On January 18, the Center for Biodiversity, the Foundation to Protect Our Communities, and the Environmental Working Group appealed California’s Public Utilities Commission has made a decision to significantly reduce compensation for state rooftop solar customers. The Commission’s decision undermines the environmental justice community’s ability to go green.
“California is being hit by a major flood due to climate change,” said Roger Lynn, an attorney at the Center for Biodiversity. I need it,” he said. “State regulators have made it more difficult for the environmental justice community to access solar power by curtailing net-weighing programs. We will appeal because it is against the commission’s mandate to enable.”
Commission in December 2022 revision State Net Metering Plan.of New plan We waived a large solar tax, but reduced the compensation our rooftop solar customers get from sending unused power back into the grid. This threatens the growing rooftop solar market, making affordable, resilient and renewable energy out of reach for most communities.
“California’s private power companies have been staunchly opposed to rooftop solar for years because it undermines the golden goose: new high-yield power line construction. have convinced regulators that by devaluing rooftop solar, they are protecting the interests of their low-income customers, not those of their shareholders.”
The appeal says the committee should redo its analysis. Based on flawed modeling that ignores net-weighing benefits to the environmental justice community, such as reducing state reliance on fossil fuels and providing local economic benefits, including new jobs, regulators It says it has lowered the value of rooftop solar power. The commission also failed to analyze non-solar customer bills, ignoring or underestimating the harm of fossil fuel energy, especially to low-income communities and communities of color.
“By making residential solar economically unacceptable for millions of working families, the CPUC has sidelined the only competition facing the big utilities. Utilities can continue to waste money on misguided, high-cost infrastructure investments,” said Bay Area resident Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group. “CPUCs need a reset to adapt to the new world of electricity. Currently, there is fierce competition for utilities such as distributed solar, storage batteries and microgrids, and such technological and economic We haven’t seen a dramatic change in over 100 years.”
The commission also abandoned a $600 million equity fund aimed at providing more clean renewable energy to low-income communities. Regulators claimed the state’s Battery Storage Fund would achieve the same results, but Gov. Gavin Newsom recently cut that fund by 30% of his.
Public opposition to the commission’s decision is widespread.Over 125 California and National Climate and Equity Groups Previously Representing Millions of People asked the governor’s office to refuse Fix the commission’s flawed analysis and keep state solar credits growing rooftop solar in communities of environmental justice.
Information from the Center for Biodiversity