Southern California Edison's Solar Billing Plan page tells customers moving into a house that already has solar that "the current year's prices are your actual prices. After that, prices may change." A buyer who moves into a house whose system went live a few years earlier can keep the older net metering arrangement for the rest of a 20-year term.
From the street, the two roofs can look the same. What the buyer gets is set by two pieces of paper: the date SCE gave the system Permission to Operate, and the contract showing who owns the panels. In Temecula, where newer homes come with solar as standard, both documents belong in a seller's prep work before the listing photos are taken.
April 15, 2023 Splits Every Solar Home in Two
SCE closed NEM 2.0 to new customers on April 15, 2023, and moved new solar customers onto what it calls the Solar Billing Plan. The California Public Utilities Commission calls the same program the net billing tariff, or NBT. Under it, credits for power sent back to the grid are set "at a rate reflecting the value of this generation to the grid," and that rate is usually lower than the retail rate.
The bigger difference for a sale is how each tariff treats the next owner.
| System on NEM 1.0 or NEM 2.0 | System on the Solar Billing Plan | |
|---|---|---|
| How long the terms last | 20-year eligibility period starting at the system's PTO date | Nine-year legacy period |
| Who the terms are guaranteed to | Tied to the system's eligibility period | The original customer who caused the interconnection |
| What a buyer gets | Automatic NEM enrollment at turn-on for systems under 30 kW still in their eligibility period | The current year's export prices, which may change afterward |
| Extra steps | Systems over 30 kW need a new interconnection agreement, plus an inspection if older than three years | Buyer starts service on the plan in effect |
The CPUC says plainly that the NBT's nine-year guarantee belongs to "the original customer who causes a generation facility to be interconnected." A NEM 2.0 system, by contrast, can stay on that tariff for 20 years from interconnection. Say a Temecula seller's system got PTO in 2021. If it's under 30 kW, the rule in SCE's net metering FAQ lets a buyer inherit roughly 15 years of the older arrangement just by turning on service. A seller whose system went live in 2024 hands the buyer whatever SCE's export prices are in the year of the sale.
The PTO letter shows which column of that table a buyer is stepping into, so it belongs next to the listing's solar description.
Newer Homes Started From a Different Baseline
Most post-2023 systems in the Temecula Valley weren't added by owners. They came with the house. The California Energy Commission's Energy Code requires solar PV on newly constructed buildings, with some exceptions. So a home completed after April 15, 2023 was very likely interconnected under the Solar Billing Plan.
There's one more detail for those homes. The CPUC says residential SCE customers who apply to interconnect NBT systems before the end of 2027 get slightly higher export credits for nine years, but "customers who are required to add solar (e.g., by California's building code for new construction) do not receive the adder." A newer production home and a nearby resale whose owner added panels in 2024 can both be on the Solar Billing Plan and still have earned their credits on different terms.
Builder marketing shows a second split, and it comes before any of this. At KB Home's Bordeaux community at 34258 Aspen Alley in French Valley, the unincorporated area just north of the Temecula city line, the builder's page lists homes from $622,990 plus solar cost. KB's disclaimer says the required panels "are not included in the posted price, but may be leased for a monthly payment, or purchased for an additional cost that may be eligible for mortgage financing." Two neighbors who bought in the same community could end up owning their systems on different terms, and that follows each home into its first resale.
Inside the city, SHAWOOD's Sommers Bend lists one homesite with a "Resilience Solar Package – 4 Backup Tesla Batteries." The page doesn't say whether that package is owned, leased or included in the price. That's the same question a resale buyer will ask years from now, and the purchase documents are where the answer lives.
A Lease Turns the Panels Into a Second Contract in Escrow
How owned panels convey is set by the purchase contract like any other part of the sale. When they're leased or under a power purchase agreement, the buyer is taking on a contract with a separate company, and that company has its own steps. Sunrun and Tesla publish theirs, and they run in roughly this order:
- The seller submits a transfer request with buyer and escrow details.
- The buyer reviews the agreement they would be taking on.
- Sunrun has the new homeowner complete a soft credit check.
- Both parties sign, and the provider moves the account to the new owner after closing.
If the buyer doesn't want the agreement, Sunrun says the seller can prepay the remaining service and build that cost into the home price. Either way, the timing has to work inside the escrow period.
The title report is where this usually comes up. Tesla's transfer page says a UCC-1 filing or a California Notice of Independent Solar Energy Producer Contract may appear on title, that these filings identify its ownership of the equipment and are not liens against the home, and that a release or subordination can be requested if a lender or title company needs one. Sunrun says it temporarily removes its title notice or UCC filing during a transfer, at no charge. Asking for that early is far easier than finding the filing when the preliminary title report arrives.
When the Company Behind the Contract Changes Hands
A lease is only as easy to transfer as the company servicing it. SunPower filed for bankruptcy on August 5, 2024. Complete Solaria bought selected assets on September 30, 2024, but that purchase left out legacy customer PPAs, leases and previously installed systems. SunPower's current customer notice sends legacy lease and PPA customers to their financier or to SunStrong Management.
If a Temecula seller's agreement started with SunPower, the transfer request now goes to a different company than the one named on the original paperwork. Finding out who that company is should happen before a buyer is waiting on a signature.
The Rumor That Net Metering Ends at Sale
Some sellers have heard that selling the house wipes out net metering. That idea came from a real bill. As introduced on February 19, 2025, Assembly Bill 942 would have added a section to the Public Utilities Code moving the buyer of a property with an existing solar system onto the then-current tariff.
The July 17, 2025 amendment took that language out and replaced it with a provision about the California Climate Credit. pv magazine described the amended bill as preserving solar owners' agreements when a home is sold. The official bill history shows its last action on August 29, 2025, when it was re-referred to the Senate Rules Committee. The Senate's calendar set August 31, 2026 as the last day for each house to pass bills, and that date has passed. SCE's published FAQ describes a buyer of a qualifying NEM home being enrolled automatically at turn-on.
The Folder to Assemble Before You List
Every section above leads to the same handful of documents. A seller who has them ready can answer a buyer's first questions on day one:
- The PTO letter from SCE, which shows which tariff column the buyer is stepping into and how many years are left.
- System size in kW, since SCE treats systems over 30 kW differently at transfer.
- Proof of ownership or the full lease/PPA contract, including the current servicer if the original company has changed.
- Any title filing tied to the system, so a release or subordination request can go in early.
- Your completed C.A.R. Solar Advisory and Questionnaire, a California Association of Realtors standard form last revised in June 2024.
This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Utility tariffs and solar contracts vary, so confirm the details of your own system with SCE, your solar provider and the right professional.
Quick Answers
Does a buyer have to do anything to keep NEM on a qualifying system? For a system under 30 kW that's still within its eligibility period, SCE says no. The buyer is enrolled automatically when they request turn-on service.
Does the nine-year Solar Billing Plan lock transfer to a buyer? The CPUC ties that guarantee to the original customer who caused the interconnection. SCE says a buyer moving into a home that already has solar gets the current year's prices.
Is a solar UCC-1 filing a lien on the house? Tesla says its filings identify its ownership of the equipment and are not liens against the home.
If you're getting ready to sell a Temecula home with solar on the roof, Meeker Realty Group can help you pull the PTO date, the contract and any title filings together before you list, so buyers can see what they're getting from day one. Start with your free home valuation, and we'll factor your system's paperwork into how your home is priced and presented.
