Solar Energy War: Utilities Set Their Sights on Rooftop Solar

[jpak]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/fool/article/Solar-Energy-War-Utilities-Set-Their-Sights-on-7306258.php

Slowly but surely, utilities are eating away at the revolution taking place in rooftop solar. Nevada eliminated net metering altogether, California and Hawaii reduced net metering credits for customers, and utilities across the country are starting to increase base fees and challenge net metering to reduce the savings solar provides.

The result is effectively a war between residential solar companies and the utilities they're trying to disrupt. And where your solar investments are positioned in this battle could tell you a lot about their future.

Why the battle over net metering is taking place

The core disagreement between utilities and solar companies is over the price homeowners are credited for solar electricity they export to the grid. The solar energy that's produced and consumed at a home isn't in question -- it's only what's exported that matters.

As the rules stand today, in most states customers are credited with their full retail rate, known as net metering. If the rate you pay for electricity is $0.12 per kWh, you would get a $0.12-per-kWh credit for the electricity exported to the grid. Companies like SolarCity , Sunrun , and SunPower love this structure because they can sell electricity to homeowners for less than their retail rate (in this example, $0.12 per kWh), offering savings to go solar.

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[All in it together]

1. We put up solar on our roof to help fight climate change, but big companies like to be monopolies

And local solar might get in their way. They prefer no competition and some are fighting solar completely. We need to tax and rebate to customers, that Repubs came up with in the first place.
We need to stop subsidizing fossil fuel and support clean energy.

[HDSam]

2. I really

don't understand why utility companies haven't embraced rooftop solar as another revenue source.

I very much dislike companies like PG&E and NVEnergy, but why they haven't jumped on the residential solar bandwagon by providing similar products and pricing strategies offered by companies like Solar City baffles me.