Plug-in solar for California renters: the start-here guide

Why this exists at all

About 44 percent of California households rent. None of them can put solar on a roof they don't own. For twenty years the answer to "can I get solar?" from a renter was simply no.

Meanwhile California electricity got expensive. Southern California Edison's average residential rate was 34.4 cents a kilowatt-hour as of 1 June 2026, and SDG&E's is higher still.

The thing that closes that gap is a category that's been ordinary in Germany for a decade: a small panel that plugs into a wall socket. Germany registered more than 435,000 of them in a single year. California is about to allow the same.

What you're actually buying

One or two solar panels, each about the size of an interior door. Attached to the back of each is a sealed box called a microinverter, which turns what the panel makes into the ordinary electricity your home uses. From that box, a cord runs to a plug.

You hang the panel on your railing, plug the cord into an outdoor outlet, and that's the installation.

From then on, whenever the sun is out, the panel feeds power onto your home's wiring. Whatever is switched on takes it. The meter records less. You get a smaller bill.

There is no battery unless you buy one. There is no wiring work. There is no contract, no financing, and nobody comes to your door.

The longer explanation of how it works →

What it saves, honestly

Here's a table you can hold against anything else you read.

Estimated at SCE's 33.2-cent average rate. Full working.

Note the shape of that table. The difference between the best and worst case isn't the equipment — it's the direction, the angle, and whether anyone's home. You can spend more money and get less back.

That's why we built a calculator that asks about your balcony rather than your budget.

The five things that decide whether it's worth it

1. Which way it faces. South is best. West is close and often better in practice. East is fine. North is roughly a third as good and usually a no. How to check.

2. How much sky you can see. A building opposite or a tree can halve your output regardless of direction.

3. Whether you can angle it. A panel hanging vertically on a railing makes about 62 percent of what the same panel makes tilted. A $60 bracket is the best-value purchase in this whole category.

4. Whether anyone's home during the day. Power you use as it's made is worth 33 cents. Power you don't use is worth nothing — SB 868 provides no export compensation. An empty flat gives away half of what it produces.

5. What your electricity costs. SDG&E customers get substantially more out of the same panel than SCE customers, who in turn do better than most of the country.

Who has to say yes

Your landlord. SB 868 binds utilities, not landlords. Your lease still applies. If it prohibits fixtures or alterations to the balcony, that prohibition stands.

The good news is that this is an unusually easy thing to say yes to. It clamps on rather than screwing in, it comes off in half an hour, it doesn't touch the building's wiring, and you pay for all of it. Lead with those four facts. We'll write the letter for you.

Your utility. Once SB 868 is in force, your utility can't charge you a fee or require its approval. It may ask you to fill in a simple online registration — address, make, model, size — which is a notification, not a gate.

Your city. Balcony obstruction and egress rules still apply, though a panel clamped inside the railing line isn't the sort of thing that attracts attention.

What to buy

If you're not sure your balcony is any good, start small: Bright Saver's 180-watt kit is $285 with a $29 membership, sold at cost by a nonprofit that pays us nothing. You'll save around $50 a year, which is not the point — the point is finding out.

If you know your aspect is good, go to around 800 watts with a certified microinverter. That's the size where the arithmetic works properly, and it'll cost $700 to $1,000 all in.

Whatever you buy, check that the microinverter is certified to UL 3700 specifically, not just to UL 1741. UL 3700 is the plug-in photovoltaic standard SB 868 will require. Comparison table · Compliance checker

Three things that surprise people

No backup power. It shuts off the instant the grid does, by law, so that line workers aren't dealing with electricity arriving from your balcony. If you want power in an outage, that's a different product.

Surplus is worth zero. Not a small amount — zero. This is why the systems are deliberately small, and why "is anyone home during the day" is the most important question anyone will ask you about solar.

There's no tax credit. The federal 30 percent credit ended for anything bought after 31 December 2025. Any pricing you see that still subtracts it is stale.

What to do next, in order

1. Work out which way your spot faces. Thirty seconds with a phone compass. Here.
2. Run the numbers. Seven questions, and it will tell you if the answer is no.
3. Check the outlet. Two minutes.
4. Ask your landlord, in writing. Letter.
5. Then buy something. Comparison.

In that order. Buying first and asking afterwards is how people end up with a panel in a cupboard.