"California’s residential solar policy may be on the cusp of major change. In mid-December, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a proposed decision (PD) that would gradually scale back the subsidies that were adopted more than 20 years ago to support the then-infant solar industry.

The PD would reduce the compensation that households receive for the power they inject into the grid, ending net energy metering (NEM) under which customers get paid the retail rate for their supply. It would also phase in a monthly fixed charge on solar customers to cover their share of system fixed costs, such as costs of transmission and distribution lines, wildfire mitigation and compensation, and investments in early stage technologies, among others. In addition, the PD would beef up incentives for installing batteries alongside rooftop solar.

For the PD to be adopted, a majority of the five commissioners must support it in a formal vote, which they could consider as soon as January 27."