If you're starting from zero, start here. What a battery actually does when the power goes out, how long it really lasts, and whether you need solar to have one. Then go deeper on a specific system if you want to.
A home battery stores electricity and gives it back when you need it. When the grid goes down, it takes over — usually fast enough that you notice the lights flicker rather than go out — and it runs your house from stored power until it's empty or the grid comes back.
The question everyone asks first is how long it lasts, and the honest answer is that it depends entirely on what you're running, not on the number on the box. A battery carrying a fridge, your internet, some lights and phone charging will last a great deal longer than the same battery trying to run air conditioning and an electric dryer. This is why the first thing we do is ask what actually has to stay on — that list, not the house's square footage, is what sizing is built from.
You do not need solar to have a battery. It's less common, but it's a real and sensible thing to do: the battery charges from the grid when power is cheap or simply when it's available, and holds that charge for an outage. If you do have solar, the battery does a second job on top of backup — it stores your own production so you can use it yourself in the evening instead of exporting it, which under NEM 3.0 is the difference between getting retail value for your power and getting the utility's much lower avoided-cost credit.
We're a C-10 electrical contractor, and the battery is only part of what makes this work. The interconnection, the transfer equipment, and whether your existing panel can take any of it are electrical questions — and they're where these projects actually go wrong.
A tech looks at your panel, your service, and where the equipment could physically go, then works through what you actually want running when the power is out. That list is the whole design — it decides how many units you need and whether you're backing up the whole house or a critical-loads subpanel. You get a written report and a real number.
We pull the building permit and file the interconnection application with PG&E. The paperwork is usually the long pole, not the labour — timelines vary across the county, and we tell you the realistic date rather than the optimistic one.
Equipment mounted and interconnected, any subpanel work done, conduit run and labelled. Your power is off for part of the day while we work at the service — we tell you which part in advance so you can plan around it.
Building-department inspection, then permission to operate from PG&E, then commissioning. We run a real outage test — cut the feed, watch it transfer, confirm it carries what you asked for — set up your monitoring app, register the equipment warranty, and walk you through what happens automatically and what doesn't.
We give you a real number at the free inspection rather than a range on a web page. Battery projects vary more than most electrical work — what you want backed up, where the equipment can physically go, how far it is from your panel, and whether your service can take it as-is are each large enough to move the total on their own. One thing to get straight before you budget: there is no federal tax credit on home battery storage for 2026 installs. Section 25D — the 30% residential credit that covered owned solar and standalone storage — terminated on 31 December 2025. If a quote or an article you're reading still assumes it, that assumption is out of date, and we'd rather you hear it from us than at tax time.
“We were having serious problems with our Tesla, solar system, and Carlos came out to evaluate the problems. He was right on target with what the problems were, and he called his boss just to confirm which I appreciated the second opinion. They will be installing the solar system correctly and I’m so relieved. Carlos was wonderful. He is so personable and so intelligent, and I admire him. Can’t wait to get this whole system fixed”
“We've had an exceptional experience with Sunrise Electrical Contracting. In the middle of winter with a 5 week old baby - we found ourselves without power once again in the Santa cruz Mountains. We had already purchased a solar system but hadn't set it up. My husband called Sunrise Electrical Contracting and connected with Branden who came on an emergency call on short notice. He was able to set up our solar system in a few hours and took a lot of time to explain things to my husband who asks a lot of questions and give him advice on the system. Branden was professional and friendly, as well as extremely knowledgeable and friendly while he met at our home. He got us out of a bind and now we can keep our house warm. The rate was great and out of the companies we called, they were the most responsive. We definitely trust this company with our electrical needs moving forward and recommend them to anyone who needs work.”
Pulled from what we actually hear on quotes and on-site. If yours isn't here, ask us — we'll answer in plain English.
We'd rather you get the right outcome than the Sunrise outcome. Some of this points away from us on purpose.
Look for a CSLB-licensed C-10 contractor who is a certified installer for the system you're considering. Verify the licence at cslb.ca.gov, and check the quote includes the permit, the utility interconnection, and any panel work rather than adding them later.
Browse our field guidesIf you're in a PSPS zone, on a well, or need backup for days rather than hours, a standby generator may be the more honest answer. It's noisier and needs fuel, but duration is where it wins outright.
Standby generatorsA free whole-home inspection tells you what your service can actually support and what backing up your house would really involve. You keep the written report either way, and about a third of these end with no work scheduled.
Schedule a free inspectionFrom Davenport to Pajaro Dunes, San Lorenzo Valley to Pleasure Point. Same crew, same warranty, same pricing.
Free on-site inspection, honest sizing, and a written quote. We'll tell you if a battery isn't the right answer for your house.