AARP Doubles Down on their Confusion About Solar
The national association of senior citizens, AARP, recently doubled down on their confused position about rooftop solar. In doing so, AARP remains aligned with PG&E and the other California utilities’ efforts to double the cost of rooftop solar. This is unfortunate, and against the interests of senior citizens and all ratepayers suffering from blackouts and ever-increasing electricity bills. Background: AARP…
Inside SMUD’s decision to gut rooftop solar
SMUD significantly cut the credit solar users receive for sharing their extra energy with the community. It will affect new solar users starting March 1, 2022 and current solar users within one to ten years. It will make solar prohibitively expensive for working and middle class people in the Sacramento area. And it violates a longstanding principle to ensure a…
Top three ways SMUD grossly undervalues solar
Summary Even as power outages rip through the state, SMUD stands by their flawed study that grossly undervalues the benefits of rooftop solar. SMUD is using this study to justify changes that will discourage rooftop solar in Sacramento. At issue is net metering, a policy that allows solar users to share their extra solar energy with the community for a…
PG&E, SDG&E and SoCal Edison propose to double the cost of consumer solar
Summary On March 15th, California’s three investor-owned utilities submitted a joint proposal intended to pressure the CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) into making consumer solar two times more expensive than it is today. The utilities’ proposal would put solar out of reach for most working and middle class people, just when recent studies show they make up nearly 50% of…
PG&E to-do list: Harm the public, scapegoat rooftop solar, repeat
This year, PG&E customers will get hit with a whopping 8% rate increase. That’s over six times the rate of inflation in one year alone. Not including this year’s budget-busting rate spike, PG&E rates have steadily increased 140% since 2000, nearly three times the rate of inflation (52%) over the last twenty years. Link to data The utilities’ favorite scapegoat:…
Utility bosses: If you make us look bad, there’s gonna be trouble
HGTV Property Brothers’ Jonathan Scott recently made his directorial debut in the documentary Power Trip. Power Trip follows Scott as he travels through the United States uncovering a deeply entrenched, powerful system that’s preventing Americans from powering their lives with solar. Scott told the LA Times in a recent interview that at least one utility tried to pull his movie…
Rooftop solar is good for turtles and cactuses
This article by LA Times’ Sammy Roth highlights the tension between large-scale renewable energy and protecting open space in the California desert – and notes how rooftop solar can ameliorate this tension. The LA Times article cites two contrasting studies about how to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which is the Biden Administration’s climate change goal: One study shows…
To clean up the environment, would you rather save $473 billion, or pay $385 billion?
The LA Times recently reported on a new study that found that there are two paths to move the country off fossil fuels towards 100% clean energy. One path would save American consumers $473 billion over the next thirty years. The other path would cost American consumers $385 billion over the same time period. Which scenario is which? We don’t…
LA Times: Solar & batteries to the rescue!
This week’s LA Times reports that increasing the number of solar homes and businesses with battery backup could help avert massive power outages during next summer’s likely heat waves. Here’s seven take-homes from the article: 1) When rooftop solar is paired with a battery, the extra solar energy can get stored in the garage and used when the sun gooes…
Watch: Interview with Solar Rights Alliance’s Dave Rosenfeld on utility attacks on solar
Solar Rights Alliance director Dave Rosenfeld sat down for a virtual discussion with community organizer and former LADWP commissioner Aura Vasquez. We thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and hope you do, too.