CHOOSING A SYSTEM · CEBU
All three use the same panels. What separates them is what happens at 7 p.m. when a rotation reaches your street, whether you earn net-metering credits, and what you pay upfront. Here is an honest side-by-side, priced for one Cebu home, and a five-question finder.
On-grid
Dark: the inverter shuts down
Hybrid + battery
Backup circuits on
Off-grid
On battery, no grid line
If you have a VECO, MECO or CEBECO connection, a hybrid system is the safest choice for most Cebu homes: it earns net-metering credits like on-grid solar and, with a battery, keeps your backup circuits running in a brownout. On-grid (grid-tie) solar is the cheapest category to buy, but it shuts down whenever the grid fails, even at noon.
Off-grid only makes sense where there is no grid line: it needs batteries for every night plus a generator, and earns no net-metering credits. For the reference home below, our battery-ready hybrid is ₱175,900 for solar only, or ₱270,300 sized for backup with one battery.
THE THREE SYSTEMS
The difference is the inverter, whether there’s a battery, and whether the house is connected to the grid at all.
01 · On-grid
Panels and a grid-tie inverter. Solar runs the house by day, the grid covers the night, and surplus earns net-metering credits.
02 · Hybrid
A hybrid inverter that works with the grid and a battery. Same savings and credits as on-grid, plus backup circuits that stay on in a brownout once a battery is fitted.
03 · Off-grid
Panels, an inverter, a battery bank big enough for every night and a generator for cloudy spells. Nothing connects to the utility.
Every system we quote is built on a Deye single-phase 48 V hybrid inverter (5, 6, 8 or 10 kW) with 620 W N-type TOPCon panels and, when you want backup, 5.12 kWh LiFePO4 batteries. Our solar-only option is the battery-ready version of that system. We don’t quote pure string-inverter grid-tie systems, and off-grid sites are assessed case by case.
See it for your own bill.The calculator sizes a hybrid system from your bill and shows the itemised price, with or without a battery.
Estimate my hybrid systemSIDE BY SIDE
Pick the situation closest to yours. The matrix highlights the system we’d point you to, marks the rows that decide it and explains why, using our prices for one reference home.
Comparison matrix
Reference home · 3 bedrooms · ₱10,000 a month · ₱14.89/kWh, VECO Sep 2026Best fit for Frequent evening brownouts: Hybrid + battery. Hybrid + battery: the battery is what keeps the lights on.
Best fitHybrid + battery
When the answer changes. If brownouts are rare where you live, starting battery-ready and adding a battery later keeps the first cost down.
| Rows markedDecides itmatter most here | On-gridGrid-tie, no battery | Hybrid, battery-readyHybrid inverter, battery later | Best fitHybrid + batteryGrid plus backup circuits | Off-gridNo grid connection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost, reference homeDecides it | Strength: About ₱145,000–₱165,000 for 4.34 kWp at one installer’s published rates. Not quoted by us. | Strength: ₱175,900 for 4.34 kWp, our solar-only estimate. ₱218,300 at the 5.58 kWp backup size. | Trade-off: ₱270,300 with one battery, ₱322,300 with two: +₱52,000 each on the ₱218,300 battery-ready 5.58 kWp system. | Weakness: Indicative: about ₱426,300–₱653,400 installed for this home, plus a generator. Assessed case by case. |
| Brownout at 7 p.m.Decides it | Weakness: Off. The inverter must shut down when the grid fails (anti-islanding). | Weakness: Off until a battery is added. | Strength: Backup circuits stay on: about 7 hours of essentials per battery. | Strength: On, from the battery. There is no grid to lose. |
| Brownout at noon | Weakness: Off, even in full sun. | Weakness: Don’t count on it: backup is designed around a battery. | Strength: On. Solar runs the backup circuits and tops up the battery. | Strength: On, from solar. |
| Battery neededDecides it | None. Adding one later usually means AC coupling or a new hybrid inverter. | None yet. Add 5.12 kWh modules when you’re ready. | Trade-off: One for essentials; two with an aircon on backup. | Weakness: Mandatory: every night plus cloudy days. 4 or more batteries for this home. |
| Net metering | Strength: Eligible (up to 100 kW). | Strength: Eligible. | Strength: Eligible, “with or without battery”. | Weakness: Not applicable: no grid connection, no export credits. |
| Grid dependence | Weakness: Total: the grid supplies every night, and every brownout means no power. | Weakness: Same as on-grid until a battery goes in. | Trade-off: Grid at night for everyday use; battery for the backup circuits. | Trade-off: None, but a generator covers cloudy spells and typhoon weeks. |
| Maintenance | Strength: Clean panels; check the inverter and breakers. | Strength: The same as on-grid. | Trade-off: Plus battery firmware, charge settings and a cool, dry spot. | Weakness: Plus generator servicing and deep daily battery cycling. |
| Upgrade path | Weakness: Backup later usually means AC coupling or a new hybrid inverter; a few string inverters take their maker’s own battery. | Strength: Add batteries without a new inverter. The Deye SUN-5K-SG04LP1 has room for about five more panels. | Strength: Add modules, or panels up to the inverter’s limit. | Trade-off: If a line arrives, a hybrid inverter can connect to it. |
Hybrid + battery Grid plus backup circuits
Reference home: a three-bedroom house with a ₱10,000 monthly bill at ₱14.89/kWh, VECO Sep 2026 (about 672 kWh a month). The solar-only price is the calculator’s “save” sizing (7 panels, Deye SUN-5K-SG04LP1: sized for 70% of use, about 73% after rounding up to whole panels); hybrid prices with batteries use its “backup” sizing (9 panels, 5.58 kWp, Deye SUN-6K-SG04LP1: sized for 85%, about 93%). List prices before any promotion; VAT treatment is confirmed in your proposal, which follows a site assessment. Grid-tie figures are third-party, not ours.
ONE HOME, THREE WAYS
Switch the system, then step through the day. Same house, same weather; only the equipment changes.
Showing On-grid.
One home · On-grid
01 / 03Chapter 01
11 a.m. · Clear sky
Panels feed the inverter and the inverter feeds your home. Whatever you don’t use is exported through the net meter and credited at your utility’s generation charge, not the full rate.
The lowest upfront cost of the three.
Chapter 02
8 p.m. · Grid power
Output fades through the afternoon and stops around sunset. From then until morning you buy all your electricity at the full rate, aircons included.
Fine as long as the grid is there.
Chapter 03
7 p.m. · Rotation
When the grid fails, a grid-tie inverter must shut down within moments. This anti-islanding protection keeps it from feeding lines that crews may be repairing, and it applies even at noon in full sun.
No backup, by design.
At your pace. Select any chapter.
BROWNOUT PERFORMANCE
Cebu’s 2026 red alerts mostly landed late in the afternoon and evening, when solar output is falling or gone. That timing decides the comparison.
Anti-islanding is the rule that matters. Every grid-connected inverter must stop feeding the grid when it fails, so it can’t energise lines that crews may be working on. Utilities check for it: CEBECO I asks for unintentional-islanding test certificates, and the datasheet for the Deye SUN-5K/6K hybrids we install lists anti-islanding protection (IEC 62116).
A grid-tie inverter has nowhere else to send its power, so it switches off. A hybrid disconnects from the grid and keeps feeding the circuits on its backup (LOAD) port from the battery and panels. It switches to battery in milliseconds, so lights, fans and Wi-Fi typically don’t notice; keep a small UPS on a desktop computer. Off-grid homes never see a brownout, but they carry every night on their own batteries.
Warnings are short. NGCP gives utilities about 30 minutes before manual load dropping, so backup has to be automatic. A Cebu energy summit in October 2026 heard that shortages are likely to continue through 2027, as SunStar reported it; Energy Secretary Garin said the solution is coming, but late: “it will be a 2028”.
93 + 30Yellow and red alertsVisayas grid, 1 Jan–3 Sep 2026 (NGCP via Daily Tribune)
3–9 hRed-alert windowsMostly late afternoon and evening, May–Sep 2026
≈1 hPer rotation, per areaVisayan Electric rotations, May 2026
Nothing is stored, so nothing stays on in a brownout.
One 5.12 kWh battery for essentials (about 7 hours at 0.5 kW); two with a 1 HP aircon on backup.
4–7 batteries for the reference home, sized for the whole house.
Five days after Typhoon Tino in November 2025, about 7% of Visayan Electric customers were still without power. For outages measured in days, a hybrid recharges its battery from the panels each day if the backup loads stay light, or takes a generator through its GEN port. Runtimes here assume no solar recharge.
UPFRONT COST
Same 9-panel, 5.58 kWp array and Deye SUN-6K-SG04LP1 in every hybrid bar, so the only difference is storage. Off-grid needs many more batteries, and a design that stores a full day also needs a bigger array and inverter.
Solar onlySized for 70% of this home’s use, rounded up to 7 whole panels (4.34 kWp, about 73%)
Sized for backupSized for 85% of use, about 93% after rounding up: the same 9-panel, 5.58 kWp array and 6 kW inverter in every bar, so only storage changes
Off-grid classIndicative, priced from the same list, including our standard installation allowance (there is no net-metering application off-grid). Off-grid sites are assessed case by case; a generator is extra
Our solar-only, battery-ready estimate is ₱40,530 per kWp for this home, itemised with installation and an allowance for permits and net-metering paperwork. That is about 7–21% more than one installer’s summary of Q2 2026 grid-tie quotes (₱33,500–₱38,000 per kW; a small sample, VAT basis not stated).
The first 5.12 kWh battery adds 24% to the system sized for backup; the second adds 19%. It is bought mainly for backup. If it cycles daily rather than being held in reserve for brownouts, the calculator estimates it adds about ₱880 a month to savings here (its 90%-usable basis; about ₱780 at the 80% basis used for runtimes on this page).
Times the battery-ready price of the same home (indicative): four batteries on the same array at the low end, and at the high end a design that stores a full day on a larger array, from an engineering sizing rule. Both are before a generator. 5–10 kVA diesel generators were listed at ₱42,000–₱83,000 online (16 Oct 2026).
Savings are estimates at ₱14.89/kWh, VECO Sep 2026, crediting exports at 55% of the rate and excluding maintenance, battery replacement and financing. Prices are the calculator’s list prices for this example; your system is sized to your own bill. More detail: solar installation cost in Cebu and solar packages side by side. Weighing another installer’s offer? Compare quotes line by line, including what each one says about VAT and permits.
Calculate my installation costSYSTEM FINDER
Answer for your home or business. The suggestion explains its reasoning, states its assumptions and tells you when a site assessment would change it.
System finder · 5 questions
Engineering rules, not a sales scriptSuggestion: Hybrid with one battery. Savings by day and your backup circuits on through a brownout: about 7 hours at 0.5 kW.
Our engineering suggestion
Hybrid + battery
Savings by day and your backup circuits on through a brownout: about 7 hours at 0.5 kW.
Why
The calculator sizes panels and batteries from your bill, so its battery count may differ from the 1 suggested here. Your 1-battery suggestion goes with any quote request.
Rules of thumb from design practice and the Deye datasheets. They point you to a system type; the battery count and design are confirmed after a site assessment of your roof, wiring and loads.
How long would a battery last?NET METERING, UPGRADES & UPKEEP
Net metering covers on-grid renewable systems up to 100 kW, “with or without battery” (ERC Resolution No. 15, s. 2025). Exported power is credited at your utility’s generation charge, not the full rate: about 54–67% of the household rate across Cebu utilities in September–October 2026, and closer to half in 2025. Our calculator assumes a cautious 55%. Credits roll over with no expiry but can’t be cashed out.
Because the credit is worth less than the rate, solar you use yourself is worth more than solar you export. That is the quiet case for a battery in an evening-heavy home. Read how net metering works in Cebu for the application steps.
Up to 100 kW. Exports credited monthly.
Adding a battery later is a modification: tell your utility first.
No grid connection, so no exports and no credits.
₱175,900 for the reference home’s solar-only estimate: 7 panels, a 5 kW hybrid inverter, mounting, installation and an allowance for permits and net-metering paperwork.
+₱52,000 per 5.12 kWh module at list price, on the same inverter. Tell your utility before the change. Adding a battery to existing solar covers the options, including for grid-tie inverters.
The Deye SUN-5K-SG04LP1 accepts up to 8 kW of panels: room for about 5 more on this home, for a new aircon or daytime EV charging.
For multi-day typhoon outages, a generator can feed the hybrid’s GEN port. It must run outdoors, more than 20 ft (about 6 m) from openings.
On-grid
Hybrid
Off-grid
General guidance; your proposal confirms the service plan.
HOMES AND BUSINESSES
Illustrative profiles to help you place yourself, not customer projects. Your site assessment decides.
Rotations land when the bedroom aircon is on. Two batteries keep the essentials and one aircon running through a typical rotation, with margin for a long red-alert evening.
Daytime work uses solar as it’s made. One battery keeps the router, laptop, lights and fans on when a rotation hits mid-call.
Start with panels and a battery-ready inverter to cut the bill now, and add a battery when the budget allows, without replacing anything.
Daytime trading uses solar directly. A backup panel for chillers, lights, the POS and network keeps the doors open through a rotation.
Use follows the sun, so most output is used as it’s made. Add backup only for what must ride through: network, server, a few lights. Three-phase sites are assessed case by case.
Batteries for every night, a generator for typhoon weeks, and a design built around the site. First check what a grid connection would cost.
Not sure where you fit? The solar guides hub groups every guide by question, and how it works shows each step from estimate to after-sales support.
STRAIGHT ANSWERS
Straight answers on brownouts, net metering, cost and upgrades for on-grid, hybrid and off-grid systems.
Already have grid-tie solar? See how a battery upgrade works: AC coupling, a new hybrid inverter, or the maker’s own battery where a string inverter supports one.
No. A grid-tie inverter must switch off within moments of the grid failing. This is anti-islanding protection: it stops your panels from feeding lines that crews may be repairing, and utilities check for it before approving a net-metering connection. It happens even at noon in full sun.
To keep power in a brownout you need a hybrid (or off-grid) inverter, a charged battery and backup circuits wired to the inverter’s backup port. Only those circuits stay on, not the whole house.
Not on its own. A grid-tie inverter follows the grid and stops when the grid disappears, so it can’t run a house by itself. Running without the grid needs an inverter that can form its own supply, plus a battery: a hybrid or an off-grid inverter.
If you already have grid-tie solar, there are two common routes to backup: keep the old inverter and add a hybrid inverter and battery alongside it (AC coupling), or replace it with a hybrid. A few string inverters are sold storage-ready for their maker’s own battery. The battery upgrade guide on this site compares the options.
For most homes with a VECO, MECO or CEBECO connection, a hybrid. It earns net-metering credits like on-grid solar and, with a battery, keeps backup circuits on through the late-afternoon and evening red alerts Cebu saw in 2026. On-grid is the cheapest category if you never need backup. Off-grid is for sites with no grid line, and it needs a generator.
The five-question finder on this page applies these rules to your own situation and explains its reasoning.
Without a battery, not much. Our battery-ready hybrid for the reference home on this page is ₱175,900 for 4.34 kWp, or ₱40,530 per kWp at list price, itemised with installation and an allowance for permits and net-metering paperwork. That is about 7–21% more per kW than the ₱33,500–₱38,000 per kW for grid-tie systems in one installer’s summary of Q2 2026 quotes (SolarSwitch, Cavite, 5 Aug 2026; small sample, VAT basis not stated).
The battery is the big step. Each 5.12 kWh battery is ₱52,000: on the 5.58 kWp system sized for backup, the first one takes the price from ₱218,300 to ₱270,300 (+24%).
Your own price depends on your bill and roof. The calculator on this page itemises it, and VAT treatment is confirmed in your proposal.
Technically yes, but it rarely makes sense where a line exists. Off-grid storage has to carry every night and every cloudy spell. For the reference home, an off-grid-class system with four batteries on the same array comes to about 2.0× the battery-ready price at our price list, before a generator (an indicative estimate). Off-grid systems also can’t earn net-metering credits.
A hybrid keeps the grid as your backup and recharger, so the battery only has to cover outage hours. Off-grid sites, such as farms or island properties without a line, are assessed case by case.
Yes, if the inverter is a battery-ready hybrid, which is what our solar-only option uses. Batteries are added as 5.12 kWh modules on the same inverter, so nothing is thrown away.
Plan for two things: tell your utility before you change a net-metered system (the ERC rules put a modification through the same process as a new application), and keep a cool, dry, shaded spot for the battery. A grid-tie string inverter is different: adding a battery usually means AC coupling or a new hybrid inverter.
It can, if the aircon is on a backup circuit and the battery bank is sized for it. A 1 HP inverter aircon plus essentials draws about 0.8–1.0 kW, so one battery lasts roughly 3½–4½ hours. One battery module also supplies only about 2.6 kW continuously, which leaves little headroom, so we recommend two batteries when an aircon is on backup (about 8 hours at 0.9 kW).
Aircons need 2–3 minutes before restarting after a power cut, so choose one with a restart delay or keep it on its own circuit.
A little more. All three need clean panels and periodic checks of the inverter, breakers and connections, especially after a typhoon. A hybrid adds the battery: firmware updates, charge settings and a cool, dry, shaded spot above flood level. Off-grid adds a generator, which needs regular servicing and must run outdoors, more than 20 ft (about 6 m) from windows, doors and vents, and its batteries cycle deeply every day.
THREE WAYS TO MOVE FORWARD
See your own numbers first, ask for a quote when you’re ready, or put a question to a person. No obligation either way.
Your system, installed price and savings in about 30 seconds. No contact details needed.
Start the calculatorRoute BShare a few details and we’ll prepare a proposal after a site assessment.
Request my quoteRoute CHave a question first? Ask it here and get a straight answer.
Ask a questionROUTE A · INSTANT ESTIMATE
The same calculator and prices as the rest of the site. Your estimate stays on your screen unless you ask us to contact you.
Your promo code takes 10% off your system estimate, up to ₱50,000.
Choose your usual monthly bill. An estimate is all you need.
Using VECO at ₱14.89/kWh · Sep 2026. You can change your provider later.
About 30 seconds · No obligation
ROUTES B & C · TALK TO US
Every quotation follows a site assessment of your roof, wiring and priorities, so the price you approve is the price of the system you get.
Tell us about your home and your brownouts. We’ll confirm the system type and battery count after a site assessment.
Not ready for a quote? Ask about which solar system type suits your home and we’ll reply by phone or email.
Reviewed 16 October 2026 · Our prices come from the calculator’s price list at page load; rates from each utility’s latest published month (Sep 2026 for VECO).
Issued 27 Aug 2025. Applies to on-grid RE systems “with or without battery”; exports credited at the utility’s generation charge; a modification follows the new-customer process.
Sep 2022. Systems up to 100 kW, with or without battery storage.
File dated 11 Sep 2026. Anti-islanding protection, IEC 62116, 2× rated power for 10 s off-grid. No transfer time is stated.
File dated 27 Apr 2026. GRID, LOAD (backup) and GEN ports; generator input; aircons need 2–3 minutes to restart.
18 Mar 2026. 80% recommended depth of discharge; 50 A per module (about 2.6 kW). Used as our cautious runtime basis until the battery model is confirmed in your proposal.
Undated; accessed 16 Oct 2026. Grid-tied systems shut down in an outage unless designed with storage for backup.
16 Sep 2025. Requires unintentional-islanding and cease-to-energize test certificates.
3 Sep 2026. 93 yellow and 30 red alerts from 1 Jan to 3 Sep 2026 (NGCP data); red alert 1–10 p.m. on 3 Sep.
15 May 2026. Red alert 5–9 p.m.; rotations of about one hour per area.
12 Aug 2026. Red alert 3–8 p.m. on 11 Aug.
19 May 2026. NGCP gives utilities about 30 minutes’ warning before manual load dropping.
12 Oct 2026. SunStar reports shortages are likely through 2027; Energy Secretary Garin: the fix “will be a 2028”.
9 Nov 2025. About 7% of customers still without power five days after Typhoon Tino.
As of 30 Sep 2026. Some feeders show no remaining capacity.
₱9.7611/kWh generation charge vs ₱15.98 all-in (61%). Cebu utilities ranged about 54–67% in Sep–Oct 2026; MECO averaged 46.5% in 2025.
5 Aug 2026. On-grid ₱33,500–₱38,000 per kW from Q2 2026 quotes. Third-party figures, not our prices.
Accessed 16 Oct 2026. 5–10 kVA diesel units listed at ₱42,000–₱83,000. Online national retailer; no Cebu shop prices.
12 Jan 2026. Run generators outdoors, more than 20 ft from windows, doors and vents.
YOUR NEXT STEP
Answer five questions, see the reasoning, then price it in the calculator. No sign-up and no obligation.
YOUR NEXT QUESTION
Each guide answers one question properly, with the numbers and sources behind it.