Utility playbook
Selling solar in SMUD territory
Be honest at the door: SMUD is a municipal utility with some of the lowest rates in California, so the bill-shock pitch that works in IOU territory falls flat here — and reps who try it lose credibility fast.
The Sacramento angle is ownership and rate-lock: SMUD has approved rate increases on a schedule, and solar fixes a homeowner's cost while their neighbors ride the escalator. Longer cycles, but low saturation means untouched turf.
- Parcels analyzed
- 106,204
- Solar permits
- 5,932
- Saturation
- 5.6%
SMUD battery-first doors
SMUD's time-of-day rate makes the 5–8pm window the expensive one — storage shifts solar into exactly that window.
Sell backup and EV-charging economics on their own merits; a battery rescue pitch aimed at a $120 bill will bounce.
SMUD NEM 3.0 survival guide
SMUD is outside CPUC NEM 3.0 but runs its own solar-and-storage rate with modest export values and fixed charges — know it before the homeowner quotes it at you.
The honest framing: exports were never the point at SMUD rates; fixing your cost curve for 25 years is.
SMUD export-credit math
At SMUD's retail rates, export revenue is small — size systems for self-consumption and the time-of-day peak, not for sell-back.
The worksheet that closes: today's bill held flat for 25 years versus SMUD's published rate-increase schedule.