Letters to the Editor: Will California let for-profit utilities stick it to solar users again?

To the editor: Having installed solar in 2024 at a cost of $36,500, I am appalled that the California Public Utilities Commission is considering another “hit” to solar homeowners who want to reduce their utility cost and help reduce the demand for fossil fuels.

The first hits were changes that significantly reduced the amount credited to customers who return excess energy to the grid. Private utility companies are making their latest request to reduce credits in the name of equality — they say nonsolar customers pay more than their “fair share” for infrastructure upgrades and grid maintenance.

It appears the CPUC is more concerned about the utility companies earning profits than motivating customers to save costs and help the climate.

What have been the effects of the CPUC changes so far? According to the industry trade group Solar Insure, rooftop solar installations have plummeted by 80%. According to the California Solar and Storage Assn., there have been more than 17,000 layoffs in the industry and many solar company bankruptcies.

The CPUC and Gov. Gavin Newsom should remember that they serve the citizens of California, not profit-making utilities.

Frank Deni, Lake Forest

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To the editor: I was outraged to read about the CPUC’s plan to further cut energy credits for rooftop solar homeowners like me.

We went solar in 2002 — not for ourselves but to do what we could to fight climate change that is now accelerating even faster than scientists predicted. We took out a small line of credit a few years later to expand our system.

Today, despite all this, my Southern California Edison bill is about 10 times what it used to be.

Most important, the cost-shifting idea is an utter myth that’s been debunked by numerous studies. One recent analysis shows that California’s nation-leading 17 gigawatts of rooftop solar has saved customers about $2.3 billion on their utility bills last year.

The CPUC must stop attacking solar customers and disincentivizing clean energy that benefits all.

Zan Dubin, Santa Monica

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To the editor: We have to start living within our ecological footprint, now. That means swapping nonrenewable fossil fuels for cleaner and renewable solar energy. That’s done by using all those millions of rooftops that are just sitting there anyway.

There was a contract to incentivize this necessary step, and now the companies that were supposed to be structured for the people — the utilities — are reneging on that contract.

Quit it please. The whole planet cannot afford for greedy middlemen to insert themselves in the middle of this plan and upend it.

Thanks to The Times and reporter Melody Petersen for bringing this to light.

Sara Roos, Los Angeles