LADWP's 'Free' Solar Program: How It Works and What They're Not Telling You

So, the LADWP, the same municipal behemoth that sends me inscrutable bills every two months, is suddenly playing Santa Claus. They just launched a program to give away "free" solar panels and battery storage to low-income families. Free. One hundred percent covered.

Let that sink in. An entity famous for its complexity and, let's be honest, its ability to extract money from us, is handing out $45,000 home improvement packages like they're candy. When I hear "free" and "government program" in the same sentence, my wallet instinctively tries to crawl out of my pocket and hide under the couch. There's always a catch, and I'm here to find it.

The whole thing is funded by a statewide pot of money, about $280 million, with a little over $32 million getting funneled to the DWP. The idea, on paper, sounds noble. Help people who are struggling, lower their bills, and make the grid stronger. Great. Fantastic. I love it when a plan comes together. But let's do some back-of-the-napkin math here. A solar setup costs around $30,000, and the battery adds another $15,000. That’s $45k per house.

So, $32 million divided by $45,000… that comes out to about 711 homes. In a city of four million people. This isn't a program. This is a lottery.

Free Solar or Just a Free Headache?

The Real Price of "Free"

The first hurdle is, offcourse, the bureaucracy. You don't just call up the DWP and ask for your free solar. No, you have to find an "approved solar developer" to basically hold your hand and submit the application for you. I took a look at the list, and it's… a list. Who are these companies? Who "approved" them? How many of them are going to be swamped by a million calls in the first week before the money vanishes?

This is a bad idea. No, 'bad' doesn't cover it—this is a five-alarm dumpster fire of well-intentioned chaos waiting to happen. Imagine being a family of four, making under the $121,150 income cap, and hearing about this. You get your hopes up. You spend a week trying to get a developer on the phone, only to be told the funding is already spoken for. It’s a PR win for the LADWP and a gut punch for everyone else.

And for apartment owners, the rules are even more convoluted. You need a building where at least five units are low-income and it’s in a "pollution-burdened community," or a building where 80% of the tenants are below 60% of the area median income. I’m getting a headache just typing that. It feels designed to be so complicated that only the most dedicated, paperwork-savvy landlords will ever succeed.

Oops, We Forgot the Sun Sets

Deconstructing the PR-Speak

The real gem in all this is the reason they’re suddenly so hot on batteries. Here’s David Jacot, LADWP’s director of distributed energy solutions, with the official line:

“We really need to start getting more storage online so that we can have that resource when the solar panels aren't generating… That period is in the early evening when the sun starts to go down — we call it the solar cliff.”

Let me translate that for you. "The solar cliff" is corporate-speak for "Oops, we spent a decade pushing solar panels without thinking about what happens when the sun, you know, sets every single day." It's a self-inflicted wound. California has so much solar power during the day that we sometimes have to pay other states to take it. Then at 6 p.m., the panels go dark, everyone comes home and cranks up the AC, and the grid groans under the strain.

That ain't a plan, that's a band-aid on a bullet wound. And this program, helping a few hundred households, is like trying to fix the Titanic's hull with a roll of duct tape. It’s a tacit admission of a massive planning failure. My own power flickered twice last week during the heatwave. I pay my bill on time, every time, and for what? To live in a first-world city with a third-world grid that feels like it’s held together by hope and rusty wires.

So It's a Lottery, Not a Solution?

So Why Bother?

Now, here's the part that really makes no sense. The fact sheet mentions that rooftop solar adoption has declined substantially in the city recently. Declined. This is despite the fact that LADWP customers were shielded from the state-level cuts to solar incentives. DWP customers still get paid back at full retail rates for the extra power they generate. It’s basically the best deal in Southern California.

So if the deal is so good, why are people walking away?

Maybe—and call me crazy—it’s because the process is already a nightmare. Maybe the cost, even with incentives, is too high. Or maybe people have just lost faith in the whole system. They see these massive, top-down initiatives that sound great in a press release but don't seem to change anything on the ground. They create the problem, then pat themselves on the back for a "solution" that helps almost nobody, and we're supposed to cheer...

Then again, maybe I’m the crazy one here. For the 711 families that actually get this, it will be life-changing. A massive expense wiped clean off their slate. Freedom from a punishing utility bill. The security of knowing the lights will stay on during a blackout. I can't be mad at that. I’m just mad that it’s being sold as a systemic solution when it’s really just a golden ticket for a lucky few. It’s a distraction. A shiny object to wave around while the real, fundamental problems with our energy infrastructure just get worse.

A Drop in a Very Hot Bucket ###

Look, I’m not saying people shouldn’t apply. If you qualify, you should be hammering the phones right now. Get yours. But let's not pretend this is some grand, visionary move by the DWP. It's a tiny, politically convenient gesture designed to generate good headlines while the grid itself teeters on the edge of that "solar cliff" they finally admitted they built. It's a feel-good story that papers over a decades-long failure.

Reference article source：

• Some LADWP customers can get free solar panels and battery storage. Here's how
• LADWP free solar