In a brief order issued today, the California Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal challenging the state’s controversial rooftop solar policy, effectively ending a high-stakes legal battle and leaving intact regulations that advocates say have devastated the state’s clean energy market. 

The high court’s decision means a lower court ruling from March will stand. That decision, issued by the California Court of Appeals, upheld a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) policy that sharply scaled back grid export rates paid to residential solar customers, known as net energy metering (NEM 3.0). 

The appeal was brought by a coalition of environmental and consumer advocacy groups, including the Environmental Working Group (EWG), the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Protect Our Communities Foundation. The groups petitioned the Supreme Court in April, following an extended legal saga. This marks the second time the case reached the state’s highest court; in August 2025, the California Supreme Court ordered the solar net metering policy to be re-reviewed by the appeals court after advocates successfully pushed back on the regulatory handling of the case. 

In that August 2025 decision, the high court agreed that the appeals court had overlooked the California Legislature’s 1998 direction to limit deference to regulators. That order initially paused the CPUC’s ratemaking decision, which cut the export rate credited to rooftop solar owners by about 80%, wiping away an average of $63 per month in potential electricity bill savings for residents and small businesses. 

Following that ordered re-review, however, the lower appellate court ultimately sustained its position in March, leading to the advocates’ subsequent April petition. In that filing, as reported in California’s regressive rooftop solar policy hit with second appeal to State Supreme Court, the groups argued the appellate court again gave too much deference to the commission and ignored explicit directives from the legislature on how to keep rooftop solar growing in environmental justice and disadvantaged communities.

The final petition has now been permanently rejected.

The policy shift has effectively pushed the state’s robust rooftop solar industry off a cliff. Since implementation, market demand fell steeply, forcing numerous solar companies into bankruptcy and resulting in more than 17,000 solar jobs lost.

The state’s three large investor-owned utility companies, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E), heavily defended the cuts.

Proponents of NEM 3.0 argued that rooftop solar caused an $8 billion cost-shift to non-solar customers. However, independent analysis refuted this claim, finding that rooftop solar provided a $1.5 billion cost savings to the grid in 2024.

Opponents of net metering cuts note the policy penalizes consumers while utility spending continues to surge. According to the CPUC’s own data, over the last decade, PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E have raised customer rates by 110%, 90%, and 82%, respectively. Despite relatively flat electricity usage across the state, transmission and distribution spending by these monopoly utilities has skyrocketed by 300%, driving the increased rates while ignoring the localized grid resiliency provided by small-scale, distributed solar. 

Following the Supreme Court’s refusal to review the case today, Bernadette Del Chiaro, EWG’s senior vice president for California, issued a statement slamming the final decision as a massive setback for both consumers and the climate.

“This is a deeply disappointing decision that sets California back on its clean energy goals,” said Del Chiaro. “The net metering policy is fundamentally flawed and has had disastrous effects in causing rooftop solar installations to plummet, with significant job losses in the once-thriving solar industry.”

Del Chiaro warned that leaving the policy in place will only exacerbate the financial strain on residents while complicating the state’s transition away from fossil fuels.

“At a time when Californians struggle to pay some of the highest electricity rates in the country, it makes no sense to leave in place a policy that is anti-affordability, anti-clean energy and will further complicate the state’s ability to meet its clean energy goals,” Del Chiaro said. “EWG will continue to advocate for sensible, pro-renewable policies that promote reliable, clean power like solar and that can help with lowering the cost of energy in California.”