In Northern California, Ava Community Energy Debuts SmartHome Battery, a Residential Solar + Storage Program for Community-Powered Energy

The $11+ million program offers residents two incentives to install a home battery that will connect with Ava's VPP as a collective grid resource

OAKLAND, Calif., April 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ava Community Energy (Ava) announced the launch of SmartHome Battery, an $11 million program to support residential customers installing solar and battery storage systems in their homes. The goal of SmartHome Battery is to make it more affordable for customers to own a home solar and battery system, reduce their electricity bill, and build a stronger local grid. The program connects residents' home batteries to Ava's virtual power plant (VPP), one of California's largest VPPs, enabling a more resilient electricity grid for all.

How residents can take advantage of Ava's SmartHome Battery program

SmartHome Battery provides two types of incentive offers. The installation rebate helps lower the initial cost of owning a new home solar and battery system or adding a battery to an existing solar system. The ongoing participation payments encourage participants to share a percentage of their battery with Ava's VPP to use during grid events. The amount of money that can be earned for each is based on how much of the battery that is chosen by the customer: 40%, 60% or 80%. Residential customers can apply for the SmartHome Battery program here.

• Installation Rebate
  • Market-rate customers: $90/kWh for the portion of the battery that participants choose to share.
  • Income-Qualified customers: $500/kWh for the portion of the battery that participants choose to share.
• Participation Payments Details
  • Customers earn $3 per month for every kilowatt-hour (kWh) based on the portion of the battery that participants choose to share

"This program was designed to help offset legislative changes to the residential solar industry," said Howard Chang, Ava Community Energy CEO. "The introduction of the Solar Billing Plan (SBP) in 2023 and the end of federal tax incentives (ITC) at the end of 2025 left customers with fewer benefits and more costs. As electricity demand is on the rise, our role is to help our customers navigate these headwinds through incentive programs that make electrification more affordable and maintain grid stability."

All Ava Community Energy customers who are installing a program-approved home battery or already have a program-approved home battery are eligible for SmartHome Battery. Customers must own their batteries and not be enrolled in conflicting programs. The program enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis and will remain open until the program budget is fully committed.

Ava Community Energy (Ava) is the not-for-profit public power provider for more than 2 million residents and businesses in Alameda County and San Joaquin County. As one of 25 community choice aggregation (CCA) programs operating in California, Ava is part of the movement to provide energy choice while expediting local and state-wide climate action goals. Ava is committed to creating a brighter future in our communities and beyond by providing clean power at competitive rates, reinvesting in our member communities, and developing programs that make it easy for customers to discover and adopt clean energy solutions. To date, Ava has saved customers more than $180 million and contracted for more than one gigawatt of renewable energy projects.

Media Contact:
Mission Control Communications for Ava Community Energy
[email protected]

SOURCE Ava Community Energy