Two homes fifteen miles apart can sit in different rebate territories, pay a different price for the same kilowatt hour, and get a different answer to the same question. A Modesto house on MID and a Turlock house on TID are exactly that pair, which is why each market below is researched on its own rather than assembled by swapping a city name into a template.
Grouped by the utility territory they sit in, because that is the thing that actually decides the answer. Each market carries its own rebate status, permit rules and local conditions, and each figure on those pages carries a source and the date we last checked it.
California
MID electricity, PG&E gas
The first market, and the one the whole method was built against. Itemised local job costs, online permitting, and the reason we will not publish a single average price.
Local data last verified 7 Aug 2026
California
TID electricity, PG&E gas
Two utilities in one house, so the gas versus electric question has a real answer here. Published rates, a worked fuel comparison, and the strongest rebate position we have found anywhere.
Local data last verified 20 Aug 2026
California
TID electricity, PG&E gas
The same two utilities as Turlock and the same fuel arithmetic, running against the hardest municipal water we have found anywhere on the site. The rebate and the water pull in opposite directions.
Local data last verified 21 Aug 2026
California
Ava generation on a PG&E bill, PG&E gas
Two companies on one electricity bill, and more than one water company in one city. The largest market we cover and the one where an address settles the most.
Local data last verified 21 Aug 2026
California
Ava generation on a PG&E bill, PG&E gas
The city's own report puts one water source seventeen times harder than the other, and the permit price turns on a single word in how the job is written up.
Local data last verified 21 Aug 2026
California
Merced Irrigation District or PG&E by address, PG&E gas
Which company sells you electricity depends on the address, not the city, and the rebate that follows has a condition most homeowners fail without knowing it.
Local data last verified 21 Aug 2026
Most of what matters about a water heater is not local at all. How the technologies work, how to size them, what goes wrong with each one, what a warranty actually covers: none of that changes between one Central Valley city and the next, and pretending otherwise is how thin local pages get made.
When a figure is borrowed from a neighbouring market rather than measured locally, the page says so where the figure appears. The Turlock cost tables are labelled that way right now, because no first-party Turlock quote has been collected yet.
Six markets are published today, across four utility territories in the Central Valley. That leaves out most of California, so for a lot of people reading this the honest answer is that we have not done the work for your city yet. We would rather say so than publish a page with your city name pasted into someone else’s research.
None of that stops the quiz working for you. The technology, sizing and feasibility questions are identical in every market, and the one genuinely local input it needs, your postcode, it asks for directly.
Markets are added by utility territory rather than by population, working outward from the ones above. Our method explains how, including what we will not publish and why.
Local where it matters
Sizing, feasibility and technology do not change between one Central Valley city and the next. Your postcode does, because rebates and rates follow utility territory, so that is the one local thing the quiz asks for.
When you are ready to collect quotes, choosing an installer covers what to ask and what a good answer sounds like.