What we doCali Energy builds solar, batteries and roofs across Los Angeles
Cali Energy is a family-owned solar, battery, roofing and electrical contractor in Northridge, installing across Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley since 2017. Our own crews build every project, and 368 real stories take you inside the work. Run your own bill through free LADWP and SCE calculators.
A Los Angeles solar company in numbers
Behind every number is a real page on this site.
368 Los Angeles solar and roofing stories,
told as they happened
Cali Energy case studies follow real solar, battery and roofing projects across Los Angeles, with photos from the job. Some ran by the book. Others brought a surprise from the roof, the wiring or the utility, and every story ends with the result the homeowner came for.
The collection runs 2019–2026 across 60+ cities and neighborhoods, grouped by city and by topic. One owner dug his own conduit trench, one lot sat inside a methane zone, and one blank monitoring portal traced back to the home internet. Together they show what solar installation looks like on real Los Angeles homes.
The crews behind these stories handle solar panel installation, Tesla Powerwall and Enphase batteries, EV chargers and service-panel upgrades. Roof work covers re-roofs, repairs, tile lift-and-relay and solar detach-and-reset. One team designs the system, pulls the permit, works the roof and wires the panel.
Inside every story
- An at-a-glance box with the facts that decided the job: the system, the roof, the electrical work, the utility and the key dates
- What the house turned up, and how the crew handled it
- Photos taken on site by our crew
- System specifications and answers to questions about that home
Solar guides for LADWP and SCE customers
134 solar guides from Cali Energy explain net metering, NEM 3.0, home batteries and electricity rates for Los Angeles homeowners. Your utility changes the answer.
LADWP is a municipal utility with its own solar credit rules and bills about every 60 days. New SCE systems connect under the state Solar Billing Plan, known as NEM 3.0.
- Built on your utility's tariff
- Revised when rates or rules change
- Free to read, no sign-up
Solar rules by utility
How LADWP, SCE, Burbank and Glendale credit solar exports and connect new systems, one page per utility.
Solar glossary
18 California solar and billing terms in plain English, including NEM 3.0, true-up, baseline allowance and PTO.
Solar review analysis
What 433 recent Google reviews say about seven of the best-reviewed solar companies in Los Angeles. Cali Energy is one of the seven.
Los Angeles roof guides for solar homes
129 roof guides from Cali Energy, a C-39 licensed roofing contractor, answer what Los Angeles homeowners need to know before panels go up. Each one is written to the 2025 California codes.
Fire and insurance get their own guides: Zone 0 and ember-resistant vents, roof age and home insurance, and rebuilding after the Eaton and Palisades fires.
What the roof guides cover
- Re-roofing with solar: the order of work, cool-roof rules and tile lift-and-relay
- Repair or replace: roof age, underlayment and the signs you need a new roof
- Roofing materials: clay and concrete tile, shingle and flat roofs
- Permits and codes: WUI roofing requirements and Class A fire ratings
- Hiring a roofer: contracts and roofing warranties explained
Free solar calculators for LADWP and SCE
32 free solar calculators from Cali Energy run on real LADWP and SCE rate schedules and work out your bill, solar payback and battery size.
Start with the LADWP vs SCE electricity cost calculator to see your bill on 2026 rates. Then size the system, check the payback and plan the battery. Results are estimates; your written quote sets the price.
- Every figure shows its source
- Worked examples you can reproduce
- The full result on the page, with no phone number or email
Solar in Los Angeles, measured
Cali Energy measures how much solar panels really produce in Los Angeles: 400+ systems we installed and monitor, with as many as 10 years of daily data, plus public permit records. 32 studies are published, each with its method and data.
The questions come from real homeowners and real service calls. Was it the weather or my system? How much do dirty panels lose? Did heat waves and wildfire smoke cut output? Is a 13.5 kWh battery too big? Does going solar mean a new roof or a main panel upgrade sooner? Each study answers one of them with measured data from Los Angeles roofs.
Six research areas
- Solar production and seasons: coast versus inland, cloudy days, heat waves, wildfire smoke, dirty panels and winter
- Long-term performance: year-to-year swings and how fast systems lose output
- Equipment: Enphase versus SolarEdge, measured on the same LA roofs
- Energy use and batteries: how much solar a home uses, what it still buys from the grid, how hard a battery works
- Monitoring and service: one weak panel, app alerts, what an inverter repair restores
- Market and permits: NEM 3.0 and west-facing panels, fire rebuilds going solar, re-roofs and main panel upgrades
Cali-Graf.
Free solar design and proposal software
Cali-Graf is free solar design and proposal software from Cali Energy, built for our own estimates and opened to every installer. It reproduces real LADWP bills to within ±3 cents, most SCE bills to the cent, and identifies the right utility for 99% of homes.
Every solar sale in Los Angeles comes down to one question: what will the electric bill look like afterwards? Cali-Graf models that bill on LADWP's two-month billing periods, tiers and credit rollover, and on SCE time-of-use rates with hourly export credits.
Solar design software for installers
- Trace the roof on Google aerial imagery, with measured pitch, fire-code setbacks (CRC, LAFD) and obstacles.
- Pick panels, inverters and batteries from the full California Energy Commission lists.
- Model LADWP and SCE bills before and after solar, Clean Power Alliance included, with hourly battery modeling.
- Hand the homeowner a branded proposal with payback and 25-year savings: five sheets, six with a battery.
Free. No trial, no credit card, no paid plan. Sign in with Google. Daily fair-use limits apply.
Solar contractor directory for Southern California
- 20,925 licensed solar, roofing and electrical contractors, each checked against the CSLB record: status, classes, bond and workers' comp.
- 748,597 building permits from city and county portals, each naming the license that did the work.
- 5,083 solar equipment series from the CEC lists, with datasheets, independent tests (Kiwa PVEL, RETC) and real Southern California installs.
- A free CSLB license check, plus calculators for string sizing, production by city and battery backup time.
Ordered by permits alone. Every place on the list is earned with work on public record.
For homeowners: check an installer's license and building permits before you sign.
Sourced, dated and kept current
One editorial standard runs through every guide, calculator, story and study on this site. Figures carry a source and a date, and they change when the rules do.
Primary sources
Every guide and calculator starts from utility tariffs, CPUC and CEC documents, state law and the CSLB record. Every study starts from our own monitoring data or public permit records.
Dated and kept current
Each guide shows the date its figures were checked. When a rate or a rule changes, the guide changes with it.
Real jobs, real photos
Case studies follow Cali Energy projects, with photos our crews took on site.
Open data
Each study comes with its method and a CSV download. Quote any figure with a link to its study.
Private by design
Names and house numbers stay private, map markers are rounded to about 100 meters, and research publishes aggregates only.
Cali Energy reviews and licenses
Cali Energy is a licensed solar contractor (CSLB #1032379), a Tesla Powerwall Certified Installer and an REC Certified Solar Professional. Our lead installer is certified by SolarEdge and Enphase.
Solar questions, answered by the installer
Los Angeles homeowners ask these questions before going solar, and each answer draws on our own installs, guides and data.
What does Cali Energy do?
Cali Energy installs solar panels, home batteries, roofs, service-panel upgrades and EV chargers across Los Angeles, all with its own crews. We are family-owned, based in Northridge since 2017, with 2,000+ projects under one license, CSLB #1032379. We also publish real project stories, solar and roof guides, free calculators and original research, and we build Cali-Graf, free solar design software for installers.
Can you replace my roof and install solar at the same time?
Yes, Cali Energy replaces the roof and installs solar as one project, with the same crew on the roof and the wiring. Panels already on a roof come off and go back on through solar detach-and-reset, and tile roofs get lift-and-relay. Our work carries a 25-year workmanship warranty from Permission to Operate.
Do solar panels damage your roof?
Solar panels do not damage a roof when the job is done right, with every mount flashed and sealed. Cali Energy holds the C-39 roofing license, and every mount carries a 5-year roof-penetration warranty. Our guide “Do solar panels damage your roof?” covers the weight, the flashing and the roof check before and after.
Does NEM 3.0 apply to LADWP customers?
NEM 3.0 does not apply to LADWP customers. LADWP is a city-owned utility that credits solar exports under its own net metering rules, while new SCE systems connect under NEM 3.0, the state Solar Billing Plan. Our LADWP net metering guide covers the details, and the LADWP vs SCE page puts both utilities side by side.
How much electricity does a solar panel produce in Los Angeles?
Solar panels in Los Angeles produce a median 1,456 kWh a year for every kilowatt of capacity, measured on 89 Cali Energy systems, 2019–2025. December output runs at 45% of June. Output declines a median 1.3% a year, in line with NREL field data.
Is there a free solar calculator for LADWP and SCE bills?
Yes, Cali Energy publishes 32 free solar calculators built on real LADWP and SCE rate schedules. They work out bills, panel count, payback, battery backup and 2026 California incentives. Every figure shows its source, and the full result appears on the page with no phone number or email.
Is Cali-Graf solar design software free?
Yes, Cali-Graf solar design and proposal software is free for every installer, with no trial, no credit card and no paid plan. Installers sign in with Google, trace the roof on aerial imagery and build a branded proposal. Cali-Graf reproduces real LADWP bills to within ±3 cents, most SCE bills to the cent, and identifies the right utility for 99% of homes.
Where can I see real solar installations in Los Angeles?
The Cali Energy case studies tell 368 real solar, battery and roofing project stories from Los Angeles, 2019–2026, each with photos from the job. Browse them by city or by topic across 60+ cities and neighborhoods. Our projects-by-city section adds 31 city pages with photos and system details of recent installs.