According to a joint filing by PG&E, SCE and SDG&E, the total amount of subsidies currently given to net energy metering is $3.4 billion per year and could grow to $10.7 billion by 2030 without NEM reform.
Estimates are that customers with no solar are paying an average of roughly $250 more per year on their electric bill to subsidize solar customers. And could pay roughly $555 more by 2030.
“If adopted, this would be the highest solar fee anywhere in the country, including states hostile to renewable energy,” Tesla said in a website statement. “In addition, the proposal would reduce the value of bill credits for solar energy sent to the grid by about 80 percent.”
Tesla merged with Solar City in 2016. And they continue to argue that imposing these types of fixed charges on solar customers prevents them from self-generating their own clean energy.
“It violates every tenant of regulatory fairness and is likely illegal under federal law,” Tesla added. “The fixed charges cannot be avoided by adding a battery and would need to be paid regardless of whether the solar customer exports energy to the electric grid.”
