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Solar in Riverside works differently. Your utility isn’t Edison.
Most solar companies quote Riverside the way they quote everywhere else, then discover on install day that the house is on Riverside Public Utilities. We start from your actual bill. Riverside is the biggest city we serve and the one where the utility matters most to whether solar pays.
Your utility: Riverside Public Utilities, with Edison at the edges
The City of Riverside runs its own electric utility, so Riverside solar does not follow Edison’s NEM 3.0 at all. RPU replaced its old net energy metering arrangement with what it calls the Self-Generation Program. Residential solar customers go onto RPU’s Domestic Time of Use rate, and RPU states that billing credits are calculated by multiplying the Avoided Cost of Energy rate by the Time of Delivery Factor, where one applies, at the time the energy is supplied. Two differences from Edison matter to a homeowner: RPU settles surplus monthly rather than holding it to an annual true-up, and RPU allows a system built to 150% of your historic annual usage. Customers already on an existing NEM agreement are not affected by the change. Neighborhoods outside the city limits, including Woodcrest and parts of the Riverside County pockets, are on Edison instead, so the first thing we do with a Riverside address is check which utility you are actually on.
On the Edison side of the city line the rules are different again: Edison’s peak hours and prices are set out here, and the annual settlement bill catches a lot of people out.
The heat, and what it does to the size of the system
Riverside runs hot and long: highs over 95°F from June through September, and the Santa Ana wind days in fall. Central air is the whole story on a Riverside bill. We size from a full year of usage so the summer months are covered and the winter months aren’t overbuilt.
Roofs in Riverside
Riverside has the widest range of housing we see. Craftsman and Spanish revival homes in the Wood Streets and downtown often have older roofs that need work first. The Canyon Crest, Mission Grove, and Orangecrest tracts are 1980s and 1990s concrete tile, which the installing crews lift and reset around every mount. Older ranch homes in Arlington and La Sierra are mostly composition shingle.
Permits and turning it on
Permits go through the City of Riverside Building and Safety, and interconnection goes to RPU rather than Edison for most addresses. RPU’s process is its own, with its own forms and inspection, and The installation partner handles it. Historic-district homes downtown may need an extra review, and we tell you up front if your address falls in one.
Associations. Canyon Crest, Mission Grove, and Orangecrest associations review solar. California law limits what they can refuse, and the submission is part of our job.
Solar battery backup in Riverside: Tesla Powerwall 3
Because RPU pays avoided cost for what you export, and adjusts that by time of delivery, the power you keep is worth more to you than the power you send back. A Powerwall 3 holds the midday surplus in the house for the evening instead of exporting it cheaply. On the Edison side of the city line the same logic is sharper still, because Edison’s 4 to 9 p.m. peak is the most expensive power of the day. How the battery works.
Roofing and solar in Riverside
Riverside’s older neighborhoods are where a new roof before solar comes up most often. If the roof under a Wood Streets or Arlington home won’t last 25 years, it gets replaced before the panels go on, coordinated through a C-39 licensed partner on the same permit, and the leak coverage runs the full 25 years. Roof and solar together.
Where in Riverside we work
Canyon Crest, Mission Grove and Orangecrest, Wood Streets and Downtown, Arlington and La Sierra, Woodcrest (Edison territory), Alessandro Heights. Nearby: Moreno Valley, Corona, Perris, Jurupa Valley, Redlands, San Bernardino. All service areas.
- Riverside
- Other city pages (click to open)
- Also served
- Fontana, home base
What solar costs in Riverside
Homeowners in Riverside and San Bernardino counties who bought a solar-and-battery system outright over the past year paid a median of $33,829, according to the CPUC’s interconnection records: what solar panels cost in California, and how to compare quotes.
On the $0-down plan you pay nothing to have the panels and Powerwall installed. You pay for the electricity the system makes at the rate written into the agreement, and your utility bill drops to the connection charge plus whatever the system doesn’t cover. Or buy the system outright. Both numbers come from one recent bill. The contract, line by line.
Choosing a solar company in Riverside
Most of the solar companies in Riverside will quote you. Before you sign with any of them, including us, check five things:
- The licence. Whoever does the installation must hold a California contractor’s licence. Look the number up on the CSLB licence check. A company that isn’t licensed has to say so in its advertising; we say it in our footer, because Divine Gifts Solar is a broker and the licensed partner does the work.
- Who owns the system. On a $0-down agreement, it isn’t you. Get the owner’s name in writing.
- Year one and year twenty on the same page. If the price per kilowatt-hour rises each year, you should see what it is at the end, not just the start.
- The warranty, in writing, from the company that gives it. Parts, workmanship, roof penetrations, and production, with the term for each.
- Anyone who says “free solar,” walk away. You still pay for power, and you still have a utility bill.
Every line of a solar contract, explained, and the solar companies that install the most in the Inland Empire, from the state’s own records.
Get a solar quote in Riverside
Send one recent utility bill through the form on this page or call (909) 320-2309. You get two numbers back, the $0-down agreement and the purchase price, side by side, with what each one covers. If solar doesn’t pencil out for your Riverside home, we tell you that instead.
The work itself — system design, the permit, and what happens on install day — is on the home solar installation page. Anything we haven’t covered here, from liens to warranties to what happens when you sell the house, is answered on the questions page.
Where the utility and HOA details come from
What this page says about Riverside Public Utilities’s rules, and about what an HOA can and can’t require, comes from these published sources, not from us. Check them yourself:
- Riverside Public Utilities — Self-Generation Program
- City of Riverside — Self-Generation program changes
Questions from Riverside
Does $0-down solar work on Riverside Public Utilities?
Yes. The power purchase agreement works the same way: you pay for the power the system makes at the rate written into the agreement, and nothing upfront. What changes is the interconnection paperwork, which goes to RPU, and the export credit, which follows RPU’s Self-Generation Program rather than Edison’s NEM 3.0.
What is RPU’s Self-Generation Program?
It is the arrangement that replaced net energy metering for new solar customers in the City of Riverside. You stay connected to the grid and receive a credit for the excess energy you send back. RPU calculates that credit from the Avoided Cost of Energy rate, adjusted by a Time of Delivery Factor where one applies, rather than crediting you at the retail rate. Residential customers go onto the Domestic Time of Use rate, and a system can be sized up to 150% of your historic annual usage. If you already had a NEM agreement in place, RPU says you are not affected.
Do I get an annual true-up bill on RPU like Edison customers do?
No. RPU settles surplus energy monthly, where Edison holds the balance to an annual settlement on your Relevant Period date. That is one of the real advantages of being on RPU: there is no once-a-year bill that arrives much larger than you expected. It also means there is less benefit to overbuilding a system, because you are not banking credits across seasons.
How do I know if I’m on RPU or Edison?
Look at your electric bill. If it says City of Riverside or Riverside Public Utilities, you’re on RPU. If it says Southern California Edison, you’re on Edison. Send us either one and we’ll size for the right rules.
Do you handle HOA approval in Canyon Crest or Mission Grove?
Yes. The installing partner prepares the submission with the roof plan and equipment specs. California’s Solar Rights Act limits what an association can require, and most approvals come back within a few weeks.
How it goes from here
Three steps. You can stop at any of them.
Send us a bill
One recent Edison or SDG&E bill tells us your usage and what a system needs to cover. There’s no site visit and no salesperson yet.
Two numbers, explained
Your $0-down rate and your purchase price, side by side, with what each one covers and doesn’t. We’ll say which one we’d pick for your bill.
A licensed partner installs it
Your matched partner pulls the permit and does the work — roof first if you need it, then panels and the Powerwall 3. The same company services it afterward.
Send us your Riverside bill. We’ll come back with two numbers.
Send one recent Edison bill and we’ll come back with two numbers and a plain explanation of both. If solar doesn’t pencil out for your house, we’ll say so.
Ask for a quote. A person answers the phone.