California Utilities Balk as Home Solar Producers Near 5 Percent Limit

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Over simplified puff piece

I am a solar producer here in California. I make well in excess of my usage, and make money on it.

The utilities are mandated to have a certain percentage of the power they supply from renewable source. To get credit for what homeowners were contributing, they had to start paying us for over production. However, the utilities have also invested heavily in renewable sources and are now making their benchmarks. They no longer have any reason to support additional homeowner solar systems which are more expensive for them than their commercial installations.

Nothing stops homeowners from adding new grid tie systems, all they lose is payment for over production. Overproduction is fairly rare, especially at my level. Even the author undersized her system so as not to over produce.

The state rebates were a declining program based on the # of Gigawatts installed. I am not sure where it is today.

The utilities are following the laws and regulations that give them the best ROI. I cannot blame them for that. We need to change the regulations so it provides a better ROI to use homeowner power. Note that will result in overall rates increasing (slightly) for those unwilling or unable to have their own PV installation.