The Environmental Working Group (EWG) and its allies in California are asking the California Supreme Court to review an appeals court decision that they say “threatens the future of clean energy in the state.”
The policy was originally sought out and lobbied for by California’s three monopoly utility companies, the EWG says. In exchange, the group’s coalition argues that upholding the policy “gave too much deference to the commission’s decision-making” and ignores the state legislature’s recent directives.
“Many Californians struggle to pay their ever-increasing electricity bills, and the commission’s ill-conceived policy will only make matters worse,” says Bernadette Del Chiaro, EWG’s SVP for California. “Putting clean, reliable rooftop solar financially out of reach for millions of renters and homeowners makes no sense.
“An affordability crisis is the time to promote efforts to reduce energy costs and save people money – not reward the monopoly utilities by throttling their competition.”
Righting an affordability crisis
The recently upheld policy has “failed to account for the many benefits of small, distributed solar systems,” according to the EWG. These distributed energy resources help to lower costs and make energy more affordable in California, where electricity is often at a premium.
“The utilities don’t like this program because it hurts their bottom line,” Del Chiaro said last November, upon hearing of the court’s initial decision. “They see rooftop solar as their biggest competitive threat and want to halt its growth, using the CPUC to achieve that end.”
All of this comes back to a 2022 decision by the CPUC, which “severely damaged” California’s rooftop solar program. After triggering a sharp drop in solar installations, the decision inadvertently caused tens of thousands of solar worker layoffs and company bankruptcies around the state.
Since then, the state’s Supreme Court has already overturned one appeals court decision, sending the case back for another review. Now, the EWG hopes to get their case heard once more, before the state’s highest court.
“If the Supreme Court agrees to hear our case, we’ll make clear how the commission’s anti-solar policy fails on every front,” Del Chiaro adds. “It’s unlawful, undermines efforts to lower electricity bills and harms Californians and our environment.”
