Dive Brief:
- A new report commissioned by the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has found that the state's net metering policy will cost customers without rooftop solar systems between $359 million to $1.1 billion annually in 2020, depending on calculation methods.
- The study found the cost today runs from $75 million to $254 million annually.
- The study did find, however, that the average net metering customer still pays 106% of the grid costs that utilities pay, with commercial and industrial net metering customers paying 113% of grid costs and residential net metering customers paying only 88%.
Dive Insight:
This report will doubtlessly please the utility industry, who have been making this exact argument all along—net metering policies favor affluent solar owners and disproportionately disfavor low-income consumers. For once, the much maligned utility industry comes off as the defender of the little guy while the far more popular solar industry looks like the villain.
Regardless of the political shape-shifting, studies like these are necessary to determine the precise financial value rooftop solar and utilities alike add to the grid. And when a compromise on the value of utilities and rooftop is eventually reached, the trailblazing state of California could easily become a model for other states across the U.S.
Look out, America—California, here we come.