![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/calmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/042226-Solar-Panels-MG-01-CM.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1"\")
\n\t\t\t\tSolar panels on homes in Elk Grove on April 22, 2026. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters<\/p>\n
By Angela Lipanovich and Jenny Folkesson, Special for CalMatters<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\tSolar panels on homes in Elk Grove on April 22, 2026. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters<\/p>\n
This commentary was originally published by CalMatters<\/a>. Sign up<\/a> for their newsletters.<\/p>\n Guest Commentary written by<\/p>\n Re: “Californians\u2019 electric bills would be much lower without state\u2019s program fees<\/a>“<\/p>\n A recent CalMatters guest commentary has California\u2019s affordability story exactly backwards. Rooftop solar isn\u2019t driving up utility bills \u2014 wildfire capital and guaranteed utility profits are the dominant drivers.<\/p>\n The California Public Advocates Office attributes roughly 21% of rates<\/a> to wildfire-related capital, the single largest driver of recent rate increases. The California Public Utilities Commission, the state’s utilities regulator, also guarantees the three investor-owned utilities returns<\/a> on equity to almost 10%. Last year, CEO pay alone reached $19.8 million. <\/p>\n Every ratepayer covers those costs.<\/p>\n The rooftop solar “subsidy” is a rate-design, not a transfer of money. The Natural Resources Defense Council describes it as fixed-cost recovery by utilities on flat sales<\/a>, not a payment from non-solar to solar customers. Research has shown that existing rooftop solar actually saved all ratepayers<\/a> approximately $1.5 billion in 2024 alone by reducing peak load and deferring transmission build-out. The latest version of the state’s rooftop solar program has already slashed solar credits by 75%, yet wildfire spending has no such ceiling.<\/p>\n Real affordability means reforming rate design and expanding solar ownership opportunities to more renters, low-income families and small businesses \u2014 not scapegoating customers who generate their own clean power.<\/p>\n This article was originally published on CalMatters<\/a> and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives<\/a> license.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tCopy HTML<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Angela Lipanovich and Jenny Folkesson, Special for CalMatters Solar panels on homes in Elk Grove on April…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8436,7,9,8,14047,964,6774,8304],"class_list":["post-305947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-utilities","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-public-utilities-commission","tag-commentary","tag-energy","tag-solar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}