Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Sacramento County and a small part of Placer County. A municipal district with an elected board, outside the Commission’s jurisdiction and outside net billing.
- Type
- Municipal
- Accounts
- 650K
What they credit you
We confirm it for you
Not yet published hereSMUD is a municipal provider, so its terms are set by its own board rather than by any state rule. We have not yet read SMUD’s own tariff, and we will not print a number we have not verified. Your installer confirms the current terms in writing before you sign. If they will not, walk away.
Battery backup is mandatory
in SMUD territory.
SMUD has not published a one for one credit that we have been able to verify. Until it does, we assume exporting power to SMUD is worth well below what you pay to buy it back.
That does not make solar a bad idea in SMUD territory. It changes what you should build. When exports are worth a fraction of retail the credit stops being the return, and the job becomes using more of your own production inside the house, which usually means a larger array than a one for one utility would need.
Sizing is where that gets decided, so ask about it directly. California pays least for exports in the middle of the day and most in the summer evening, so under net billing a system is sized against what you can use or store rather than against what you can generate. SMUD sets its own limits. Ask SMUD what it allows before you accept that a bigger system is off the table.
A battery then does two separate jobs. It moves daytime production into the evening so you use it instead of selling it, and it keeps the house running when the grid goes down. That second job is not a bonus. Panels on their own shut off in an outage, by design, so a roof full of them powers nothing during a storm. That is the part we will not refer around.
So we treat it as a requirement, not an upgrade. We will not refer you for a panels-only system in SMUD territory, and you should be skeptical of anyone who quotes you one without raising storage first.
Our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement
What your installer should be telling you
Ask SMUD in writing for its current solar export terms before you sign.
SMUD net metering questions
- Does SMUD offer one for one net metering?
- We have not been able to verify a published one for one credit from SMUD. As a municipal provider it is not bound by whatever state rule covers the investor owned utilities, so it sets its own terms. Ask SMUD for the current export rate in writing before you sign anything.
- What does SMUD pay for power sent back to the grid?
- SMUD has not published a figure we can verify, so we do not print one. Your installer must confirm the current rate against SMUD’s own tariff before you commit.
- Do I need a battery with SMUD?
- Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because SMUD does not credit exports one for one, the return has to come from using your own production rather than selling it, which after dark means storage and usually a larger array than a one for one utility would need. The other half is backup: panels alone shut off in an outage, so a battery is what keeps the house running in a storm. We do not refer panels-only systems in SMUD territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
- How do I find my SMUD bill?
- Sign in at smud.org. Open My Account, then Billing. Open the latest bill and save the PDF. Or screenshot the summary page. If you cannot get to it, a rough guess at your average monthly amount is enough to start.
- What is the catch with SMUD?
- Ask SMUD in writing for its current solar export terms before you sign.
Installers serving SMUD customers
Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.
These are real companies operating in SMUD territory, ordered by reviews, years trading and BBB grade. None of them pays us for placement. Pick the one you want and we will call you to arrange it.
Ordering combines three things we read from primary sources: Google review count and rating, years trading taken from the company’s Better Business Bureau profile rather than its own marketing, and its BBB letter grade. BBB accreditation is shown but never scored, because it is a paid membership rather than a mark of quality.
Check any contractor license yourself at the state register. Do that before you sign anything, with any company, including ours.