No one should be penalized for putting solar panels on their roofs.
The CPUC's proposed decision will create the highest rooftop solar penalties in the country and double the cost of putting solar panels on your roof. Governor Newsom is our only hope to save solar. The CPUC is scheduled to vote on their proposal on January 27th.
No one should be penalized for putting solar panels on their roofs.
The CPUC's proposed decision will create the highest rooftop solar penalties in the country and double the cost of putting solar panels on your roof. Governor Newsom is our only hope to save solar. The CPUC is scheduled to vote on their proposal on January 27th.
No one should be penalized for putting solar panels on their roofs.
The CPUC's proposed decision will create the highest rooftop solar penalties in the country and double the cost of putting solar panels on your roof. Governor Newsom is our only hope to save solar. The CPUC is scheduled to vote on their proposal on January 27th.
Please call Gov Newsom and tell him to take a stand against penalizing people for having solar
If the call tool is glitchy, please hand-dial the Governor at 916-445-2841.
Complete the form and press “Call Me”. We will call you and connect you directly to Gov. Newsom’s office (we will call you from a 202 area code).
You will have the option of leaving a message (quicker) or speaking to a live person. Either is great. Please note that his office is open between 9 and 5 Monday through Friday. Also note that his phone lines are finicky because so many people are calling. Please be as persistent as you can.
Here is a sample script you can use. Personalize this as much as you’d like:
“My name is ___ and I live in ____. I am against the proposed Solar Penalty Fee and I’m against slashing the value of rooftop solar 80%! Nobody should pay a penalty for putting solar panels on their roof and California should be doing more, not less, to promote rooftop solar. Please show us you are serious about rate hikes, blackouts and air pollution. Say no to the utilities’ profit grab, and yes to helping millions of working and middle class people get solar.“
What’s at Stake
- Typical customers will pay $700/year in penalty fees ($48/month for PG&E, $60/month for SCE, and $64/month for SDG&E)
- California will have the highest solar penalties in the nation
- Net metering rates down to just $.05
- Value of rooftop solar slashed by 80%
- Payback period for a solar investment more than doubles
- Grandfathering protections reduced
- Tens of thousands of lost jobs
- Reduction in new rooftop solar installations, harming our clean energy future
- Unintended negative consequences for low-income households
What People are Saying
CLEAN ENERGY
“California is on a path to 100% renewable energy, and that path requires a sustained commitment to growing rooftop solar. Instead the CPUC is proposing to put a drag on our transition away from fossil fuels. State regulators calculate that to get to 100% clean energy, California needs at least 28 gigawatts (GW) of customer-sited solar by 2045; that’s nearly three times as much as we have today. The momentum that rooftop solar has now would help us reach our goal – but to gut net metering is to gut that momentum. The CPUC needs to put California’s climate change efforts first, ahead of the financial interests of the big utilities.”
– Laura Deehan, State Director at Environment California Research & Policy Center.
EQUITY
“It is a story as old as this country: a new technology is developed, programs and policies are offered to help consumers to adopt the technology and bring down the costs over time, and just when people in Black and brown communities are beginning to be able to afford the technology and benefit from it – the programs and policies are often taken away. That is exactly what the CPUC did in their proposed decision. By accepting the utility profit grab, the CPUC would take California back to a time when solar was a luxury for the wealthy and out of reach for our communities.”
– Pastor Pastor William D. Smart, Jr., President and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Southern California
COALITION
“Our diverse, grassroots coalition is disappointed in the CPUC’s proposed decision, but we are even more determined to keep up the fight to make sure California stays a solar state. In the coming weeks solar supporters will make our voices heard in creative ways online and in person so Governor Newsom understands just how unpopular the utility profit grab is among voters.”
– Dave Rosenfeld, Director of the Solar Rights Alliance
JOBS
“This is a clean energy and jobs disaster. With this proposal, California would abandon its long-held position as a clean energy leader, threatening the jobs of tens of thousands of hard working men and women who provide clean, reliable energy for millions of consumers today. Governor Newsom needs to clean this mess up and get California back on track as a solar leader.”
– Bernadette Del Chiaro, Executive Director of California Solar & Storage Association
PROFIT GRAB
“This is really a debate between energy democracy vs. energy monopoly. The big utilities want to protect their control over energy delivery to protect their billions in profit. The environmental justice community wants energy equity where people are free to generate and distribute their own energy in ways that are cleaner and more affordable.”
– Esperanza Vielma, Executive Director, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water
What You Can Do:
Governor Newsom is the last chance we have to set the CPUC on a better course of action. We only have until January 27th to convince him to overturn the CPUC and act in the interest of energy customers, clean energy, energy freedom, and job security throughout the state.
Sponsored by Solar Rights Alliance