California should ensure that rooftop solar is affordable for working-class Californians because it saves all of us money and makes the grid more resilient and clean. Instead, with the help of corporate utilities, state leaders are attempting to walk back promises to early adopters and make solar much less affordable for everyone.
On June 3, the California State Assembly passed a bill that could devastate what’s left of the rooftop solar industry — if it passes the Senate and gets signed into law. Please join me in taking action today to oppose it.
AB 942 (Calderón) would break solar contracts with nearly 2 million Californians who signed up for solar before April 2023. It would slash the compensation rooftop solar customers get for the energy they send back to the grid and would gut consumer confidence in solar contracts. The bill is authored by Assemblymember Lisa Calderón, a former Southern California Edison lobbyist.
The Climate Center has joined a coalition of more than 100 organizations in opposing this terrible bill. According to a recent report, rooftop solar saved all ratepayers $2.3 billion in 2024 alone. How? By reducing how much utilities must spend on buying energy, peak electricity demand, and costly infrastructure upgrades.
Despite these benefits, in late 2022, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) slashed the amount corporate utilities must pay homeowners with new solar panels when they sell surplus power to the grid by a whopping 75 percent! That cut, called Net Energy Metering or “NEM 3.0,” went into effect for solar applicants in April of 2023. Since then, demand for rooftop solar has plunged 80 percent and thousands of workers have lost their jobs.
I am appalled and I know you are too. Rooftop solar is a key climate solution. We need more incentives to put solar on rooftops, not fewer!
In March of 2023, we joined 164 organizations in signing on to a letter to the CPUC imploring them to consider the full economic benefits of solar in their decision-making process. But the letter fell on deaf ears. The CPUC is now being sued over NEM 3.0, and California’s Supreme Court heard arguments on the case on June 4. The governor has remained silent on the issue.
It’s time to act. Please join me to oppose AB 942 and protect rooftop solar!
This blog first appeared in The Climate Center’s bi-weekly newsletter. To keep up with the latest climate news and ways to take action for a climate-safe future, subscribe today!
