In 1998, Southern California Edison began connecting homes and businesses with solar panel installations to the electric grid. Twenty years later, the company reached a new milestone: 250,000 solar customers. It took only four more years to double that number to half a million.

Reaching the 500,000 solar customer milestone means nearly 10% of SCE’s 5 million-plus customer accounts now have solar installations connected to the grid. It reflects SCE’s decades-long support for the growth of solar and demonstrates concrete progress toward decarbonizing the power supply, which is crucial to helping California reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and 100% by 2045.

SCE is continuing its commitment to solar by offering customers a $500 discount when they buy a rooftop system on the SCE Marketplace. SCE receives and processes about 9,000 requests each month from customers to interconnect their solar panel installations to the electric grid. Compared to the same period last year, total requests received from January through last July increased by 50%, indicating continuing strength in the market for rooftop solar. 

“As our customers adopt clean energy technology — battery storage, electric vehicles, heat pumps, solar and more — SCE is strengthening its commitment to providing prompt and responsive customer service, and to modernizing our electric grid to accommodate our customers’ changing energy needs,” said Lisa Cagnolatti, SCE’s senior vice president of Customer Service. In addition:

• The 500,000-plus solar customers in SCE’s service area — 99% of whom are residential customers — represent 4,100 megawatts of power-generating capacity.
• SCE’s Pathway 2045 blueprint for achieving the state’s greenhouse gas emission reduction goals calls for solar to be installed on 40% of California’s homes by 2030 and on 50% by 2045. 

SCE’s solar customers are compensated for the excess energy they generate as prescribed by California’s Net Energy Metering regulations. The California Public Utilities Commission is reviewing the current NEM structure, and SCE — along with the Affordable Clean Energy for All coalition — seeks NEM reform so that solar adoption is more equitable for all customers.

The state’s current NEM policy results in non-solar customers paying an extra $4 billion each year — an average of $200 each — to cover subsidies for solar customers. 

“SCE is proud of the work we’ve done to bring 500,000 solar customers onto the grid, but we also recognize that NEM reform is imperative to limit the current burden that falls on non-solar customers, many of whom are less affluent and/or renters, who don’t have the choice whether or not to install solar,” Cagnolatti said.

Learn more at sce.com/gosolar.

For more information about clean energy, visit edison.com/clean-energy.