By Sammy Roth : latimes – excerpt
Just a few weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom returned from a trip to China that he claimed was focused on tackling the climate crisis, his appointees back home voted to slash financial incentives for rooftop solar power — for the second time.
Thursday’s 5-0 vote by the California Public Utilities Commission will make solar panels less economically enticing for apartment dwellers, farmers, schools and strip malls, solar companies say. The commission approved similarly dramatic solar incentive cuts for single-family homes in December — a decision the industry says has prompted a steep drop-off in sales.
It’s a disappointing turn of events, especially considering how much value we’ve gotten from rooftop solar so far.
California has more than 1.8 million solar systems at homes and businesses. They generate about 11% of the state’s electricity, helping limit our combustion of the fossil fuels destabilizing Earth’s climate and filling the air with deadly chemicals.
But critics insist the costs of those solar panels are beginning to outweigh the benefits…(more)
The solar industry disputes the argument that solar incentive payments are driving up rates, as do many environmental activists. But Newsom’s appointees to the Public Utilities Commission are convinced, as they made clear Thursday… (more)
Thursday’s decision — which applies only to customers of Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric, and doesn’t affect utility customers who already have rooftop solar — is less detrimental to apartment renters and other prospective solar generators than an earlier proposal floated by the agency…
Renters will now be able to reduce or cancel out their utility payments when the sun is shining.
But in a holdover from the earlier plan, renters will be paid much less than they are today for electricity generated by their rooftop panels above and beyond what they and their neighbors use — electricity that is sent to the larger power grid, helping the rest of us keep the lights on. Solar companies say that change will lead to far fewer installations…(more)
More lies and insults to the people of California cannot be tolerated. Find a replacement for the state officials who are not protecting the public from the ravenous corporate greed that is outpacing our state economy. Take your daylight hours off the grid to cut your bills. If you can, buy solar and use it off the grid with battery backup. Find new candidates to run for office.
Art of Solar 