Hey all, I hope you’ll read my latest L.A. Times column and let me know what you think. Here’s how it starts:
>*We’ll have to wait a few more weeks to find out if Gov. Gavin Newsom is willing to push back against utility industry resistance to local solar power — or if the governor will follow the lead of electric monopoly Southern California Edison.*
>*Newsom’s appointees to the California Public Utilities Commission had been scheduled to vote Thursday on an Edison-backed plan that critics say would throw up serious economic roadblocks to “community solar” projects — small neighborhood solar farms that can help renters and low-income families reduce their utility bills and stop relying on heat-trapping, lung-damaging fossil fuels. But on Wednesday the commission’s president, Alice Reynolds, delayed the vote until at least May 30.*
>*The delay was the latest sign that Newsom may be working on a compromise.*
>*The governor has faced pressure from across the political spectrum — and across the country — to not squash community solar. As I reported last week, Newsom and his team have heard from top energy officials in both the Biden and Trump administrations, and from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, with all of them urging stronger support for community solar.*
>*So it’s good that Reynolds and her fellow commissioners didn’t vote Thursday to adopt the Edison-backed plan.*
>*But it’s frustrating that Newsom hasn’t instructed them to approve a far better proposal crafted by a coalition of community solar installers, environmental groups, consumer watchdogs and labor unions — many of whom don’t typically see eye to eye.*
>*The Utility Reform Network, an influential consumer group, had previously sided with Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric in a successful campaign to persuade the Public Utilities Commission to slash “net metering” incentives for rooftop solar panels. TURN and the utility companies had argued that solar incentives are ultimately paid for by the vast majority of utility customers who don’t have solar, driving up monthly electric bills — an idea known as the cost shift.*
>*The labor unions that represent many Edison, PG&E and SDG&E employees also played a key role in the rooftop solar fight.*
>*Scott Wetch — a longtime lobbyist for Local 1245 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents PG&E employees — is an especially powerful figure in Sacramento. And he’s put that power to use undermining rooftop solar.*
>*“There’s not many legislative wins that have eluded us,” Wetch told me last week.*
>*But when it came to community solar, IBEW Local 1245 and other utility unions got on board with the coalition proposal. So did TURN. It was only Edison that raised a stink, offering its own plan that that utilities commission staff largely endorsed.*
>*Meanwhile, rooftop solar installers continue devastating layoffs, a year after Newsom’s commissioners gutted net metering.*
>*What gives? With Earth just wrapping up its 11th-straight record-hot month, why is the Golden State’s climate champion governor refusing to move forward on a valuable clean energy solution? Why is he letting his commissioners fritter away three more weeks wringing their hands, while fossil fuel profiteers continue to pump carbon pollution into the atmosphere?*
Again, I hope you’ll read the whole column and let me know what you think. If you’re interested, you can sign up to get my twice-weekly Boiling Point newsletters in your inbox here: [latimes.com/boilingpoint](http://latimes.com/boilingpoint)
1 Comment
Hey all, I hope you’ll read my latest L.A. Times column and let me know what you think. Here’s how it starts:
>*We’ll have to wait a few more weeks to find out if Gov. Gavin Newsom is willing to push back against utility industry resistance to local solar power — or if the governor will follow the lead of electric monopoly Southern California Edison.*
>*Newsom’s appointees to the California Public Utilities Commission had been scheduled to vote Thursday on an Edison-backed plan that critics say would throw up serious economic roadblocks to “community solar” projects — small neighborhood solar farms that can help renters and low-income families reduce their utility bills and stop relying on heat-trapping, lung-damaging fossil fuels. But on Wednesday the commission’s president, Alice Reynolds, delayed the vote until at least May 30.*
>*The delay was the latest sign that Newsom may be working on a compromise.*
>*The governor has faced pressure from across the political spectrum — and across the country — to not squash community solar. As I reported last week, Newsom and his team have heard from top energy officials in both the Biden and Trump administrations, and from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, with all of them urging stronger support for community solar.*
>*So it’s good that Reynolds and her fellow commissioners didn’t vote Thursday to adopt the Edison-backed plan.*
>*But it’s frustrating that Newsom hasn’t instructed them to approve a far better proposal crafted by a coalition of community solar installers, environmental groups, consumer watchdogs and labor unions — many of whom don’t typically see eye to eye.*
>*The Utility Reform Network, an influential consumer group, had previously sided with Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric in a successful campaign to persuade the Public Utilities Commission to slash “net metering” incentives for rooftop solar panels. TURN and the utility companies had argued that solar incentives are ultimately paid for by the vast majority of utility customers who don’t have solar, driving up monthly electric bills — an idea known as the cost shift.*
>*The labor unions that represent many Edison, PG&E and SDG&E employees also played a key role in the rooftop solar fight.*
>*Scott Wetch — a longtime lobbyist for Local 1245 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents PG&E employees — is an especially powerful figure in Sacramento. And he’s put that power to use undermining rooftop solar.*
>*“There’s not many legislative wins that have eluded us,” Wetch told me last week.*
>*But when it came to community solar, IBEW Local 1245 and other utility unions got on board with the coalition proposal. So did TURN. It was only Edison that raised a stink, offering its own plan that that utilities commission staff largely endorsed.*
>*Meanwhile, rooftop solar installers continue devastating layoffs, a year after Newsom’s commissioners gutted net metering.*
>*What gives? With Earth just wrapping up its 11th-straight record-hot month, why is the Golden State’s climate champion governor refusing to move forward on a valuable clean energy solution? Why is he letting his commissioners fritter away three more weeks wringing their hands, while fossil fuel profiteers continue to pump carbon pollution into the atmosphere?*
Again, I hope you’ll read the whole column and let me know what you think. If you’re interested, you can sign up to get my twice-weekly Boiling Point newsletters in your inbox here: [latimes.com/boilingpoint](http://latimes.com/boilingpoint)