parvel, "Desert Africa Bedouin" 07/01/13 via pixabay
Public Domain Dedication License
We are in the heart of winter, but tempers soar to the
heights of the summer Nevadan heat outside the Public Utility Commission’s
headquarters. People have gathered at the premises with poster board in hand,
emblazoned with messages written by pungent-smelling, if strangely aromatic,
sharpies: they beg and protest, pleading with the commission to not kill solar
energy in the state.
Inside the building, a committee of three will make a
decision that will affect thousands of Nevadan residents. In Nevada, residents
who install solar panel on their homes can participate in a net metering
program. Because most solar homes do not use the energy they generate during
the peak hours of the day, the net metering program allows them to sell this
energy back to the grid. This is not without limit, however: the Nevada
legislature set a net metering cap, allowing energy rates to be reevaluated
once they exceed a peak megawatt usage. On August of 2015, Nevada’s net
metering cap was reached.
The Public Utilities Commission decided not to
continue with the current rates, and on December 23rd, moved to
enact newer, more expensive rates for solar-users. Not only would new
solar-users abide to these rates: the rate change is retroactive. This change
proved to be disastrous for the Nevadan solar energy industry, forcing major
players such as SolarCity to cease operations in the state and cut over 500
jobs. Additionally, solar energy is now more expensive than non-solar energy
for homeowners, making switching to solar economically nonviable.
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