The 2009 California Legislative Session ended on Friday without passing AB 560 (Skinner), a bill that would have allowed solar customers to continue benefiting from net energy metering.
Existing law requires California’s major electric utilities to make net metering available to customers until the total program capacity exceeds 2.5% of the utility’s peak demand. AB 560 would have doubled the net metering program capacity to 5%.
Despite widespread support, the bill’s progress was slowed in the final days of the 2009 legislative session by the late introduction of an amendment on the ancillary contractor certification issues which produced a conflict between California labor groups, according to solar advocates. With labor interests on both sides of the issue, time ran out on the legislation.
Without AB 560, parts of California are expected to receive enough applications to hit the current program cap as early as 2010, according to estimates from solar advocacy groups, a prospect that could halt the rooftop solar market.
“Net metering means two things: it means energy bill savings when a consumer goes solar, and it means local solar jobs. It is not an optional policy if California wants to continue building a new energy economy. We saw the state’s rooftop solar market double in size last year alone. The looming net metering cap would likely stamp the brakes on further growth early next year. That’s a lot of jobs, savings and environmental benefits at risk at a time when California frankly can not afford it,” said Sara Birmingham, Director of Western Policy for the Solar Alliance. “Stakeholders must work together to get net metering back on track as soon as possible.”
A review of the application rate for the state’s solar incentives suggests that enough applications will be received to hit the 2.5% net metering program cap in PG&E territory sometime next year. Once applications reach that cap, potential customers will have no certainty as to whether they will be able to offset their electricity bills by going solar.
“Going forward, the choices are stark. Either we get this right in a special session of the legislature or the first days of next session in January, or the country’s largest, most robust solar market is at risk,” said Adam Browning, Executive Director of the Vote Solar Initiative.
Over the weekend, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office said he plans to veto renewable energy legislation passed in the last hours of the state’s legislative session on Friday.
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