Jonathan Scott of “Power Trip” and Former Kern County Oil Worker Turned Solar Worker to Testify before Committee in Defense of Consumer Solar and Storage

The recent spike in temperatures is a reminder that summer is almost here, and, along with it, the threat of blackouts and wildfires. Yet, solutions to California’s energy safety and reliability problems, such as rooftop solar panels and garage batteries, are facing increasing threats as investor-owned utilities and their allies put political pressure on the California state legislature to block consumer choice and protect the utilities' monopoly over expanding electricity markets.

“Policy makers looking to prevent more blackouts and wildfires have two polar opposite bills to vote on tomorrow,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, Executive Director of the California Solar & Storage Association. “One bill is a killer of consumer choice, energy reliability, jobs, and climate change solutions, and the other is a public-interest backed solution that ushers in a future of advanced clean energy technologies to help keep the lights on. Were it not for the undue influence of utilities, this would be a straight-forward vote.”

Two bills, AB 1139 (Gonzalez) and AB 427 (Bauer Kahan) will face off in tomorrow’s Assembly Utilities & Energy Committee chaired by Pasadena Democrat, Assembly member Chris Holden.

The utility-backed bill, AB 1139, would cripple the consumer solar and storage market by gutting a popular and effective policy called “net metering.” The bill would retroactively harm those who have already gone solar, including low-income and working-class solar users who are nearing 50% of the annual market, by slapping $50-86 monthly solar fees and lowering the financial value of the rooftop solar energy exported to the grid by more than 80%.  A CALSSA fact sheet analyzing the bill from a low-income and renter perspective can be found here.

“The utilities and their allies are trying to justify AB 1139 with flat out lies about rooftop solar,” said Del Chiaro. "Rooftop solar and battery storage help reduce energy bills for everyone by lowering infrastructure costs, which cuts into utility profits and underscore what this fight is really all about." 

Among those testifying against AB 1139 are Jonathan Scott who produced the documentary Power Trip about how utilities across the country are blocking rooftop solar from getting into the hands of everyday consumers; and Troy Carroll, a Kern County native who turned from oil industry worker to solar industry worker and will address the need to keep clean energy jobs growing in California.

The other bill, AB 427, would grow California’s consumer solar and storage market by creating virtual power plants out of the state’s growing number of small-scale solar and energy storage systems, linking together with the push of a button tens of thousands of solar-charged batteries within minutes of an identified grid-need such as what happened on August 15, 2020 when California found itself without enough electricity to power air conditioners. This bill is opposed by California’s utilities.

Both bills will be voted on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 in the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee hearing that begins at 1:30. Live broadcast available.