Solar Energy Battery Backup Under Attack in California?

Re: Solar Energy Battery Backup Under Attack in California?

BB. wrote: »

One of those 551 page laws that you have to pass to find out what is in it (yes, I know this was before Nancy Pelosi was speaker of the house).

Well, the law deals with many facets of US energy policy. It's not specifically limited to net metering standards. But it's Federal law that the utilities have to do it under Section 1251:

SEC. 1251. NET METERING AND ADDITIONAL STANDARDS.
(a) ADOPTION OF STANDARDS.—Section 111(d) of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2621(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
(11) NET METERING.—Each electric utility shall make available upon request net metering service to any electric consumer that the electric utility serves. For purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘net metering service’ means service to an electric consumer under which electric energy generated by that electric consumer from an eligible on-site generating facility and delivered to the local distribution facilities may be used to offset electric energy provided by the electric utility to the electric consumer during the applicable billing period.

"Eligible on-site generating facility" is anything that qualifies for the Federal Renewable Energy Income Tax Credit. Federal Law trumps State Law under the Supremacy Clause and mandates that all state judges have to follow federal law in any dispute between federal law and either the state constitution or state law of any state. Your California utilities are pushing the limits because nobody (so far) has the guts to file a federal lawsuit against them.
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Chris