By Jay Powell
Solar Panels, Navy, Old Town
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is lead on attacking rooftop solar by working to end “net energy metering” (NEM), where homeowners and businesses are paid for (net) energy they generate above their own use. Their role in states like Arizona is outlined in The New Yorker Article “Power to the People” (Why the rise of green energy makes utility companies nervous) by Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org.
NEM is now the subject of intense proceedings at the California PUC which so far this past year hasn’t seen a fossil power plant or utility rate restructuring scheme they don’t like. This is the same PUC which is under investigation by the State Attorney General for improper communications between regulators and the regulated utilities.
by deviantart
Right now and if you purchase your solar system before the cap on hookups is reached sometime in 2016 or 2017, you get paid a whopping 4 cents a kilowatt hour for energy that would normally cost the utility several fold more to provide during peak load periods. They charge your neighbor the super retail to get your solar electrons down the street and complain that solar rooftop owners are not paying their fair share.
We have a chance to be a leader of rooftop solar and storage system community generated electricity that will be reliable and far more cost effective than importing energy through the billion dollar transmission lines stretching hundreds of miles across the desert. But ALEC and Sempra Energy and their proxies and front groups like “Fix My Energy Bill” are working hard to keep us on the fossil stuff.
Author Update: This article originally appeared as a comment published on a July 9 Starting Line article. Mr. Powell asks for the opportunity to provide additional context to our readers which his comments didn’t provide. That context appears below.
In contrast to Sempra and other California utility owners efforts, McKibben cites examples of innovative programs provided by the Vermont-based utility, Green Mountain Power headed by CEO Mary Powell (no known relation…).
He also describes the major program underway in New York where Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed Richard Kaufman to serve as the state energy czar promoting a program of incentives called REV – Reforming the Energy Vision. They are already putting energy efficiency and solar in customers homes and businesses as an alternative to ConEd’s proposal to spend billions on new substations.
Kaufman notes that “pushing electrons in one direction (the usual utility centralized power grid model) … is not just energy inefficient; it’s capital-inefficient.” He sets forth the REV goal for New York: “Our aim is to create a policy environment that is not standing against the forces of history but is in line with them.”
Ironically, one of the strongest ALEC opponents in Arizona is an organization called TUSK, “Tell Utilities Solar Won’t Be Killed” started by conservative Republicans. McKibben describes how one of the founders of TUSK, political operative Jason Rose led campaigns for candidates supporting renewable energy to their equivalent of our PUC, the Arizona Corporation Commissions Board of Directors.
His campaign was backed by Solar City, one of the largest and most innovative solar energy companies in the US headed by Elon Musk of Tesla and Space X fame. Musk is building one of the largest battery plants in the world to produce batteries that will complement roof top solar installations.
Solar City and TUSK did not prevail in the election in Arizona – they were heavily outspent by Arizona utilities like APS and Salt River Project which are actively promoting huge monthly fees on roof top solar owners. But TUSK is active nationally on what they see as a self-reliance and freedom issue. They have recruited Barry Goldwater, Jr., son of former Senator Goldwater as Chairman.
Maybe Mr. Goldwater can convince Mayor Faulconer to step away from the oppressive, regressive ALEC Convention. I understand that he has been invited to participate in the San Diego Climate Action Campaign Energy Forum on July 30 where the recommendation for forming a Community Choice Energy district will be discussed.
Now, there is a way to “get in line with the forces of history…..”
More on the topic by Jay Powell: Poisoned Chalice Electric Rate “Fixing” Threatens Community Energy in San Diego
Jay Powell
Latest posts by Jay Powell (see all)
- San Diego Commons at the Crossroads: The Sell-Off of ‘Excess’ Properties - May 18, 2017
- Hide and Seek on the Commons: Selling More San Diego - February 10, 2016
- Preserving the San Diego Commons: Public Land, Policy and Process - January 21, 2016
Thank you for sounding the alarm, Jay. When we see that more fracking is being allowed in CA, and the corruption at the CPUC, we have to look at all of the variables ask…how committed is CA to rooftop solar? We need to support only those elected officials who are crystal clear on aggressive rooftop solar goals. Further, San Diego needs a county and municipal major rooftop solar initiative. It’s a matter of political will. The storage technology is here, and being improved everyday.
Clearly rooftop solar is a more efficient way of generating electricity than shipping it for miles from a centralized generating plant. It is also a threat to SDGE’s profit margins. If everyone generates their own electricity, who needs them? Local government should step forward and make it mandatory that excess energy generated from rooftop solar gets to be sold back on the grid for a decent profit. This provides the incentive for more people to install it. That’s how it worked in Germany with feed-in tariffs, and they have a huge installed base of photovoltaics. The hoped for result is that SDGE will go out of business at some point and the citizens will take over responsibility for their own grid. But SDGE will not go quietly into that good night.
Some good news that ALEC and Sempra will need to address in the next legislative session: California Independent System Operator (Cal ISO) the state’s electric grid operator just authorized roof top solar producers to sell power to companies that will bundle it to meet the half a megawatt threshold needed to sell energy on the wholesale market. Yet another disruption of what New York energy czar Richard Kauffman referred to as the golden cage states have created to protect utilities from “enormous trends”.
And even more good news: Former PUC Commissioner Mark Ferron who is featured in the SDFP “Poisoned Chalice” article linked to the above article was just appointed to the Cal ISO governing board. Ferron caused quite a stir when he resigned from the PUC for health reasons in early 2014 by sending a stinging letter to his PUC colleagues warning them that the legislature had handed them a “poisoned chalice” with legislation requiring rate restructuring and that the “utilities would still dearly like to strangle rooftop solar”.
Ferron was correct. The PUC sure enough this month approved the ridiculous rate restructuring that utility lobbyists and proxies had labeled the “ratepayers equity bill”. And they are not done. They are trying to penalize cities and school districts for installing solar and energy efficient skylights by “fixing” their utility bills as well.
All this cheap fusion power hitting our planet is just playing hell with their fossil goop burning plans.