A bill drastically reduces the energy credit provided to homeowners with rooftop solar panels, which has enabled union electrical workers and the state’s big utilities to benefit from solar credit, the earliest skirmish in industrial cities on Wednesday.
Waving signs and whistle, dozens of rooftop solar owners protested outside the office of Parliament Director Lisa Calderon, who introduced Bill 942 to cut credits for those who installed the system by April 15, 2023.
Jim Matthews, one of the rooftop solar owners in the protests, said he doubted whether he would buy the state knows if the state would reverse the incentives.
“Things like this tear my heart apart,” said Matthews, who lives in Hawthorne. “I think it’s ugly.”
Calderon worked for Edison, Southern California, and her parent company, Edison International, for 25 years before she was elected in 2020. Her final positions include the Political Action Committee that manages the parent company.
Edison and two other major nutrition utilities in the state Long-term attempt to reduce Inspire Californians to invest in energy credit that solar panels. Roofing systems reduce utility power sales.
“Calderon: For the people or Edison?” protesters waved a sign outside Calderon’s office in Industrial City. Another said: “Stop SCE’s revolving door in Sacramento.”
June 18, 2021, Watt’s solar panel installation program.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
Calderon told Times she introduced the bill because she learned that 97% of people in her area were paying higher electricity bills because the solar credit limit was the remaining 3% when it sent unused electricity from the solar panels to the grid.
“It’s not fair from a fair perspective,” she said. “I want everyone to have solar energy, but we need to do it in a fair, equitable way.”
Calderon said Edison, Pacific Gas and Electric and San Diego’s gas and Electric all gave her letters in support of the bill.
The AB 942 will provide energy credits to those who purchase the system limit it to 10 years, and the state tells the roof owners the 20 years they will receive. If the home is sold, it will also end the incentives.
The efforts to unite against the bill are dozens of environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Environmental Working Group, which noted that the state has long said the solar contract will last for 20 years.
Representatives from the California Solar and Storage Association, which represented the company that sells rooftop solar systems. The protest is by Sun Rights Alliancea statewide solar user association.
Edison spokesman Jeff Monford said the company sent Calderon a letter on Wednesday in support of the bill. He said the bill “has nothing to do with utility profits. It will save our customers.”
The company estimates that if AB 942 passes, those without solar energy will save $500 million in 2030, accounting for about 3% of the average household electricity bill.
The union of electrical workers who install and repair equipment built by Edison and other power companies is lobbying for the passage of the bill.
In an email, a spokesperson for the California Association. Electric workers said the group “strongly supported” the bill, which would “relieve the financial burden on non-polar taxpayers.”
At a meeting in Sacramento in late March, the organization’s leaders represent 83,000 electrical workers in the state, Say a top goal It is to reform roof solar incentives.
“Californians no longer justify or fair industries for non-polar customers, and continuing to use billions of dollars to a single industry is unjust, unreasonable and unsustainable, especially when the burden on low-income customers is the most severe,” Scott Weetch, the lobby for electrical workers, provides electrical workers with letters to the Electrical Commission, a letter to the Electrical Commission.
Calderon and electrical workers point to analyze The public advocates office of the state utilities commission said the points they earned from the power they sent to roof owners are paying $8.5 billion in customer bills to customers who do not own the panel.
The rooftop solar industry and environmental groups disagree with the analysis, saying it is flawed.
In a recent letter to the parliamentary committee, environmental groups pointed out an analysis by economist Richard McCann for the rooftop solar industry, finding that electricity bills have risen as utilities spend more on infrastructure. The equipment includes the transmission lines required to connect an industrial-scale solar farm to the grid.
McCann found that while homeowners’ solar panels helped maintain demand for electricity for 20 years, spending on transmission and distribution infrastructure has risen by 300%.
“To address rising interest rates, California must focus on the real mistakes of our energy system: uncontrolled utility spending and documenting utility profits,” the Environment Group wrote.
In December 2022, the committee voted to reduce incentives by 75% after April 15, 2023, but provided incentives for traditional clients.
AB 942 is not suitable for rooftop solar customers who reside in the territory of the state’s municipal utility companies, including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Electricity.
Hearings for the bill are scheduled to take place on April 30.
