Solar + battery vs solar-only sizing
Decisions built from Solar only and Solar + battery — editorial analysis, no sales stake; each figure sourced or labeled in review.
Your utility's export-credit rules — retail 'net metering' vs net billing at ~$0.05/kWh — decide whether a battery pays. In retail states the meter banks for free; in net-billing states a battery brings you the night shift.
At a glance: Solar only vs Solar + battery
| Solar only | Solar + battery | |
|---|---|---|
| Export price | Retail-rate credits buy the power from you | Net-billing rates on export |
| Evening | Buy back at retail | Use stored kWh |
| Outages | No | Some hours (model dependant) |
| Cost | Lower upfront, faster pay | Adds battery cost (in review per size) |
When Solar only wins
- Retail net-metering states (e.g. FL, TX market rules per your chip): the meter IS the battery — your daily import/export rolls.
- You want the fastest payback and the simplest math.
When Solar + battery wins
- Net-billing states (CA NEM3-style ~$0.05 export, CO, and wherever the grid export drops): the battery's evening kWh is worth the retail-wholesale margin to you.
- Outages in retail states too: when your ZIP’s outages last hours, the battery bridges the dark.
The honest verdict
Get the export rate first (your state page chip), then run the estimator twice. In retail states a battery usually dies on payback; in net states it can be the difference between solar that pays and solar that's architecture.
Where these figures come from
Federal credit rules from the IRS (accessed 2026-08-08); market prices from EnergySage 2026; export rates per state records cited on each state page (CPUC NEM 3 for California); typical-home usage EIA 2023. Anything verified carries its date; the rest says "in review" until confirmed.