Glossary

Short definitions of the solar, utility and roof terms you’ll meet in Cali-Graf — from baseline region and true-up to pitch, fire pathways and the forecast range — each with a link to the article that explains it.

Terms in alphabetical order. Each points to the article with the details.

Baseline region: SCE gives each home a daily baseline allowance that depends on its climate region. Cali-Graf takes the region from the city — How the utility, rate zone and region are found.
Battery mode: When the battery gives back its energy: Time-of-use, Self-powered or Backup only — Battery operating modes.
CARE: California Alternate Rates for Energy, a discount on SCE bills for qualifying households. Tick it when the customer’s bill shows it — Choose the customer’s SCE rate plan and CARE.
CEC list: The California Energy Commission’s list of panels, inverters and batteries approved for use in California. Equipment search in Cali-Graf covers it.
Clean Power Alliance (CPA): A public power provider in many SCE cities: it buys the energy, SCE delivers it and sends the bill — How the utility, rate zone and region are found.
Cost per kWh: Without solar, what a kWh from the utility costs today. With solar, what the customer pays for the system divided by the kWh it makes over 25 years — Proposal numbers explained.
Degradation: The small share of output a panel loses each year, taken from its datasheet — Rate growth and panel degradation.
Eave, rake, ridge, hip, valley: The kinds of roof edges. They decide where fire setbacks go — Edge types: eave, rake, ridge, hip, valley.
Face: One flat part of a roof with one pitch and one direction. You trace each face in the roof editor — Draw roof faces.
Face direction: The way a face slopes down — the way its panels face, like south or west — Roof face direction.
Federal tax credit (25D): The 30% credit for home solar. It isn’t available for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025, so Cali-Graf doesn’t subtract it — Federal tax credit.
Fire pathway: A 36-inch clear strip from the eave to the ridge that firefighters walk on — Fire pathways.
Fire setback: A strip along a roof edge where panels can’t go — Fire setbacks on the roof.
Forecast range (P20–P80): For SCE homes entered from bills, the likely spread of results: the hours of use could fall several ways that all match the bills — Why the first-year forecast is a range.
Green Button: A file with the home’s usage for every hour, downloaded from the utility’s website — Upload a Green Button file.
Hourly profile: How the home’s usage spreads over the hours of the year. Without a Green Button file, Cali-Graf builds it from similar Los Angeles homes — How the hourly usage profile is built.
Hybrid inverter: A solar inverter that also runs a battery, like the one inside Powerwall 3 — Tesla Powerwall 3 and other hybrid inverters.
kW DC: The system size: the rated power of all the panels added up.
kWh: Kilowatt-hour, the unit of energy on the bill. Usage and production are in kWh.
Microinverter: A small inverter under each panel. A string inverter is one box on the wall for a whole row of panels — Choose the inverter.
Net Billing Tariff (NBT, NEM 3.0): How new SCE solar is billed: grid power at full price, power sent to the grid at hourly export prices — How the bill after solar is calculated: SCE NEM 3.0.
Net metering (LADWP): LADWP nets solar against usage 1:1 in each two-month billing period; extra solar becomes a credit that rolls forward but isn’t paid out — How the bill after solar is calculated: LADWP.
Payback: How many years of bill savings it takes to cover what the customer pays for the system — Read the results.
Pitch: How steep a roof face is, shown the way roofers say it, like 5/12 — Roof pitch: measured or set by hand.
Production: The kWh the panels make in a year, after shade and other losses — How production is calculated.
Rate increase: How much utility rates are assumed to rise each year in the 25-year forecast — Rate growth and panel degradation.
Rate zone (LADWP): Zone 1 or Zone 2, from LADWP’s list of ZIP codes. It sets how many kWh are charged at the lower tier prices — How the utility, rate zone and region are found.
Shade loss: The share of production lost to the shade of trees, neighbors and chimneys — Turn shade analysis on or off.
Solar covers: The panels’ yearly production as a share of the home’s yearly usage — Read the results.
Time of use (TOU): A rate plan where the price of a kWh depends on the hour, highest in the evening peak — Enter time-of-use kWh from SCE bills.
TOU-D-PRIME: The SCE rate plan Cali-Graf uses for the bill with solar — Choose the customer’s SCE rate plan and CARE.
True-up: The yearly SCE statement that settles a solar home’s energy charges and credits — How the bill after solar is calculated: SCE NEM 3.0.

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Updated October 6, 2026