After mulling the decision all year, the California Public Utilities Commission voted to end a program that has incentivized thousands of operations to invest in on-farm solar generation.
Several farmers and ranchers pleaded with the CPUC to keep the Net Energy Metering Aggregation program. Yet commissioners backed staff and utility claims that the program shifts agriculture’s energy costs to residential customers—despite farm advocates decrying that no such evidence exists. CPUC President Alice Reynolds urged farmers to find incentives elsewhere, but the programs she suggested have suffered recent funding setbacks or offer technology still in the pilot phase.
She added that ag’s net energy metering program was designed to ramp down as the technology scaled up. Reynolds also asserted that rooftop solar is an expensive way to produce electricity.
Rate hike: Immediately after the vote, Commissioner John Reynolds (no relation) shepherded in a new PG&E rate hike that will deliver a 10-12% bump for customers this year, along with double-digit hikes each year through 2026. PG&E had initially requested to boost rates about 26%.
It’s easy to be “in the know” about what’s happening in Washington, D.C. Sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse news! Simply click here.
Reynolds called it the largest rate case any commission has ever faced. It will cover the cost of undergrounding more than a thousand miles of power lines to prevent wildfires.
He acknowledged the prices will be “hard to face for the customers who will pay for these increases.” Others echoed the concern. Commissioner Darcie Houck warned that rates “will become unaffordable in the very near future if we don't find mechanisms to better control cost.”
By the way: Reynolds #2 clarified that ratepayers do not directly pay for executive compensation. PG&E’s CEO makes twice that of any other utility executive.
