Self-Consumption
Also known as: Self-usesolar self-consumptionon-site consumption
Self-consumption is the share of your solar production that you use directly in your home rather than exporting to the grid. Under NEM 3.0, every kWh you self-consume is worth significantly more than every kWh you export — because you avoid paying the retail rate (around $0.42/kWh in PG&E territory) instead of getting paid the much lower export rate (around $0.05–$0.08/kWh).
Self-consumption is the economic engine for solar + battery under NEM 3.0. A typical home with solar-only might self-consume 25-35% of generation. Add a battery and that jumps to 80-90% — most of your daytime overproduction gets stored and discharged at night or during peak hours instead of being exported at low rates.
When we quote solar + battery, the self-consumption math is what makes the payback work in California in 2026. We model solar-only against solar-plus-battery for your actual usage at the free inspection, so you can see the difference between high-export, low-value and low-export, high-value configurations.
Met this term in a quote or inspection report?
A free whole-home inspection turns jargon into a written assessment of your actual house — you keep the report either way.