NEM 3.0 Battery Dispatch Strategy: Maximize Your TOU & Export Savings
The complete guide to setting up your battery correctly under California's Net Billing Tariff — so your system actually delivers the savings it promised.
By Ally Electric & SolarUpdated May 2026Serving Bay Area & Silicon ValleyCSLB #806465
75%
Export rate reduction under NEM 3.0
$3.50
Max ACC rate per kWh (summer peak)
576
Unique export rates per year (ACC)
7–9 yrs
Payback with correct battery strategy
1,000+
Installations by Ally Electric
Under California's NEM 3.0, a battery that isn't programmed correctly doesn't just underperform — it can cost you more than having no battery at all. Here's how to get it right.
When California's Net Billing Tariff (NEM 3.0) took effect in April 2023, it fundamentally changed solar economics. Export rates dropped roughly 75% compared to NEM 2.0 — from around $0.30/kWh to an average of $0.08/kWh for unoptimized daytime solar exports. But it also created a new opportunity: strategic battery dispatch during high-value evening hours can actually outperform what NEM 2.0 ever delivered.
The key word is strategic. A battery that charges from solar all day and discharges at the right time will slash your PG&E bill and capture premium export credits. A battery that's misconfigured will sit full during peak hours while you buy expensive grid power — or worse, charge from the grid without ever paying that energy back during peak rates.
This guide walks through the exact 3-strategy dispatch setup that delivers optimal savings for PG&E customers on the E-ELEC rate under NEM 3.0.
Why Battery Storage Changed Everything Under NEM 3.0
Under NEM 2.0, solar panels alone made financial sense because every kilowatt-hour you sent to the grid was credited at near-retail rates. Your panels generated at noon, you got credit, and you used those credits at night. Simple.
NEM 3.0 broke that model. Your noon-time solar is now credited at $0.05–0.15/kWh (ACC rate during midday), while you buy evening power from PG&E at $0.38–0.61/kWh on the E-ELEC peak rate. Exporting during the day and buying during the evening is a losing trade.
A battery flips the equation. Instead of exporting cheap midday solar, you store it. At 4pm when peak rates kick in, the battery powers your home at zero marginal cost. During summer peak hours in August and September, any surplus beyond your home load can export at ACC rates that reach $0.50–$3.50/kWh — far above what NEM 2.0 ever paid.
⚠ The Most Common NEM 3.0 Mistake
A battery that charges from the grid but doesn't discharge during the 4–9pm peak window costs you money twice: you paid off-peak rates to charge, and you're paying peak rates to power your home while the battery sits idle. This is the #1 setup error we see on new NEM 3.0 installations.
The Ally Gold Standard: 4-Strategy Battery Dispatch Setup
This configuration is designed for PG&E customers on the E-ELEC rate under NEM 3.0, with a battery system such as the Tesla Powerwall 3 or Enphase IQ Battery. The logic applies to any software that models battery dispatch (OpenSolar, Aurora, Energy Toolbase, etc.).
Critical rule: When multiple strategies overlap on the same time period, the last strategy in the list wins. Build your list with the most specific (highest priority) rule at the bottom.
The fourth strategy — the Strategic Reserve — is what separates a good NEM 3.0 setup from a great one. A Powerwall 3 at 11kW discharge empties in roughly 1.2 hours. Without a hold period, the battery drains before the highest-value ACC export window (6–9pm) even opens. S3 solves this by forcing the battery to stay full from 4–6pm, even while the house buys from the grid, so S4 can export a full tank at premium rates.
1
Fill — Solar Charging
12:00 AM – 4:00 PM · Jan–Dec · Mon–Sun
✓
Charge from System (Solar)
Charge from Grid
Discharge to Load
Discharge to Grid
Fills the battery exclusively from PV all day. Battery stays reserved for peak hours — does not power the house during cheap off-peak time.
2
Shield — Peak Discharge to Home
4:00 PM – 9:00 PM · Jan–Dec · Mon–Sun
✓
Charge from System (Solar)
Charge from Grid
✓
Discharge to Load
Discharge to Grid
Year-round peak shaving. Battery powers the home during E-ELEC peak rates ($0.38–$0.61/kWh). Overridden Aug–Sep by S3 and S4.
3
Hold — Strategic Reserve
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM · Aug–Sep · Mon–Sun
✓
Charge from System (Solar)
Charge from Grid
Discharge to Load
Discharge to Grid
Overrides S2 during Aug–Sep 4–6pm. Battery holds at 100% SOC. Home buys from grid (~$0.45/kWh) for 2 hours to preserve a full tank for the export window.
4
Export — Maximum Profit
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM · Aug–Sep · Mon–Sun
Charge from System
Charge from Grid
✓
Discharge to Load
✓
Discharge to Grid
Overrides S2 during Aug–Sep 6–9pm. Full battery powers home first, exports surplus at $0.80–$3.50/kWh ACC peak rates. This is the highest-value window in NEM 3.0.
⚡ Why S3 (The Hold) Matters — The Drain Math
A Powerwall 3 at 11kW max discharge empties its 13.5kWh usable capacity in about 1.2 hours. Without the Hold strategy, the battery starts draining at 4pm and hits its 20% minimum SOC floor by ~5:15pm — before the $2.00+/kWh ACC spike even begins. The Hold costs ~$1.80 in grid power (2hrs × 2kW × $0.45). The full-tank export earns an extra $4–$6 in credits. Net gain: $2–$4 per peak summer day.
Strategy Order — Bottom Wins on Overlap
1
S1 Fill: Solar charging (12am–4pm, Jan–Dec)
Baseline
2
S2 Shield: Peak discharge to load (4–9pm, Jan–Dec)
S4 Export: Full battery to grid (6–9pm, Aug–Sep) — overrides S2
Wins 6–9pm
✓ What the 4-Strategy Configuration Delivers
The battery fills free from solar all day. Year-round, it powers your home during the 4–9pm peak window. In August and September, it holds full from 4–6pm so it can export a complete charge during the $0.80–$3.50/kWh ACC window from 6–9pm. Result: the highest possible NEM 3.0 ROI with a realistically modeled 7–9 year payback.
When Does PG&E Pay the Highest NEM 3.0 Export Rates?
The ACC (Avoided Cost Calculator) produces 576 unique export rates per year. Here's a practical guide to when peak export value occurs:
Period
Hours
Days
Approx. ACC Rate
Action
Summer peak (Jul–Sep)
5pm–8pm
Weekdays
$0.80–$3.50/kWh
Export surplus (Strategy 4)
Summer shoulder (Jun–Oct)
4pm–9pm
All days
$0.30–$0.80/kWh
Discharge to load + some export
Winter peak (Nov–Mar)
4pm–9pm
All days
$0.15–$0.35/kWh
Discharge to load only
Midday solar hours (all year)
9am–3pm
All days
$0.02–$0.15/kWh
Store in battery, don't export
Overnight / early morning
9pm–7am
All days
$0.00–$0.08/kWh
Battery charges (if needed)
Source: CPUC Avoided Cost Calculator, updated every two years. Customers who install 2025–2026 receive rates from the 2024 ACC version locked in for 9 years. Rates shown are approximate ranges; actual hourly rates vary.
⚠ The $2–$3.50/kWh Rate Is Real But Narrow
These top ACC rates occur on the hottest summer weekday evenings during extreme grid stress — not every August day. Your modeled savings should use the blended average across the summer peak window ($0.50–$1.00/kWh is more realistic), not the ceiling figure. A properly configured battery still captures all of these events automatically.
Why You Should Never Charge from the Grid Under NEM 3.0
It seems intuitive: buy cheap off-peak power, sell at expensive peak rates. But under PG&E's NEM 3.0 rules, this strategy fails on multiple levels.
Rule #1: PG&E does not allow a battery that charges from the grid to also export to the grid. The utility needs to verify that exported power is solar-derived, not grid-derived. A grid-charged battery loses export eligibility.
Rule #2: The math rarely works. PG&E E-ELEC off-peak rates are $0.25–0.35/kWh. You'd need to export at a rate high enough above that to cover the round-trip efficiency loss (typically 90%) and the spread. Most ACC hours don't clear that bar.
Rule #3: If you charge from the grid and then don't discharge at peak, you've simply paid to move electrons into a box and back out — with losses. This is the worst-case scenario for bill savings.
The right approach: Let solar fill the battery for free. Every kWh the battery stores from solar costs you $0.00 in electricity. Every kWh it discharges at 4pm saves you $0.38–$0.61 in avoided grid purchases. That math always works.
Frequently Asked Questions — NEM 3.0 Battery Strategy
These are the questions California homeowners ask us most often about NEM 3.0 battery setup and savings.
The optimal NEM 3.0 battery strategy uses three time-based rules: (1) Charge from solar only during midnight–4pm year-round, (2) Discharge to home load during 4–9pm year-round to avoid peak E-ELEC rates, and (3) Discharge to both home load and grid during August–September 4–9pm to capture high ACC export rates. The last rule overrides the second when both apply, allowing summer export without disrupting year-round savings.
PG&E's highest ACC export rates occur during summer weekday evenings, typically July through September between 5pm and 8pm. Rates can reach $2.00–$3.50/kWh during extreme grid stress events, though the average across the 4–9pm summer peak window is more like $0.50–$1.00/kWh. The $3.50/kWh spikes are real but occur on only a handful of the hottest grid-stress days per year.
Generally no. PG&E does not allow a battery that charges from the grid to also export to the grid — a critical rule for NEM 3.0 compliance. More importantly, the economics don't support it: you'd pay $0.25–0.35/kWh off-peak to charge, then need to export at a high enough rate to cover losses and profit. Solar charging is free, making it always the superior option. Grid charging is only appropriate in rare backup-reserve scenarios, not for savings optimization.
NEM 3.0 customers on PG&E are automatically enrolled in the E-ELEC (Electric Home Rate Plan). This TOU plan has peak rates of $0.38–$0.61/kWh from 4pm–9pm daily and lower off-peak rates. The E-ELEC plan is mandatory for NEM 3.0 participants — you cannot use legacy rates like E-TOU-C or E-TOU-D for solar under NEM 3.0.
If your battery is charged from solar but has no dispatch instruction to discharge during 4–9pm, it sits idle while your home draws from the grid at peak E-ELEC rates. You're paying $0.38–0.61/kWh for electricity while a full battery does nothing. This is one of the most common and costly setup errors we see. It can happen when battery control software (OpenSolar, Tesla app, Enphase app) doesn't have a peak-hour discharge rule, or when a backup reserve percentage is set too high.
Both — always both. If you set Strategy 3 to discharge to grid only, the battery exports while your home simultaneously draws from the grid at peak rates. You'd be earning export credits while paying peak retail for the same load. Setting both "Discharge to Load" and "Discharge to Grid" tells the inverter to power the home first, then export any surplus. This is always the correct configuration for the summer export strategy.
The Avoided Cost Calculator is the CPUC-approved methodology for determining NEM 3.0 export compensation. It calculates what PG&E would have paid to generate or purchase power elsewhere, and pays you that amount when you export solar. The result is 576 unique export rates per year (12 months × 24 hours × 2 day types). The ACC is updated every two years — customers who install in 2025–2026 receive the 2024 ACC values locked in for 9 years.
With a correctly configured battery dispatch strategy, solar + battery systems typically achieve payback in 7–9 years under NEM 3.0. This is comparable to properly configured NEM 2.0 solar-only systems. The key is that the battery must be programmed to discharge during the 4–9pm peak window every day — otherwise savings projections will be off and actual payback will be significantly longer.
Yes — critically. In OpenSolar's battery control scheme editor, when two strategies overlap on the same time period, the strategy lowest in the list (bottom position) wins and overrides the one above it. This means your most specific rule (like summer export, Aug–Sep only) should always be placed at the bottom of the list so it overrides the general year-round rule during those months.
Yes. California's Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) provides rebates for battery storage, including a Standard Residential incentive and an enhanced Equity and Equity Resilience incentive for income-qualified customers. Ally Electric & Solar is an active SGIP contractor and can assist with incentive applications. SGIP incentives are applied as a rebate that reduces the net cost of the battery system, directly improving payback period.
This is intentional — it's the Strategic Reserve strategy. From 4–6pm in summer, we hold your battery at full charge even while your home buys power from the grid. The reason: a Powerwall 3 at full 11kW discharge empties in about 1.2 hours. If we let it drain from 4pm, it hits the 20% minimum floor by 5:15pm — before the highest-value ACC export window even opens. By holding the battery full for 2 hours (~$1.80 in grid power), we ensure a full tank for the 6–9pm export window, which earns $4–$6 in additional credits per peak summer day. Net gain of $2–$4 per day compounds significantly over a full summer.
Three strategies correctly model year-round TOU savings but miss the battery drain problem during summer. A battery discharging to home load from 4pm arrives at the peak ACC export window (6–9pm) partially depleted. The 4th strategy — the Strategic Reserve — separates the "hold" period (4–6pm) from the "export" period (6–9pm) in August and September, ensuring the battery is full when ACC rates are highest. This is the configuration that delivers maximum ROI under NEM 3.0.
What Bay Area Homeowners Say
★★★★★
"Ally Electric set up our Tesla Powerwall correctly from day one. Our first bill under NEM 3.0 was $14. I was expecting the worst."
R. Nakamura
Albany, CA — Powerwall 3 + Solar
★★★★★
"They explained exactly how the peak-hour strategy works and why it matters under NEM 3.0. Nobody else took the time to do that."
M. Guerrero
El Cerrito, CA — Enphase IQ Battery
★★★★★
"Professional, knowledgeable, and they actually understand NEM 3.0 inside out. Our system is performing exactly as modeled."
D. Chen
Oakland, CA — Solar + Storage
Serving the Bay Area Since 2002
Ally Electric & Solar (CSLB #806465) is a family-owned Bay Area contractor with over 1,000 solar and battery installations. We hold Tesla Powerwall and Enphase certifications and actively manage SGIP applications for our customers. We serve:
OaklandBerkeleyAlbanyRichmondEl CerritoWalnut CreekConcordSan RamonFremontSan JosePalo AltoSan RafaelNovatoAlameda CountyContra Costa CountyMarin CountySanta Clara County
Ready to Maximize Your NEM 3.0 Solar + Battery Savings?
Ally Electric & Solar has been installing and optimizing solar and battery systems in the Bay Area since 2002. Let us model your exact savings with the correct dispatch strategy.
