Along with fellow petitioners the Centre for Biological Diversity, and the Protect Our Communities Foundation, EWG said that in upholding the policy, the appeals court \u201cgave too much deference to the commission\u2019s decision-making, ignoring the California State Legislature\u2019s clear directives,\u201d as well as ignoring the \u201cmany benefits of small, distributed solar systems, which help lower costs and make energy more affordable for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reforms resulting in the NEM 3 policy were established in late 2022, reducing the repayment for excess rooftop solar energy generation in favour of demand-based rates and up-front payments designed to incentivise residential energy storage systems. The policy has been controversial since its inception<\/a>, garnering criticism from various parts of California\u2019s solar industry with allegations that it would disincentivise solar installations far more than it would encourage energy storage additions.<\/p>\n Much of the criticism has been levelled at California\u2019s power utilities, who have been accused of backing the legislation change because rooftop solar poses a threat to their business models and hold on power prices.<\/p>\n The EWS claimed that the three major utility companies were \u201cseeing rooftop solar as their main competition.\u201d<\/p>\n EWG senior vice president for California, Bernadette Del Chiaro, said: \u201cMany Californians struggle to pay their ever-increasing electricity bills, and the commission\u2019s ill-conceived policy will only make matters worse. Putting clean, reliable rooftop solar financially out of reach for millions of renters and homeowners makes no sense.<\/p>\n \u201cAn affordability crisis is the time to promote efforts to reduce energy costs and save people money \u2013 not reward the monopoly utilities by throttling their competition.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Supreme Court agrees to hear our case, we\u2019ll make clear how the commission\u2019s anti-solar policy fails on every front. It\u2019s unlawful, undermines efforts to lower electricity bills and harms Californians and our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n Del Chiaro was vocally critical of the changes to California\u2019s NEM policy when she headed up the California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA). Back in 2022, she told PV Tech Premium that the policy would \u201ccut solar off at the knees\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n