By Jeff St. John | Greentech Media
Before AB 327 became the vehicle for a solution to California’s solar net metering impasse last week, it spent the summer as the target of attacks from the solar industry, as well as energy efficiency advocates, environmentalists and public interests groups. What united these groups in opposition to a proposed law with the stated aim of making the state’s power rates fairer to everyone?
The answer to that question is complicated, and rooted in the decade-old system that guides how the state’s investor-owned utilities — Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric — are allowed to charge their residential customers for electricity. But in simple terms, it boils down to two big changes that AB 327 would enable, both of which could damage the economic case for rooftop solar power.
In fact, one analysis conducted for the Sierra Club found that recent rate proposals from the state’s big three utilities, all based on what AB 327 would permit state regulators to consider if it’s passed into law, could significantly undercut the cost competitiveness of residential rooftop PV systems against electricity supplied from the grid:
Related: AB 327: From California Solar Killer to Net Metering Savior?
If you’d like to discuss energy issues, contact Court Rich, Co-Chair of Rose Law Group’s Renewable Energy Department at crich@roselawgroup.com
