Assembly Bill 1139 (Gonzalez) would bring California’s rooftop solar and storage market to a screeching halt, slowing the state’s clean energy progress while harming low income solar users, businesses, and jobs.
AB 1139 would:
Make going solar more expensive for every ratepayer, including non-residential consumers like schools and farms and including those on CARE rates or living in multi-family affordable housing.
Eliminate 20-year grandfathering for 1.0 and 2.0 customers, including schools and farms,
Introduce new "grid access" monthly charge that will add $50-$86/month for the typical residential solar use. Charge would be more for larger, non-residential systems.
Bottomline: The bill hurts low income and at-risk communities the most and does nothing to create equity or diversity in the market, quite the opposite. It moves California backward.
Utilities and Energy Committee has amended the bill. The amendments would make the bill worse.
Amendments include:
Deleting statutory language from 2013 ensuring “sustainable growth” of rooftop solar via NEM.
Cause energy bills to increase for renters living in solarized buildings
Set retroactive changes for current solar customers, including low income, schools and farms. 5 years from date of service for non-CARE (including non-residential) and 10 years for CARE. It is important to note that for most CARE customers, a solar system takes on average 10 years to pay for itself. To un-grandfather these systems in year ten is to erase all hope of actually saving money from going solar.
Adds high mandatory monthly fees applied only to solar users, including low-income.
Adds prevailing wage for all solar installs (This is a Trojan Horse as the bill would undermine the entire job market)
Eliminates the one good thing that was previously in AB 1139: funds for low-income and at-risk communities to go solar
Would instate a so called “no cost shift” NEM 3 unless the PUC adopts a NEM 3 by Feb 1, 2022.
Bottom-line, CALSSA will move from “oppose unless amended” to straight up “oppose” as the bill is now worse.