A California court on Monday ruled that regulators acted within their discretion when they set up a less-generous system for compensating rooftop solar owners for the power they produce, striking down a challenge from solar advocates.
What happened: The California First Appellate District Court of Appeal issued an opinion that struck down a lawsuit the Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Working Group and The Protect our Communities Foundation filed against the California Public Utilities Commission. The suit was a challenge to the third-generation net metering system that the CPUC adopted in 2022 in an effort to compensate rooftop solar users less to ensure that they were paying for a larger share of the fixed cost of maintaining the electricity grid.
“In sum, we conclude the Commission did not fail to proceed in the manner required [by California law] and did not otherwise err or abuse its discretion when it adopted the successor tariff,” the opinion says.
Why it matters: The ruling snuffed out a glimmer of hope for the rooftop solar industry, which has been fighting against the less-generous so-called NEM 3.0 tariff since it was adopted. Rooftop solar installations fell significantly in California after the policy went into effect.
