California Regulators stiff arm utilities on solar for the public

[Gregorian]

11. My parents are getting baseline for $0.045/kWh

And you're right, it's an old thermal area. That rate is artificially lower than normal due to the fact that they just got an incentive for their Chevy Volt ownership.

I'm still not understanding how the utilities are making money when they pay more for power than they sell it for. I'm reading things incorrectly, probably. They pay 35 cents per kWh, and baseline is (in my parent's case) 5 cents. What am I missing (besides a few brain cells)?