California Slashes Rooftop Solar Incentives in Blow to Industry
Golden State risks slowing energy transition with overhaul to program that made it a green energy pioneer.
Save A Lot Solar contractors install LG Electronics solar panels on a home in Hayward, California. California regulators are voting on a controversial proposal to slash incentives for rooftop systems.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergCalifornia will sharply reduce the incentive that encouraged more than a million homeowners and businesses to install rooftop solar panels and cemented the Golden State as a green energy pioneer.
State regulators unanimously voted Thursday to cut the compensation homeowners get for their systems’ excess electricity by about 75%. The existing program pays solar customers the full retail electricity price for that excess power, a perk that some state officials say disproportionately hurts low-income residents who are less likely to own solar panels. The change won’t go into effect until April and won’t impact existing rooftop solar customers.