Vote Solar the San Francisco based solar advocate is on a mission to bring Solar energy into the mainstream. They were looking to send 20,000 emails asking for a YES vote on fair solar credit at the California Public Utilities Commission. “More than 34,000 Californians have replied to have urged the CPUC to support the pro-solar plan! Now they would like to build on the momentum and send 40,000 emails to the CPUC by May 15? The utilities are now fighting tooth and nail against your outpouring of pro-solar messages. They are walking the halls of the CPUC every day – even spreading false and misleading information in their attempts to restrict California customer access to fair solar net metering,” says Annie Carmichael of the Vote Solar Initiative.
Net metering gives solar customers fair credit on their utility bills for valuable clean power they put back on the grid. It’s like rollover minutes for solar. There is a cap on the amount of net metering that utilities must make available to customers – beyond that cap, there’s no guarantee that utilities will continue to allow new solar customers to net meter. California’s law sets the cap at “5 percent of aggregate customer peak demand,” but does not specify how utilities should calculate that number. And guess what . . . some utilities are using a more restrictive methodology that results in almost half the amount of net metering than the original law intended.
The state regulators at the CPUC have proposed closing that loophole and requiring utilities to calculate net metering participation in a way that results in more Californians having access to the program’s bill saving credits. Vote Solar wants you to Show Solar Some Love.
Solar And Clean Energy Political Myths Revealed