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 …
Category: Public utlities: SMUD, LADWP, etc
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 …
Alert: SMUD launches new attack on rooftop solar
Even as power outages rip through the state, SMUD is pushing a flawed study that grossly undervalues the benefits of rooftop solar, and hands SMUD the excuse they need to discourage rooftop solar in Sacramento. Please submit a personalized note to SMUD today, outlining in your own words why the community needs more rooftop solar, not less. Speak from the heart, or …
LA utility proposes $3,000 fee just to connect solar to grid
The utility that serves Los Angeles (LADWP) is considering charging a fee of up to $3,000 on people who install solar and battery storage systems. For homes and businesses with larger solar systems, the fee could be as much as $4,500. If approved, the fee will discourage Los Angeles residents from choosing solar and battery storage. LADWP’s proposed fee schedule. …
Response to SMUD’s claims about their power plants and rooftop solar
Community support is growing for SMUD to commit to closing their fossil fuel power plants, and start partnering with their customers to make, store and share more clean energy. SMUD has responded to several of the requests from the community. This post unpacks SMUD’s responses. Contact [email protected] if you have a question or comment. The basic deal We’re in a …
SMUD is still working to block rooftop solar. Here’s what customers are doing about it.
In March 2019, SMUD proposed charging its solar customers an average of $40 to $60 per month. They canceled the proposal after a public outcry. SMUD then promised to conduct a public process to determine its solar policies for the future. Even as that process unfolds, SMUD keeps doing things that block people from making and storing solar energy on …
SMUD got permission to keep solar off new homes. Now what?
The CA Energy Commission voted last week to approve SMUD’s SolarShares proposal, which we predict will effectively block solar on most new homes in Sacramento area for twenty years. Many other utilities around the state supported SMUD’s proposal and we suspect they will seek the same deal. This, despite opposition from the hundreds of community members in Sacramento and around …
The Sacramento utility tried to stop solar on new homes. Local residents blew the whistle and won a delay. What’s next?
Update: February 10th, 2020: SMUD has resubmitted their proposal to block solar from going on all newly built homes in Sacramento. Their revised plan has no meaningful changes, and we remain opposed to their plan. Learn more about SMUD’s latest effort and take action. Read more here for the deep backstory. Proposal would have gutted the state’s new plan to …
Blueprint for the Utility of the Future
It is time for utilities to join the 21st century or get left in the dust. Here’s what Sacramento area solar users recently proposed to their local utility, SMUD. Nearly 1,000 SMUD customers signed a petition in support of this proposal. Could this be the blueprint for the utility of the future? September 3, 2019 Proposal for SMUD to Partner …
Sacramento solar users aim for “The Utility of the Future”
In March, Sacramento area solar users banded together and stopped their local utility (SMUD) from hitting solar users with a punishing $40-$60 / month fee. Encouraged that their voices were heard by SMUD, these solar users are now campaigning to help SMUD become a “The Utility of the Future.” Solar users would have paid $40-60 more per month…just for having …