Bowing to pressure from the California utilities, the CPUC is proposing new net metering rules (NEM 3.0) that includes a “grid access” fee of $8/kW of installed solar per month – in addition to other fees – that could add between $50-$80/month to the electric bill of a home solar customer. If adopted, this would be the highest solar fee anywhere in the country, including states hostile to renewable energy. In addition, the proposal would reduce the value of bill credits for solar energy sent to the grid by about 80 percent.
Unbelievably, the California utilities and CPUC also proposed to change the rules for customers who have already signed contracts and purchased a solar system, which violates basic principles of fairness. Under the CPUC’s proposal, customers who installed solar under the NEM 1.0 and NEM 2.0 rules – which were guaranteed to be in place for 20 years when customers enrolled – would see their “grandfathering period” reduced to 15 years from the date they installed their system, after which they would go on NEM 3.0.
For customers currently considering installing solar, the NEM 3.0 rules would go into effect upon submission of an interconnection agreement after May 28, 2022.
Support distributed solar and storage in California by making your voice heard. Please consider contacting the Public Utilities Commission today and encourage them to reject the solar fee and changes to grandfathering rules.
The CPUC may vote on whether to adopt the NEM 3.0 proposal as soon as January 27, 2022, and they are taking feedback from the public until that time.
First, imposing fixed charges only on those customers who choose to install solar impinges on customers’ right to self-generate their own clean energy. It violates every tenant of regulatory fairness and is likely illegal under federal law. The fixed charges cannot be avoided by adding a battery and would need to be paid regardless of whether the solar customer exports energy to the electric grid. Every solar customer should be asking why they are discriminated against, but not those customers who have rarely used vacation homes, invest in energy efficiency, have small homes, or otherwise have pay lower utility bills. Why would the PUC not add fixed charges to all customers fairly and with documented justification, rather than only solar customers?
Second, the dramatic change from the current NEM policy will reduce customer adoption of clean energy in California at a time when more is needed to meet the state’s climate goals and to provide more energy resiliency in the face of unprecedented wildfires and grid outages.
Finally, reducing the length of the grandfathering period short-changes customers who made an investment in solar under rules that promised consistent policy over the life of their system. Changing the rules in the middle of the game will make it less likely for customers to trust that other CPUC Decisions won’t later be reversed.