Many hoped California’s net-metering war was ending two years ago, when Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 327. The state’s Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) was given to the end of this year to create a new tariff that will kick in once the state’s big three investor owned utilities (PG&E, SCE and SDG&E) reach 5% nameplate generation capacity under net metering. With the deadline approaching, the “big three” went on the offensive. One of the California Public Utilities Commission hearings was in San Diego, on Oct. 28, 2015. That was where County Supervisor Dianne Jacob Defends Rooftop Solar.
California’s monopoly utilities failed in what many perceive as their latest attempt to squash community choice aggregates. Assemblyman Steven Bradford could not find a senator willing to sponsor his controversial bill. So it expired when the legislature’s current session ended, at 3 am on Friday night. California Assembly Bill 2145 is dead.
Sonoma Clean Power is now supplying power to 16,845 commercial and 6,225 residential customers. Over the next two years, all customers in the unincorporated areas of the county, Santa Rosa, Windsor, Cotati, Sebastopol and Sonoma will become eligible for service. On May 1, 2014, California’s second community choice utility goes online.
Yolo is the only grid positive county government in the United States. They do not have an electric bill. Pacific Gas and Electric will have to pay Yolo around $500,000 a year for the surplus electricity it feeds the grid! Now Terry Vernon, deputy director of Yolo County General Services, wants to improve on that. He would like to add another renewable energy project that would boost the county’s revenues by another $5 million a year.
SolarCity spokesperson Will Craven said that about 500 of their California customers have agreed to install batteries for power storage, but the state’s three biggest utilities have only connected 12 since 2011. He decided to go to the press after Southern California Edison (SCE) said they were going to charge $2,900 to install a meter, whereas SolarCity has found that an adequate meter can be purchased for between $75-150. The situation has greatly improved since Craven was interviewed by Bloomberg and PV Tech.
