The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has released a proposed decision that would undermine the value of rooftop solar for renters in multifamily housing, farms and schools if enacted. The proposal poses a serious threat to California’s climate and energy equity pledges and risks putting solar power out of reach for the state’s nearly 17 million renters.
The proposed rule would establish limits on how much electricity produced by rooftop solar systems can be used at multi-meter properties. The policy effectively forces customers to sell solar-generated electricity to the local investor-owned utility and then makes them buy it back at higher rates.
California’s Virtual Net Metering and Net Energy Metering Aggregation programs allow properties with multiple meters to install a single solar array for the entire property, sharing one system’s electricity and associated net metering credits with all customers and meters on the property. The newly proposed rule, though, would make changes to those programs and limit the amount of self-generated electricity these customers could use.
“The decision to not let multi-meter properties consume electricity from a system they own and operate comes with a clear motive: profit protection. ”
If a rooftop solar owner is using their own electricity, they aren’t buying it from the utility. The CPUC has shown time and again that protecting utility profits is chief among its functions in the last year of rooftop solar rulemaking decisions, rooftop solar advocate Ryan Kennedy wrote in PV Magazine.
California is the country's leader in installed solar capacity, with more than a quarter of its energy coming from solar panels. However, a decision by the CPUC in late 2022 made it more expensive to get rooftop solar. The new Net-Energy Metering 3.0 (NEM 3.0) plan gives homeowners energy credits at a rate 75% lower than previous payments. The latest proposed rule change by the CPUC further undercuts the benefits of rooftop solar systems.
Both decisions by the CPUC put utility profits over consumers and California’s clean energy goals by eliminating the financial incentives for property owners to install rooftop solar. The proposed decision is scheduled for a CPUC vote on September 21.