Hi, all!
Would you do me a favor and call your state Assemblymember and Senator today to ask them to pass some bills to get rooftop solar growing again? We’re fighting Big Utility and right now they’re winning. Ugh.
Look up your legislators' phone numbers here.
Here's your script:
My name is _____. I’m a constituent living in ______. I am calling to ask the Assemblymember/Senator to get rooftop solar growing again this legislative session. Rooftop solar is one of the best ways for people to control their energy bills and also meet the state's clean energy goals. We need to make it easier, not harder, for people to get it. May I read you the list of bills to support? Here it is: AB 1999, AB 2619, SB 1374, AB 2256, AB 2054, SB 938, AB 3107 and AB 1305. Thanks!
Here’s some background:
Rooftop solar is on the ropes
Bowing to utility lobbying, the CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recklessly gutted the state's net metering rules in 2022 and 2023.
The result is that rooftop solar has become less affordable for everyday people, schools, and farms.
The solar industry reports that sales are down by about 80% and nearly 17,000 solar jobs have been lost so far.
State legislators are pushing back, proposing to take charge and fix this mess
Realizing that the CPUC is out of control, some legislators have proposed bills to get rooftop solar growing again. Some of our favorite bills are:
AB 1999 (Irwin) would stop the big Utility Tax by capping it at $10/month and prohibiting it from rising any faster than inflation.
AB 2619 (Connolly) would ban solar taxes and require the CPUC to revise their net metering decision to align with the state's actual clean energy goals.
SB 1374 (Becker) would restore their own solar energy, a right that the state took away from these folks last year.
AB 2256 (Friedman) would require the CPUC to include all the benefits of rooftop solar when deciding how much credit solar users get.
AB 2054 (Bauer-Kahan) would ban former CPUC commissioners from being employed by the companies they regulate for ten years after their term ends.
SB 938 (Min) would prohibit private utilities from lobbying with ratepayer funds.
SB 1305 (Stern) would require utilities to treat their customers with both solar and batteries as a “Virtual Power Plant”, and purchase the electricity from them in the same way they would a solar farm in the desert. This has the potential to reduce the need for giant solar farms and their expensive long-distance power lines. This could save ratepayers as much as $120 bilion over the next thirty years.
AB 3107 (Connelly) Would exempt microgrids from the definition of an electrical corporation So we could have microgrids, a great local energy source that allows us to connect more than one system and keep power even when the major grid goes down.
Here's an article from Solar Rights Alliance that covers most of the bills.
Thank you for considering this request! Please share!
Jess
Shared on the Indivisible South Bay LA Slack workspace. Thank you!
At this moment we need more energy storage, not rooftop solar. Most energy generated in California by any new rooftop solar will dumped because it is generated when we have more energy than anyone can use. In 2022, CA imported ~30% of our electricity (when solar wasn't working), while dumping more than this amount when solar was working. I'm sure some don't want to hear this, but as someone concerned about climate change we need to spend our time and money where we can make the most difference - which is energy storage...not new rooftop solar.