And yes, solar-plus-storage installations can help homes stay powered during blackouts - but that’s more a “private benefit to the customer” than a “societal benefit” that should be subsidized by other utility customers, he said. Yes, Borenstein said, rooftop solar panels can help reduce pollution from fossil fuel infrastructure - but so can big solar farms in the desert. I ran those arguments by Severin Borenstein, a prominent energy economist at UC Berkeley. “The commission really left us no choice but to take this to court.” “You can’t short-shrift the benefit side of equation by just ignoring those, by saying they’re too hard to quantify,” said Roger Lin, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Solar-plus-storage systems can help people keep cool during dangerous heat waves, ensure life-sustaining medical equipment stays powered and prevent refrigerated food from spoiling.Ĭlean power produced by rooftop solar installations can also result in less pollution from gas-fired power plants in marginalized communities, and less wildlife habitat disrupted by large solar farms and long-distance transmission lines - additional benefits that the Public Utilities Commission failed to quantify before slashing incentives, the environmental groups say in their suit. One of those benefits is “resiliency” - the ability for rooftop solar panels, at least when paired with batteries, to power homes during outages on the larger electric grid. The law says the “total benefits” of the new incentive program should roughly equal the program’s “total costs.”Īs far as the environmentalists are concerned, the Public Utilities Commission ignored several key benefits of solar. In their lawsuit, the Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Working Group and Protect Our Communities Foundation accuse state officials of violating a 2013 law directing them to revise net metering “based on the costs and benefits” of rooftop solar. Most environmental groups were furious - and a few decided to take their frustrations to court. The lower compensation rates took effect last month and apply to newly enrolled solar customers served by Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric. Economists, ratepayer advocates and utility companies insist that rooftop solar incentives have fueled higher electricity rates, while most climate activists doubt the cost shift really exists.Īfter weighing the arguments for years, the Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously to dramatically reduce incentives for homes and businesses that install solar panels. That so-called “cost shift” argument is hotly contested.

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