Fifty dollars is the whole difference. On San Diego Gas & Electric's rebate pages it sits a few lines below a larger number, and most readers stop at the larger number. SDG&E pays $150 toward a qualifying portable power station under its Generator Assistance Program. A customer enrolled in CARE or FERA gets that $150 plus a $50 add-on, for $200 in total.

Here is the concept in a sentence you could repeat: for income-qualified SDG&E customers, the power station rebate is $200, not $150, and the $200 is built by stacking one amount on another. You will meet it if you live in the fire-prone edges of San Diego County. The program exists there to keep households powered through a Public Safety Power Shutoff, and the rebate decides how much of a battery unit's price comes back to you.

The add-on is modest. Still, it is the part of the program written for the households least able to absorb the rest of the price, so it is worth getting the number exactly right.

The number is also the easy part. The $200 is a promise with several conditions attached, and for most enrolled customers those conditions, not the dollar figure, decide whether anything is paid at all.

How the $200 gets built

The enhanced rebate is not a separate program. It is the standard rebate with a second layer on top, and that layer is unlocked by a status you already hold, not one you apply for here.

CARE and FERA are the state's electric bill discount programs, described on the CPUC's CARE/FERA page:

  • CARE takes 30 to 35 percent off electric bills at large utilities like SDG&E. For the June 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027 period, a one- or two-person household qualifies at or below $43,280 a year. Enrollment in Medi-Cal, SNAP, WIC, LIHEAP, SSI or TANF qualifies a household regardless of income.
  • FERA takes 18 percent off electric bills and serves moderate-income households just above the CARE line. The limit for one or two people is about $54,100.

Enrollment opens the door to the larger number. It does not open the program. According to SDG&E's CARE/FERA rebate page, the rest of the sequence runs like this.

From eligibility to claim

  1. Meet every gate

    You must be a current SDG&E electric customer enrolled in CARE or FERA. You must live in a High Fire Threat District Tier 2 or Tier 3 area and have experienced at least one PSPS. You cannot have received a rebate in a previous program year.

  2. Watch for the notice and open an account

    Qualified customers were notified by email or mail starting in February 2026. Applications go through the portal CLEAResult runs for SDG&E (sdgegapcare.clearesult.com). Creating an account there and running the eligibility check shows your rebate amount.

  3. Buy the right unit

    The unit must be brand new, bought in California during 2026, and listed on SDG&E's Qualified Product List at the time you buy it.

  4. Submit an itemized receipt

    The receipt must show the purchase date, retailer, model or SKU, retail price, final price and California purchase location.

You claim the rebate after you buy, not at the register. The sources do not say what form the payment takes, how long it takes to arrive, or when applications close. The portal account is where those terms would appear. The purchase must fall within 2026, so check them before a late-year purchase, not after.

Three places the stacking shows up

The same base-plus-add-on logic runs through the whole program, which makes the CARE/FERA number easy to recognize once you have seen it once.

Portable power stations. The base is $150 and the CARE/FERA add-on is $50, for $200 total. That is the figure this page is about.

Fuel generators. The base is $300 and the add-on is $200, for $500 total, according to SDG&E's program landing page. The generator must be CARB compliant and have a carbon monoxide sensor with automatic shut-off.

Medical Baseline and Access and Functional Needs customers. SDG&E runs a third tier for customers who rely on medical equipment during outages. SDG&E's own page does not state the dollar amounts. A 2026 industry comparison from UDPWR reports the power station rebate in that tier at up to $525. If anyone in your household qualifies for Medical Baseline, check that tier before settling for $200.

Not the generator rebate, and not another utility's

The $300 generator rebate is the one most often mistaken for this. It covers a different device and pays a different amount, and it does not replace the power station rebate. SDG&E allows one fuel generator rebate and one portable power station rebate per household, so an enrolled household could in principle claim both.

The other confusion comes from neighbors. California's three big utilities run similar programs on very different terms. PG&E's was the most generous but has stopped taking applications for the year, because its 2026 funding ran out. SCE pays a flat amount with no income-qualified bump for power stations, and only to customers in SCE's Tier 2 or Tier 3 areas.

2026 terms SDG&E PG&E SCE
Base power station rebate $150 Up to $300 $150
With CARE/FERA $200 total Up to $500 No power station enhancement
Household limit One station, one generator One per household Up to five per address
Status in 2026 Open at time of UDPWR's writing Closed, funding exhausted Open

Figures are from UDPWR's 2026 comparison and reflect the date it was written.

Before the receipt is printed

Knowing the number changes the order of what you do.

  1. Confirm your enrollment first. If your household qualifies for CARE or FERA but is not enrolled, the extra $50 is simply not available to you. The CPUC's income limits are the quickest way to check.
  2. Run the eligibility check in the portal before you shop. It confirms the fire-district and PSPS conditions you cannot change.
  3. Choose from the Qualified Product List. A unit off the list, or one bought secondhand, does not qualify at any price.
  4. Get an itemized receipt. Keep it with the model number visible.
  5. Remember you get one chance. A rebate claimed this year rules out every year after it.

The fifty dollars is real. It reaches a household only after every one of those checks has cleared.