A conspiracy between big government and big utilities to protect big corporate profits? No, no, the regulator said.
A violation of law requiring rooftop solar to keep growing rapidly in California? That isn’t the law at all, the regulator said.
Government spewing a lie that financial breaks given to (wealthier) rooftop solar owners shift burdens to their (less-well-off) neighbors — to the tune of billions of dollars? That’s just wrong, the regulator said, and asserting the cost shift doesn’t exist is “a false statement and a factual misinterpretation.”
And so the California Public Utilities Commission has rejected requests for a do-over of its wildly controversial new rooftop solar rules, which went into effect in April. They gave everyone something to hate. But alas, the solar wars rage on: Opponents continue their battle in court, armed, for better or worse, with the same arguments that failed to convince the powers that be at the PUC.
At issue: The update to how much new rooftop solar owners are paid for exporting energy to the grid, depending on how much clean energy is available at the time (among many other things).
Folks who install new systems with batteries to store solar power, and who can pump energy out after dark when it’s most needed, will get the most handsome compensation. Folks without batteries, who only pump excess energy to the grid during the day — when it’s already plentiful — will get much less compensation.
Even at its best, compensation will be lower than it is for folks who had solar before these changes. And that will vastly increase the amount of time it takes folks to recoup their investments — from 3-5 years up to nine years. And that will tank the growth of solar in California, in violation of the law, critics argue.
Have you looked at your electric bill lately? Have you wept? The average price for residential electricity in California is nearly 80% higher than in the rest of the nation.
Solar or…
Read the full article here
