| Quick Answer: Far less than most websites still advertise. The 30 percent federal residential tax credit under Section 25D ended for systems installed after December 31, 2025, and California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program is no longer taking general-market applications. What remains is utility-specific and changes without much notice. Solari Storage checks what is genuinely open for your utility before quoting anything, and will not build a rebate into your numbers that never arrives. |
If you have been researching home batteries in California this year, you have probably run into two different stories. One set of pages tells you a 30 percent federal credit is waiting for you and a state rebate will cover thousands more. Another set tells you both are gone. Only one of those is correct in 2026, and the gap between them is the single most expensive piece of misinformation in this industry right now. This article lays out exactly what changed, what is still available, and how to check your own situation without relying on a sales pitch.
Is the 30 Percent Federal Tax Credit Still Available in 2026?
No. The federal residential clean energy credit under Section 25D was terminated for expenditures made after December 31, 2025. It was originally scheduled to run at 30 percent until 2032, and that is why so many websites still quote it. The termination came through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in July 2025, which pulled the end date forward with no phase-down. There is no reduced rate for 2026. There is simply no residential credit for a cash or loan purchase.
This matters because the credit was never a discount applied at the point of sale. It was a dollar-for-dollar reduction against your federal income tax, claimed on your own return. If a company includes it in a quote as though it were a rebate they are handing you, that is a signal to slow down and ask questions.
I Paid a Deposit in 2025 but Installed in 2026. Do I Still Qualify?
No, and this is the detail that catches the most people. The tax code treats the expenditure as made when the original installation is completed, not when you paid the money. If your deposit landed in 2025 but the system was finished in 2026, the expenditure counts as made in 2026, and the credit does not apply.
The distinction is worth understanding precisely, because the wording matters. What counts is completion of installation, not utility permission to operate. A system physically finished on December 31, 2025 sits on the right side of the line even if the utility took weeks longer to approve it. A system where only the paperwork and payment happened in 2025 does not.
What Happened to SGIP, California’s Battery Rebate?
SGIP is the Self-Generation Incentive Program, California’s long-running storage rebate administered by the utilities under the California Public Utilities Commission. For years it paid a set amount per kilowatt-hour of installed storage, and in its most generous tiers it covered a large share of a system’s cost.
As of December 31, 2025, the general-market budget stopped accepting new applications. The only remaining pathway is the income-qualified Residential Solar and Storage Equity budget funded under AB 209, and that funding is fully reserved. New applications there go onto a waitlist and are funded only as earlier projects cancel. If you want to check the current position yourself rather than take anyone’s word for it, the CPUC publishes the program’s status directly.
The practical translation for most homeowners: if you are not income-qualified, SGIP is not a number you should be subtracting from a quote in 2026.
Why Do So Many California Solar Companies Still Advertise 30 Percent?
Three reasons, and only one of them is innocent. Some sites are simply out of date and nobody has updated the copy since 2024. Some are referring to a completely different credit on the commercial side, claimed by a finance company under a lease or a power purchase agreement, which is structurally not a credit you claim on your own return. And some are using an expired number because it makes the payback math look better than it is.
The way to tell the difference is to ask a direct question: who claims this credit, and on whose tax return? If the answer involves a third party owning the equipment, the benefit belongs to them, and whatever reaches you arrives as a lower lease payment rather than as a credit in your name.
What Incentives Are Genuinely Available Right Now?
It depends on your utility, and that is not a way of avoiding the question. California has investor-owned utilities and municipal utilities operating under different rules, and programs open and close on their own schedules. A homeowner in Sacramento served by a municipal utility has an entirely different menu from a homeowner in San Diego. Some utilities run their own storage or demand-response programs that pay for participation over time rather than as a lump sum up front. Our incentives and rebates page tracks the current picture, and we check your specific utility before anything goes into a quote.
There is also a quieter point worth making. With the federal credit gone, the economics of storage in California now rest on the rate spread rather than on subsidy. Batteries earn their keep by letting you use your own generation during expensive evening hours instead of buying it back from the utility. That value does not expire when a program budget does.
How Should You Judge a Quote That Includes Incentives?
Ask for each incentive to be named, with its program, its administrator, and its current status. A quote that lists a single line reading rebates applied is not a quote you can evaluate. Ask whether the incentive is reserved or merely applied for, because those are very different things when a budget is oversubscribed.
Ask what happens to your price if the incentive does not materialize. A company confident in its numbers will answer that plainly. Finally, ask whether the credit being described is one you claim yourself or one a finance company claims. That single question separates most of the confusion in this market.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still claim the federal credit if my battery was installed in December 2025?
Yes, if the original installation was completed on or before December 31, 2025. Completion of installation is the test, not utility permission to operate. Keep your installation paperwork, because you will need it to support the claim. Confirm your own position with a qualified tax professional.
I installed in 2025 but could not use the whole credit. Is the rest lost?
No. The carryforward provision survives the termination. If your tax liability in the year of installation was too small to absorb the full credit, the unused portion carries forward to later tax years. The credit for new installations ended, but existing carryforwards were not affected.
Is SGIP coming back?
That depends on future funding decisions by the California Public Utilities Commission, and nobody can promise it. The general-market budget is closed and the income-qualified budget is fully reserved with a waitlist. We have filed SGIP applications for homeowners before and will again if it is refunded.
Does a battery still make financial sense without the federal credit?
For many California homes, yes, though not for all. The value now comes from the gap between what the utility pays for exported power and what it charges during evening peak hours. Whether that gap is large enough for your home depends on your usage pattern and your rate plan, which is why we start from your actual bill.
How do I find out what my specific utility offers?
Send us a recent utility bill. Your bill identifies your utility and your rate plan, which is everything we need to check which programs you are actually eligible for. We file the applications on your behalf rather than pointing you at a website.
Ready for a straight answer? Send Solari Storage a recent utility bill and we will tell you whether storage makes sense for your home, including if the numbers say do not buy. Request your free assessment.
Key Takeaways
- The 30 percent federal residential credit under Section 25D ended for systems installed after December 31, 2025, with no phase-down and no reduced rate in 2026.
- A deposit paid in 2025 does not preserve the credit if installation was completed in 2026, because the expenditure is treated as made when installation finishes.
- SGIP’s general-market budget closed to new applications at the end of 2025, and the remaining income-qualified pathway is fully reserved and waitlisted.
- Companies still advertising 30 percent are either out of date or describing a commercial credit claimed by a finance company, not by you.
- Remaining incentives are utility-specific and change without notice, so the only reliable answer comes from checking your own utility and rate plan.
- Solari Storage checks what is genuinely open before quoting, and answers these questions in plain terms on our home battery FAQ.
