By Nichola Groom
(Reuters) – California utility regulators on Thursday will vote on a proposal to reduce the rate at which households with rooftop solar panels are credited for exporting surplus power to the grid, a step solar companies warn could slow installations but utilities argue will be fairer for low-income ratepayers.
For decades, Californians with rooftop panels have been credited for excess power at or near the full retail electricity rate. Supporters say this incentive has been crucial to the state’s efforts to fight climate change, but critics contend it has unfairly favored only those wealthy enough to afford solar.
The proposal, unveiled last month by the California Public Utilities Commission, would change the so-called “net metering” policy by compensating solar owners for surplus power at a lower rate determined by the cost the utility would have spent to buy clean power elsewhere.
It would also offer new credits to systems paired with batteries that would allow homes to keep excess power in reserve when demand is low, then feed it into the grid after dark when solar energy resources stop producing but demand is high. That would help stabilize California’s grid, maintaining reliability during its ambitious transition away from fossil fuels.
The vote by the five-member commission is being watched nationwide because policies made in California often serve as a template for other states seeking to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy.
Utilities and ratepayer advocates support the proposal, arguing the existing policy pushes most of the cost burden of maintaining the grid onto the shoulders of customers without panels, who tend to be less affluent. Solar companies counter that the changes would slow new installations and threaten California’s clean energy and climate change goals.
“We’ve outgrown this policy and it is not sustainable,” Matt Baker, director of the Public Advocates Office, an independent ratepayer advocate at the CPUC that supports the proposed reforms.
A utility-backed group, Affordable Clean Energy For All, has said the changes do not go far enough to alleviate the cost burden on lower-income households.
California’s three investor-owned utilities are Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric.
The longstanding policy has propelled growth for national residential installers like Sunrun Inc and SunPower Corp as well as hundreds of local companies, and made California a national leader in solar installations.
The PUC has said solar would still make economic sense after the reforms. Customers installing solar with a battery, for example, would save about $136 a month under the plan, compared with $100 a month with just solar.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by David Gregorio)
