by Geoffrey D. Smith, CCP | January 12, 2016
We all want to keep
rooftop solar a viable, affordable option as a means of reducing greenhouse
gases, right? To do so, we need you to raise your voice and take action because
rooftop solar is under attack. Yes, again.
The solar community celebrated Christmas a week early last
year, when the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a
preliminary decision (PD) to keep Net Energy Metering (NEM) rules largely
intact. This provided some assurance (uh, we hoped) that distributed rooftop
solar will remain a viable, affordable option for residential and small
business customers. Your help, last year, to influence that PD clearly made a
difference. [See my blog post ‘A Good Day for Rooftop
Solar.’]
But wait, there’s a catch. In the days and weeks since the
preliminary decision on NEM, investor-owned utilities throughout the state (PG&E,
SDG&E, and SCE) have pulled out all the stops to pressure the CPUC to
reverse or significantly modify their proposed decision. A final vote on the
matter is scheduled for Thursday, January 28 in San Francisco.
What you can do
We need you to keep the pressure on by writing the CPUC
commissioners, and urging them to adopt the preliminary decision without
weakening changes. Please do this today.
Send a letter to the CPUC asking
them to adopt the proposed decision, and keep California moving forward as a clean
energy leader. (Thanks to 350 Bay Area for this action tool.)
Geoffrey D. Smith is
the Solar Sonoma County Program Coordinator for the Center for Climate
Protection. He can be reached at geoffrey@theclimatecenter.org or
707.654.4350.