California revisits proposal on reforming rooftop solar policy

California is asking solar companies, utilities and others to weigh in yet again in a long-standing process to reform the state’s key rooftop solar power incentive, the state’s public utilities regulator said in a document filed on Monday.

The California Public Utilities Commission is seeking additional input into a proposal issued last year that was vilified by the solar panel installation sector as a jobs and industry-killer.

Specifically, the agency is asking for feedback on whether solar panel owners should help fund low-income assistance and energy efficiency programs and whether they should qualify for an additional bill credit, which would be phased out gradually, on top of the credits they receive for exporting power they do not use to the grid.

The agency is seeking comments until June 10.

In December last year, California proposed reducing the rate at which homeowners can sell excess electricity from their rooftop solar panels into the grid, weakening a policy that, according to many, had underpinned dramatic growth in the renewable energy industry for years.

The announcement by the California Public Utilities Commission triggered an outcry from the solar panel installation industry, whose backers warned such proposals could darken the outlook for new projects and undermine the state’s efforts to combat climate change.

The PUC justified the proposal, however, saying it would encourage the solar industry to accelerate battery storage technology so excess power can be held in reserve instead of sold, while undoing a policy it said amounted to a multi-billion dollar subsidy for wealthy homeowners at the expense of other utility ratepayers.

If adopted, the changes would represent the state’s most significant reform of the so-called net metering policy since it was adopted in the 1990s, allowing homeowners to sell excess electricity into the grid at or near the retail rate.