Cost Calculator” instead of retail rates (what customers pay for electricity). We’ll explain how this works in a moment.

The big thing to know is, on average, NEM 3.0 export rates are around 75% lower than the export rates for NEM 2.0. Lower export rates means longer payback periods and less cost savings for solar owners under NEM 3.0.