By Evan Wyloge | Arizona Capitol Times
As it turned out, Arizona’s battle over solar net metering wasn’t what it seemed.
The fight appeared to come to a head around 8:30 a.m. Nov. 13, on the lawn of the Arizona Corporation Commission, when hundreds of senior citizens, solar industry employees and environmental activists kicked off an all-day protest. The circus-like event was followed by two days of heated hearings over a proposal by Arizona Public Service to cut rooftop solar incentives by half.
But the more meaningful actions began the previous evening, on Nov. 12, during a private meeting that led to a crucial breakthrough.
The small gathering included Hugh Hallman, the former mayor of Tempe and now a solar industry attorney; Court Rich, a longtime energy attorney with Rose Law Group; Jason Rose, a public relations and political consultant, and a handful of rooftop solar panel company executives, representing an alliance of the companies that had fought against the APS proposal for months.
