To the editor: Having put in photo voltaic in 2024 at a value of $36,500, I’m appalled that the California Public Utilities Fee is considering another “hit” to solar homeowners who need to scale back their utility value and assist scale back the demand for fossil fuels.
The primary hits had been adjustments that considerably decreased the quantity credited to prospects who return extra power to the grid. Personal utility corporations are making their newest request to cut back credit within the title of equality — they are saying nonsolar prospects pay greater than their “justifiable share” for infrastructure upgrades and grid upkeep.
It seems the CPUC is extra involved concerning the utility corporations incomes income than motivating prospects to save lots of prices and assist the local weather.
What have been the results of the CPUC adjustments to date? In line with the business commerce group Photo voltaic Insure, rooftop photo voltaic installations have plummeted by 80%. In line with the California Photo voltaic and Storage Assn., there have been greater than 17,000 layoffs within the business and lots of photo voltaic firm bankruptcies.
The CPUC and Gov. Gavin Newsom ought to keep in mind that they serve the residents of California, not profit-making utilities.
Frank Deni, Lake Forest
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To the editor: I used to be outraged to learn concerning the CPUC’s plan to additional minimize power credit for rooftop photo voltaic householders like me.
We went photo voltaic in 2002 — not for ourselves however to do what we may to battle local weather change that’s now accelerating even sooner than scientists predicted. We took out a small line of credit score just a few years later to broaden our system.
As we speak, regardless of all this, my Southern California Edison invoice is about 10 occasions what it was once.
Most vital, the cost-shifting thought is an utter fable that’s been debunked by quite a few research. One latest evaluation reveals that California’s nation-leading 17 gigawatts of rooftop photo voltaic has saved prospects about $2.3 billion on their utility payments final yr.
The CPUC should cease attacking photo voltaic prospects and disincentivizing clear power that advantages all.
Zan Dubin, Santa Monica
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To the editor: We’ve got to start out residing inside our ecological footprint, now. Meaning swapping nonrenewable fossil fuels for cleaner and renewable photo voltaic power. That’s performed by utilizing all these tens of millions of rooftops which can be simply sitting there anyway.
There was a contract to incentivize this crucial step, and now the businesses that had been imagined to be structured for the individuals — the utilities — are reneging on that contract.
Stop it please. The entire planet can’t afford for grasping middlemen to insert themselves in the midst of this plan and upend it.
Because of The Occasions and reporter Melody Petersen for bringing this to mild.
Sara Roos, Los Angeles
