Despite California Gov. Jerry Brown’s ceaseless tour of publicizing climate change and renewable-energy reforms, regulators are mulling expansive changes to the state’s solar-energy policy that critics claim could decimate a booming solar industry.
Ahead of a Dec. 31 deadline, the California Public Utilities Commission is considering proposals from the state’s largest utilities that would drastically alter how solar users pay for access to electricity grids. The utilities’ proposals could eliminate or weaken a popular state program that reimburses homeowners for their extra solar energy while increasing fees for accessing the grid.
At a rally Thursday at the state capital, executive director of the California Solar Energy Industries Association Bernadette Del Chiaro told a crowd that the utilities are attempting to stifle residential solar systems in California and their proposals are aimed at increasing profits.
“The utilities are threatened by consumers generating their own electricity; it threatens their bottom lines,” Del Chiaro said, with dozens of solar-industry representatives clad in teal blue shirts behind her. “They make money off building big expensive infrastructure projects.”
At stake is a tariff program known as net metering, which allows homeowners with solar panels to send back excess energy to the electricity grid in exchange for compensation from the utility. Advocates credit net metering with making California the largest solar power producer in the nation and contributing more than 54,000 solar industry jobs statewide.