California Governor Gavin Newsom signed three energy bills on September 30, opening the door to small plug-in solar systems and new grid-management requirements. The most visible change is SB 868, the Plug and Play Solar Act, which lets renters and apartment dwellers install balcony solar: compact panels that plug into a standard 120-volt outlet and offset household electricity use. Qualifying systems are capped at 1,200 watts AC per household, must be certified by a recognized testing lab, and must include protection against feeding power into the grid during an outage. Utilities can no longer require interconnection agreements, advance approval, or device fees, though they may ask for a simple online notification; those exemptions expire in 2030.
The other two bills focus on using energy resources California households already have. SB 913 directs regulators to improve how coordinated home batteries, EVs, and smart thermostats—virtual power plants—can count toward utilities' reliability obligations, with changes due by June 2028. SB 905 requires large investor-owned utilities to publish data on local grid usage and capacity, and to assess whether batteries or shifting electricity demand could be cheaper than traditional infrastructure upgrades. It also asks regulators to consider lower shareholder returns on certain utility investments.
Both sources agree the balcony-solar law removes a major barrier: customers no longer have to negotiate with utilities to plug in a small system. Electrek's coverage emphasizes the mechanics of all three bills and their potential effect on utility bills, while Grist frames the shift as a step toward a more distributed grid, noting that Germany has already embraced plug-in solar and that a few-hundred-dollar system can pay for itself in roughly four years through energy savings. The two outlets also share the view that small, widespread reductions in grid demand can add up, especially during heat waves when air conditioning drives peak electricity use.