The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) this week finalized portions of its community solar program that solar advocates continue to describe as “unworkable and destined for failure.”
“California remains committed to delivering on clean energy options for all customers,” said CPUC President John Reynolds. “Our decision makes sure that competitive community solar programs grow responsibly, balancing affordability, equity, and grid reliability.”
AB 2316, signed into law in September 2022, required large utilities serving more than 100,000 customers to create and implement programs that “enable ratepayers to participate directly in offsite electrical generation facilities that use eligible renewable energy resources,” such as community solar. In 2024, the CPUC rejected a proposal from solar advocacy groups that would support community solar in the state, instead putting more decision-making power into local utility hands. State legislators then attempted last year to pass a new bill designed to strengthen and expand the initial framework for California’s community solar + storage program, guaranteeing affordability to low-income customers, among other stipulations. The state is also currently deciding on AB 1813, which would further make changes to the community solar program that are supported by industry advocates.
Yesterday’s CPUC vote implemented the community solar program as-written, without support from solar advocates. CPUC finalized that the state’s community solar program will use CPUC’s existing Renewable Market Adjusting Tariff (ReMAT) pricing structure, that would “ensure non-participating customers do not pay on their electricity bills for more than the avoided wholesale cost of the electricity generated.”
“Today’s vote is a doubling down on failure. In the midst of an affordability crisis and rising utility rates, the CPUC has once again handed the keys to the utilities — the same utilities that have spent years working to ensure community solar never gets built — and called it a program,” said Derek Chernow, Executive Director, Californians for Local, Affordable Solar and Storage (CLASS). “California ratepayers are drowning in electricity bills. The Legislature passed AB 2316 four years ago with clear direction to deliver a workable community solar and storage program. Instead, the CPUC produced a program that got zero projects built, forfeited $250 million in federal Solar for All funding, and is now being voted through again in essentially the same packaging.
“Ratepayers in more than 20 other states are saving money through programs California refuses to build. Every month of delay is another month families, renters, and small businesses in the Central Valley and across the state go without the relief they were promised. The Senate must pass AB 1813. It is the only path to a program that actually works.”
