The Rooftop Solar Wars are Back

Source: Politico  |  By Blanca Begert

Assemblymember Lisa Calderon knew she was opening a can of worms when she introduced AB 942, a bill aimed at addressing rising electricity rates by reducing payments to rooftop solar customers. It would cut incentives when paneled homes are sold and would end cap-and-trade rebates for solar customers, saving $3.6 billion between now and 2043, she said. Assemblymember Chris Ward’s AB 1260 builds on his 2022 bill, AB 2316, which directed the CPUC to create a statewide community storage and solar program. His new bill would base incentives on the same structure that the CPUC currently uses to reimburse rooftop solar, after they moved off the higher paying model in 2022. He’s pointing to a recent community solar industry report that says deploying 5.4 gigawatts of community solar could lead to $6.2 billion in cost savings for all California ratepayers.

But ratepayer advocacy group The Utility Reform Network, which backs Calderon’s push to slash net metering, wholeheartedly supports Ward’s bill — precisely because it relies on the CPUC’s updated crediting formula and would also give customers a less expensive solar option to buy into. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the Legislature passed that bill all the way through, because this is them clarifying what they had already directed the commission to do,” said Matt Freedman, an attorney at TURN. “Will the governor sign the bill? That’s a different question.”