Why Is My Electricity Bill Still High After Installing Solar?

A high electric bill after solar usually traces to one of six causes: a system that isn’t running or never got permission to operate, export credit rules that pay less for the power you send to the grid than you pay for grid power, fixed charges that solar can’t offset, a time-of-use rate that charges most in the evening, a household using more electricity than the system was sized for, or panels producing less than the estimate. Each cause leaves a mark on the utility bill, so reading the bill line by line against your proposal shows which one you have. If the cause is something the salesperson said would not happen, the bill may point back to the sale as well.

Some bill is expected: the FTC says “you’ll probably still be buying some power from the local utility,” and California’s consumer guide says “Going solar reduces, but does not eliminate, your monthly utility bill.” The question is whether yours is higher than the proposal led you to expect, and why.

Is your solar system actually on?

Check this first. Permission to operate (PTO) is the utility’s approval to connect a finished solar system to the grid and switch it on, and it comes after the local permit and inspection. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) tells homeowners to “turn on system only after receiving written approval from electricity provider.”

Loan payments can start before that approval arrives: GoodLeap’s FAQ says first payment dates “are set after your project is installed,” and in Sunlight Financial’s example the borrower’s “first payment occurs 60 days after her system is installed.” In its 2026 lawsuit against Climax Solar and its lenders, Michigan’s attorney general alleges that consumers reported panels “installed but not connected, turned on, producing, permitted, inspected, or approved for PTO” while loan payments had started or lender funds had already been released, and that consumers were left responsible for both utility bills and solar loans. These are allegations in a pending case.

Run three checks:

1. Your monitoring app or inverter display shows the system producing today.
2. You have a written PTO notice from the utility, with a date.
3. Your bill shows energy sent to the grid in sunny months; the CPUC says a solar customer’s bill “will summarize how much electricity your home bought from and sent to the electric grid.”

If the system never got PTO, see solar panels never activated. If it ran and then stopped, see solar panels not working.

How do net metering and net billing change your bill?

Net metering is a billing arrangement that lets the solar power you send to the grid offset power you later buy at the full retail rate. Net billing credits exported power at a separately set value instead. The CFPB cautions that “net metering is not available in all jurisdictions and, where available, it can have terms and conditions that reduce the value to residential utility customers,” so ask your utility which tariff your account is on.

California’s change is the best documented. On December 15, 2022 the CPUC adopted decision D.22-12-056, creating the Net Billing Tariff, often called NEM 3.0, for customers who submit an interconnection application on or after April 15, 2023. It credits exports “based on its value, as determined by the avoided cost to their utility of buying clean electricity elsewhere,” and the CPUC now says “the majority of your electric bill savings will come from using the solar energy in your home.” Customers on this Solar Billing Plan go on a time-of-use rate “with high prices for the energy you buy from the electric grid during ‘peak’ evening hours.” The decision did not affect customers who applied by April 14, 2023, and the CPUC said existing net metering customers would stay on their tariff for 20 years after connecting.

Taken together, the CPUC’s description means power exported at midday earns little next to what grid power costs at the evening peak, so a household that uses most of its electricity after sunset can owe more than a proposal built on full retail credit predicted. Solar Billing Plan customers also get a once-a-year “true-up” bill that settles excess credits “at a different rate,” so a single month’s bill can mislead.

What fixed charges can’t solar offset?

A fixed charge is a flat monthly amount on the utility bill that stays the same however much electricity you use. The FTC explains: “When you use solar power, you don’t pay for as many kilowatt-hours, but you’ll still pay the utility’s fixed charges.”

In California, a May 2024 CPUC decision (D.24-05-028) set an income-graduated fixed charge of $24.15 a month for most residential customers, about $6 for CARE customers and about $12 for FERA customers. It directed SCE and SDG&E to apply the charge to bills in the fourth quarter of 2025 and PG&E in the first quarter of 2026, and the CPUC’s fact sheet says “All residential customers, including those with rooftop solar, will transition to flat rates.” The CPUC says the change “does not impose any new fees” and that the $24.15 charge would reduce the price of a unit of electricity “by 5 to 7 cents per kilowatt-hour,” which also trims the value of each kilowatt-hour your panels displace. We have not confirmed that every utility’s bills now show the charge, so look for a flat monthly line on your own bill.

Did your usage or your rates change?

Compare kilowatt-hours before dollars. The CPUC says a system is typically sized to around 80 to 85 percent of the previous year’s use, so some grid purchases were always part of the plan, and that use goes up “if your family grows, you buy an electric vehicle, or you decide to turn up your air conditioning in the summer.” If your household now uses more than the proposal’s baseline, that growth shows up on the bill.

Prices move as well. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports an average U.S. residential price of 18.31 cents per kilowatt-hour in July 2026, 4.9 percent above July 2025, and a California average of 33.61 cents (Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, data for July 2026). The CPUC also warns that “your electricity provider may require you to switch to a different rate plan in the future, which could change how much you save.” Check the rate plan printed on your bill against the one the installer recommended.

Is the system producing what the proposal estimated?

A system can be on and still underperform; the CPUC says “Your solar system might perform slightly worse than the estimate assumed.” Your utility bill can’t measure total production, because power your home uses as the panels make it never shows up as an export, so use the monitoring data and measure any shortfall the way the production page describes.

How do you read your utility bill against the solar proposal?

Lay a year of bills next to the proposal, month by month.

Bill line	What it tells you	Compare it with
Energy bought from the grid (kWh)	Use the panels didn’t cover	The proposal’s estimate of remaining grid use
Energy sent to the grid (kWh)	Exports the utility credited	The export credit the proposal assumed
Rate plan and time-of-use periods	When grid power costs most	The plan the installer recommended
Fixed or flat monthly charges	Costs solar can’t reduce	Whether the proposal counted them
True-up or annual statement	How a year of credits settled	The proposal’s annual savings figure

Then add the solar payment. Treasury’s lease guide gives the test: “the combined total of your new electricity bill plus your monthly lease payment should be lower than your current electricity bill.”

When does a high bill point back to the sale?

A high bill becomes a sales question when its cause was knowable on the day you signed and the pitch said otherwise. Examples include a proposal that assumed full retail credit for exports when your application date put you on net billing, a salesperson who said the bill would be zero (the CPUC lists that as a false claim), a proposal that ignored fixed charges or your loan, lease or PPA payment, a usage baseline you never had, and payments that started on a system that never got PTO. The CFPB’s 2024 release said homeowners were finding contracts with “electricity savings lower than promised.”

A bill that rose because you added an electric vehicle, or because rates changed after you signed, doesn’t show that anyone misled you. If your comparison points to the pitch, the page on what to do when a solar salesperson lied about savings covers the evidence and when a promise becomes a claim.

What should you do about a high electric bill after solar?

Take these steps in order; the main guide to getting out of a solar contract explains each route in more depth.

1. Inside a cancellation window? High bills usually surface after installation, when windows have often closed, but windows vary by state and some run longer than three days. If you are inside one, cancel in writing by the method the contract and the law require and copy the lender the same day. See the state cancellation laws and the deadline tool.
2. Identify your contract and every company. Find whether you have a cash purchase, loan, lease, PPA or PACE financing, and list the installer, the lender, the loan servicer and the warranty provider, which may be four different companies, plus your utility.
3. Ask in writing, and complain for free. Ask the utility in writing to explain your bill and confirm your tariff and solar billing start date, and ask the installer or solar company in writing for production data and the PTO date, saying what you want done. For a purchased system, the FTC says: “If you have a problem with a system you bought, try to resolve it with the company first,” and to report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to your state attorney general if that fails. For a solar loan, the CFPB takes complaints, and its complaint page first asks “Have you tried reaching out to the company?” For a lease or PPA, which the CFPB does not list as a product, Treasury, the CFPB and the FTC jointly “encourage consumers that believe they have been a victim of unfair or deceptive practices to file a complaint with CFPB, FTC, or their relevant state consumer protection office.” Your state attorney general and contractor licensing board take complaints too, and for utility issues Treasury says to “Find your state’s utility consumer advocate at nasuca.org/members.” Keep paying both bills while you wait; the stop-paying page explains what a missed payment can trigger.

Disclosure: Candid Yak works with Titan Advocacy Group, a solar consumer advocacy firm, and may be paid when readers hire it.

4. If they refuse, and your documents show a gap between what you were promised and what you signed, get a free case review from an attorney-backed firm. A firm that offers a free case review and is worth hiring:

   • reviews your proposal, contract and bills before quoting anything, and says so when a free route such as a cancellation window or a written request is still open;
   • tells you which attorney will work your file, and that attorney is licensed in your state and searchable on the state bar’s site;
   • puts its fee, and what happens to the fee if the company or lender refuses, in writing before you pay;
   • never tells you to stop paying your loan, lease or PPA;
   • never guarantees a result and never claims a connection to your installer or lender.

   Don’t pay for that work before the company or lender has answered your written request.

5. Other routes. If the loan payment is what pushes the combined bill too high, a payoff or a lower-cost refinance can reduce it; see solar loan payoff and refinance and compare debt consolidation loans. A lease or PPA may allow a buyout or a transfer to a buyer when you sell, on written terms. For help with the utility bill itself, Treasury’s solar guides point people to their local Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) office.

Disclosure: Candid Yak works with Titan Advocacy Group, a solar consumer advocacy firm, and may be paid when readers hire it. This page’s author, Kira Fairbank, is a manager at Vacation Ownership Consultants, a timeshare exit firm.

This is general information, not legal advice. Utility tariffs, fixed charges and export credit rules differ by state and utility, and whether a high bill supports a claim against the seller turns on your contract and your state’s law, so take your bills, proposal and contract to an attorney licensed in your state before you send a notice, sign a release, or change any payment.