The California Public Utilities Fee (CPUC) on Monday rejected a proposal from photo voltaic advocacy teams that might help group photo voltaic within the state, as an alternative placing extra decision-making energy into native utility fingers.
“It is a important misstep in a string of head scratching CPUC selections which are crushing California’s clear power progress and stopping hundreds of households from accessing the advantages of photo voltaic power,” stated Stephanie Doyle, California State Affairs Director for the Photo voltaic Vitality Industries Affiliation (SEIA). “The state legislature made it clear in passing AB 2316 that it desires a sturdy program to supply group photo voltaic to low-income Californians and to help grid resilience for all ratepayers. This proposed determination, if adopted, will hurt these efforts and danger California lacking out on essential federal funding by approving a utility-backed different that’s unlikely to be commercially viable.”
AB 2316, signed into legislation in September 2022, requires giant utilities serving greater than 100,000 clients to create and implement applications that “allow ratepayers to take part instantly in offsite electrical era amenities that use eligible renewable power sources,” corresponding to group photo voltaic. The Coalition for Neighborhood Photo voltaic Entry (CCSA) proposed to the fee a Internet Worth Billing Tariff (NVBT) that might compensate subscribers to group photo voltaic tasks based mostly on the worth of a mission’s era on the time it’s offered to the grid. CPUC decided this week that the NVBT “conflicts with federal legislation and doesn’t meet the necessities” of AB 2316.
CPUC as an alternative recommended that utilities PG&E and SCE ought to decide the associated fee cap accessible to “deprived communities” via group photo voltaic. The photo voltaic trade worries this could make group photo voltaic incapable of rising right into a worthwhile marketplace for mission builders or subscribers.
“The CPUC had a big alternative to take a significant step ahead right this moment to place California as a nationwide chief on group photo voltaic deployment. Sadly, this proposed determination misses the mark completely and can make it unattainable to make sure equitable entry to renewable power plus storage tasks that maximize advantages to low-income communities and additional environmental justice. Scaling group photo voltaic capability is essential to impacting as many low-income clients as potential,” stated Derek Chernow, Western Regional Director for CCSA.
