Rep. Mike Levin Leads Letter Calling on CPUC to Reconsider Proposed Changes to Net Metering Policies
Oceanside, CA – Today, U.S. Representative Mike Levin (D-CA) led a letter to California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) President Marybel Batjer urging the CPUC to reconsider recently proposed changes to net energy metering (NEM) policies that would disincentivize continued adoption of rooftop solar in California. The CPUC’s proposed changes would slash the value of solar exports by approximately 80% while imposing the highest fees on solar customers in investor-owned utility territories, severely damaging the growth of rooftop solar in California.
“Net metering policies have catalyzed the growth of rooftop solar in California. In addition to the sector’s positive economic impact, the growth of rooftop solar has also helped advance our efforts to address the climate crisis and increase grid resilience. Existing policies have made rooftop solar a smart clean energy investment for all Californians, regardless of income level – currently, nearly 50 percent of the state’s market is in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, and over 150,000 Californians eligible for income-driven discounts on their electric bills have their own solar systems,” the Members wrote. “We are grateful for your previous commitments to advance rooftop solar and support a sustainable solar industry as part of an equitable clean energy transition. However, we are deeply concerned that CPUC’s December 13, 2021 proposed decision would actually have the opposite effect, potentially putting rooftop solar out of reach for many Californians, undermining grid resilience, and making it harder for our nation to reach its national clean energy targets.”
The letter was signed by Representatives Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Katie Porter (D-CA), Jared Huffman (D-CA), and Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA).
Click here or see below for their full letter:
The Honorable Marybel Batjer
President
California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102
Dear President Batjer:
Thank you for your continued efforts to move California towards an equitable and secure clean energy future. We write to express our concerns with the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) recent proposed decision and its potential impact on the future of net energy metering (NEM) and rooftop solar in California.
Net metering policies have catalyzed the growth of rooftop solar in California. In addition to the sector’s positive economic impact, the growth of rooftop solar has also helped advance our efforts to address the climate crisis and increase grid resilience.
Existing policies have made rooftop solar a smart clean energy investment for all Californians, regardless of income level – currently, nearly 50 percent of the state’s market is in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, and over 150,000 Californians eligible for income-driven discounts on their electric bills have their own solar systems.
When paired with energy storage, rooftop solar provides critical back-up power during grid outages, saving ratepayers money and providing a common good. Ensuring the continued growth of California’s rooftop solar sector is critical as our state faces increasingly severe wildfires and other threats to grid stability, as net metering policies help residential and commercial customers adopt storage and keep their lights on during increasingly-common power outages. Continuing to grow the rooftop solar industry will reduce the need for back-up diesel generation, which harms both the environment and public health. With the state facing an urgent lack of generating resources, we believe we should be doing everything we can to rapidly deploy renewables and storage.
We are grateful for your previous commitments to advance rooftop solar and support a sustainable solar industry as part of an equitable clean energy transition. However, we are deeply concerned that CPUC’s December 13, 2021 proposed decision would actually have the opposite effect, potentially putting rooftop solar out of reach for many Californians, undermining grid resilience, and making it harder for our nation to reach its national clean energy targets.
We are concerned that the proposed decision would severely damage the growth of rooftop solar in California. It is our understanding that the proposed decision would slash the value of solar exports by approximately 80% while imposing the highest fees on solar customers in investor-owned utility territories. Solar-user fees would be 700% higher than what other state regulatory commissions have implemented, such as New York.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Build Back Better Act, which includes the largest federal investment in clean energy and climate provisions in our nation’s history. Alongside complementary state action, these investments are critical to meeting President Biden’s national target of achieving a 50 to 52 percent reduction from 2005 levels in economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and a 100 percent carbon-free power grid by 2035.
However, we are deeply concerned that the proposed decision would make rooftop solar less accessible to all Californians, jeopardize its sustainable growth, increase costs to ratepayers, and threaten our ability to achieve these national targets. We respectfully urge you to reconsider this proposed decision and consider supporting reasonable reforms that will ensure the solar and storage industries continue to grow so that we can meet our climate and energy resilience goals.
Sincerely,
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