Not legal in California yet

Plug-in solar is one vote away from legal in California

A panel on a balcony, a patio or a south-facing fence, plugged into an ordinary wall outlet. No installer, no roof, no permit. Germany has over a million of them. California does not allow them yet, but the bill to change that has cleared every committee it has faced, nearly all of them unanimously.

Get told when it's legal No payment. There is nothing to buy yet.

1,200W
Cap per home under the bill
$0
Permit and interconnection fees
—
Days left for the Assembly to vote
1M+
Already installed in Germany
A solar panel clamped to a balcony railing, its cable running to an ordinary wall outlet beside the sliding door

The cable ends in a normal plug. Everything the panel makes is used by whatever is already drawing power inside, and nothing is sent back to the grid. That is the reason the permit and the interconnection paperwork disappear.

Where SB 868 actually stands

Senate Bill 868, the Plug Into the Sun Act, would treat small plug-in solar devices as household appliances rather than power plants. That one reclassification removes the utility interconnection application and the permit fees, which are the two things that turn a $600 panel into a $3,000 project.

✓
Passed the State Senate 35-1
Mid-May 2026
✓
Passed Assembly Utilities & Energy 18-0
June 10, 2026
•
Assembly Appropriations Committee
Being heard this month. It sits on the suspense file because the CPUC costed the bill at $200,000 to $500,000 a year. This is the stage where bills quietly stall.
3
Assembly floor vote
Has to happen by August 31, 2026.
4
Governor's signature
A separate decision, and not guaranteed. If signed, the law takes effect January 1, 2027.
We are not going to tell you this is a done deal. It has passed everything so far and nearly all of those votes were unanimous, but a bill on the suspense file can die without a vote, and a signature is its own decision. Anyone giving you a launch date right now is guessing.

What the bill would allow

Systems up to 1,200 watts AC per home, plugged into a standard 120-volt outlet. Devices have to be safety certified, including anti-islanding, the feature that shuts the panel off the moment the grid goes down so nobody working on the line gets hurt. Utilities would be barred from charging interconnection fees for them.

Twelve hundred watts is not a roof system. It will not run your air conditioning and it will not take you off the grid. It is closer to the size that covers a refrigerator, a router, and the other things drawing power all day whether you are home or not.

Who each one is actually for

Plug-in solar
✓You rent, and cannot touch the roof
✓Apartment or condo with a balcony or patio
✓You want to take it with you when you move
✓A few hundred dollars, installed by you
✗Will not cover a whole house
Rooftop solar
✓You own the house and the roof
✓Can cover most or all of your usage
✓Legal and available today
✗Needs a permit and an installer
✗Stays with the house

Rooftop solar has never worked for renters, and it has never worked for most apartments. You cannot put panels on a roof you do not own or a roof you share. Plug-in is the first version of this a tenant can buy, set up in an afternoon, and unplug when the lease ends.

Get told the day it becomes legal

No payment, no deposit, no order. There is nothing to buy yet, and we are not going to pretend otherwise by taking money for a product California has not legalised. Join the list and we will email you when the bill is decided, whichever way it goes.

We will email you about plug-in solar and nothing else. Unsubscribe in one click.

✓
You're on the list

We will write when the Assembly votes, and again if it is signed. Nothing in between.

Meanwhile, if you do own your roof

Rooftop solar is legal today and is a different scale of thing entirely. If you own a house with a usable roof, that is the conversation worth having now, and you can see real quotes from several installers without anyone calling you.

Compare rooftop solar quotes →