California, let's keep the rooftop solar incentives we have — and create way more

Some Californians are getting a good deal on rooftop solar systems, and others have decided that’s a problem.

It’s really not, and the current effort to slash financial incentives for installing solar is misguided.

The change would discourage more people from getting rooftop panels, moving the state’s green energy efforts in exactly the wrong direction at the wrong time.

It would also hurt companies that install and service solar systems, including several based in the Coachella Valley.

Fortunately, a lot of people — and some city governments in the valley — are speaking up to try to stop this unwise move. We encourage more to join them.

The roots of this debate begin over 25 years ago. Under a 1995 state program called “net energy metering,” customers with solar can sell energy they generate but don’t use into the power grid. That saves them money on their utility bills.

Almost everyone agrees with the goal: more panels on roofs, collecting the energy the sun beats down on our desert and the rest of California.

But proponents of change say the current incentives disproportionately benefit the wealthy and are too generous. These critics say solar users don’t pay their fair share to utility companies for the cost of operating the power grid — and to boot, get paid more for the power they generate but don’t use than it would be worth in the marketplace.

State regulators’ proposal to reduce solar incentives would make it take longer to earn back the money it costs to put in a system. The California Public Utilities Commission also wants to make new solar users pay a $40 per month “grid participation charge” to utilities, The Associated Press reported.

The proposed changes wouldn't apply to current users, The AP reported, until they've had their panels for 15 years.

The details of the plans are complicated. But the bottom line is as clear as a sunny desert day: If you think solar should be on every roof in California, then don’t make it more expensive to install it.

Not all solar users are wealthy by any means. But they disproportionately are, because not everyone can make a long-term bet: Invest money up front — sometimes tens of thousands of dollars — so energy savings will make the system pay for itself in the long run.

Even if the current system benefits wealthy people, among others, the answer isn’t to put more money in utility company coffers. It’s to have the state help more people who aren’t wealthy get solar panels.

But what about the argument that poor and working-class people are paying the cost for overly generous incentives going to those with more money? By one estimate, non-solar customers pay an average $60 to $200 extra a year because of credits to people with solar.

For the roughly 13 million non-solar homes in California, that would be between $784 million and $2.6 billion.

If that’s true, Southern California Edison — which serves over a third of the state — could make up a healthy chunk using the almost $950 million that went instead to its 2020 profits.

But no. It would rather have its customers pay more, of course. Utilities are among the major supporters of the proposed changes, which defenders of the incentives have taken to calling a “solar tax.”

Solar panels are now on over 1.3 million residential rooftops in the state. That’s great, but it’s only a drop in the bucket toward California’s goal of getting entirely off carbon energy (that’s coal, oil and natural gas) by 2050.

That includes making every car sold in the state electric by 2035. That alone would require mind-boggling amounts of energy capacity.

If we’re serious, then we need to keep open every path we can toward green energy, which includes the controversial solar subsidies.

Rich people should get solar on their roofs. So should poor people, middle- and working-class people, businesses, governments and more.

Despite its bad proposal on solar incentives, the regulators’ new plan does include some good steps toward those goals. There’s a $600 million fund to help low-income people afford solar panels, as well as subsidies for battery storage that allows a home to use solar energy even when the sun isn’t shining.

Already, new houses will have to have solar under a rule expected to go into effect in 2023. But there are 7.5 million existing single-family homes in California, meaning the vast majority of houses don’t have solar and won’t have to.

And our millions of vacant rooftops are the best place to put the amount of panels California needs. Installations on open land, including in the desert, can hurt wildlife habitats and spoil natural views.

There are other big barriers to expanding rooftop solar that need to be addressed.

Nearly half of Californians are renters. Their landlords might take their buildings solar out of the goodness of their hearts. But they have no financial incentive to do it, because they don’t care how much their tenants’ power bills are.

So if wealthy homeowners are crunching the numbers and deciding to go solar because the panels can pay for themselves over time or even be profitable, that’s a good thing — not a problem.

Likewise, a utility company that sells energy for profit has no motivation to make it easier for people to generate more of their own juice.

All these expansions and incentives will cost the government and the public many, many billions of dollars and make homes in California even more expensive. We have to be honest about that — and make the case for why it’s worth it.

Eventually, prices for solar systems will come down. That’s what happens as any new technology matures, from microwaves to home computers.

Until that happens, rooftop solar is not going to be affordable for everyone without government help.

City councils in Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs have passed resolutions opposing plans that would make solar more expensive for some users. Indian Wells Mayor Dana Reed planned to send a letter doing the same since a state vote could come before the next city council meeting.

Other valley cities should do the same. And residents should speak up to encourage their representatives to act.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: California needs to keep and expand rooftop solar net energy metering