SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A controversial bill is addressing solar energy in California and the credits that current solar customers receive for their systems.
AB 1139 focuses on net energy metering (NEM). That is the process where solar customers get credit at retail rates for excess energy their system produces. If passed, the bill would force the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to act on NEM reform. Energy researchers at UC Berkeley say utility companies recover lost revenue from solar customers by charging those without solar extra costs.
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, the author of the bill, said that the current system is not fair.
“In San Diego, a non-rooftop solar customer pays $230 a year to subsidize those of us who have rooftop solar,” she said. “We want people to have rooftop solar, but it can’t be on the on the backs of people who can’t have solar.”
Her bill sets the deadline for the CPUC to come up with changes by Febuary 1, 2022. “If they come up with a rate structure, my bill goes away,” Gonzalez said.
The bill would also lock solar customers in at their current rates for 10 years, rather than the 20 years many existing customers said they were promised.
Clairemont resident Tammy Anderson Lee had solar installed at her home 3 years ago. She said she and her husband, before he passed away, saved money to pay for the system. “The narrative that we’re getting here in California is hey everybody, if you put solar on your roof, you’re not only helping the environment, but it’s going to help reduce your electric bills,” Lee said.
She also recently helped pay for her elderly father’s solar system in his East County home. Lee said if she knew of these proposed changes, she would have not invested in solar.
“California was set to be the leader in the green initiative. This will only kill the strides that we have made. Not only that, the thought of all the jobs that potentially could be lost… it’s just crazy this bill is even alive,” Lee said.
The CPUC has been working for years to reform net metering, something groups like The Utility Reform Network (TURN) say is needed. “The question isn’t whether it’s a good or a bad idea for people that do solar on the rooftop. It’s what’s a fair price that all other customers should pay,” said the organization’s attorney, Michael Friedman.
Friedman said TURN has taken a “support, if amended” position on the bill. He said there is still benefit for people to invest in solar with a roughly 30 percent federal tax credit.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy website, that 30 percent credit is no longer available to new solar customers. A federal tax credit guide from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy said a system “must be installed before December 31, 2019, to claim a 30% credit.”
The tax credit expires starting in 2022 unless Congress renews…
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