In a brief order issued today, the California Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal challenging the state\u2019s controversial rooftop solar policy, effectively ending a high-stakes legal\u00a0battle\u00a0and leaving intact regulations that advocates say have devastated the state\u2019s clean energy market.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The high court\u2019s 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)\u00a0policy that sharply scaled back grid export rates paid to residential solar<\/a> customers, known as net energy metering (NEM 3.0).\u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u2019s highest court; in August 2025, the\u00a0California Supreme Court ordered the solar net metering policy to be re-reviewed by the appeals court<\/a>\u00a0after advocates successfully pushed back on the regulatory handling of the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n In that August 2025 decision, the high court agreed that the appeals court had overlooked the California Legislature\u2019s 1998 direction to limit deference to regulators. That order initially paused the CPUC\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Following that ordered re-review, however, the lower appellate court\u00a0ultimately sustained\u00a0its position in March, leading to the advocates\u2019\u00a0subsequent\u00a0April petition. In that filing, as reported in\u00a0California\u2019s regressive rooftop solar policy hit with second appeal to State Supreme Court<\/a>, 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. <\/p>\n The final petition has now been permanently rejected.<\/p>\n The policy shift has effectively pushed the state\u2019s robust rooftop solar industry off a cliff. Since implementation, market demand fell steeply<\/a>, forcing\u00a0numerous\u00a0solar companies into bankruptcy and resulting in more than 17,000 solar jobs lost.<\/p>\n The state\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n