Net metering is the most fundamental policy for the U.S. rooftop solar market, and California is by far the largest state market. This means that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) ruling on a successor program to net metering which is planned for January 28 is the biggest pending policy decision for the U.S. solar market, now that the Investment Tax Credit has been extended.
Earlier this month the California solar industry appeared to be in a good position, with CPUC issuing a Proposed Decision in mid-December that retained the basic features of retail-rate net metering and rejected most of the mechanisms proposed by utilities to weaken compensation levels for customer-sited PV. However, solar advocates have expressed great alarm at a turn of events over the last few days.
Today the CPUC held an all-party meeting on the successor program to net metering, which the California Solar Energy Industries Association (CalSEIA) said might involve an attempt to consider an alternative proposal to the Proposed Decision. On January 7, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) issued comments on the proposed decision which advocacy group Vote Solar Initiative says represents a new policy proposal, and it is feared that this may be the proposal that regulators will consider.
One of the key features of a joint proposal by Californias investor-owned utilities would be to reduce compensation levels for electricity exported to the grid by customer-sited PV. The utilities proposed reducing this rate to US$ 0.15 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) until a certain threshold of power is reached, and then to US$ 0.13/kWh thereafter. California's utilities additionally propose scrapping virtual net metering, which allows customers to receive credits for solar arrays that are not located at the site where they consume electricity.
Vote Solar says that an alternative policy proposal would be in violation of commission rules. Not only is it against the Commissions procedural rules to push a new policy after a proposed decision has been published, but the utilities dont provide any data even attempting to show that their proposed rate is fair compensation for the benefits of solar generation or that it will keep rooftop solar growing sustainably in California, stated Vote Solar in a blog post. This effort is all kinds of wrong, but that hasnt stopped the utilities from throwing the kitchen sink at it.
Vote Solar and CalSEIA both note the re-emergence of a organization backed by SDG&E parent company Sempra Energy which presents itself as a civic movement to lower electricity costs by scuttling net metering. Fix My Energy Bill took out a full-page ad in San Diegos daily paper on January 12, and Vote Solar and CalSEIA note that the organization nowhere reveals that it is funded by Sempra Energy.
Vote Solar cites strong backing from a variety of communities in California for net metering, and notes that it delivered over 150,000 petitions to the CPUC supporting the retention of basic features of the policy in the new program.
Neither CalSEIA nor Vote Solar was available for comment at the time this article was published.
Update January 20, 16:30 Pacific Time: Vote Solar has informed pv magazine that the all-party meeting did not include the introduction of an alternative to the Proposed Decision, and that no alternative proposal is formally being considered by CPUC at this time.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.