Dive Summary:

• According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), U.S. utilities may decide to stop purchasing power generated by rooftop solar panels since the current payment arrangement might become less beneficial as the systems become more common.
• Rhone Resch, SEIA’s CEO, said that utilities see the requirements to buy solar power from every rooftop system as a threat to their profitability in the long run.
• Utilities are currently looking at ways to offset the cost of buying solar; Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric had proposed a fee for residential solar customers that was blocked by regulators in January on the grounds that the revenue loss would prevent new solar projects from getting financing.

From the article:

California, the largest solar market, capped the amount of panels utilities are mandated to connect to their grids and other states are considering similar policies. Some utilities see the requirement to buy solar power from every rooftop system as a threat to their profitability, Resch said.

“Net metering works for us now, but we’re going to see a backlash from utilities as solar penetration increases over the next few years,” Resch said yesterday in an interview at the Solar Power International conference in Orlando, Florida. ...