Welcome to the
Run on Sun Monthly Newsletter

Welcome Amanda Watson!

Please join us in welcoming Amanda Watson as the newest member of the Run on Sun team!

Amanda is new to the solar industry with roots in nuclear energy, bicycles, politics, and piñatas. Originally from the mountains of central PA, Amanda obtained a bachelor's degree in International Relations from Fordham University. Despite an addiction for NYC's energy and architecture, Amanda's love of government and (slightly) warmer weather lured her south to DC after graduation, where she spent the next 16 years arranging international shipments of uranium, racing bicycles, and developing her own style of piñata engineering and artistry.

 In 2018 Amanda finally migrated to LA, where she is happily putting down roots on its hilly east side. When she is not climbing a roof (or, as here, servicing a combiner box from a scissors lift), she can be found climbing (& descending) mountains on her bicycles, hiking treacherous trails, and hitting the skatepark. On the rare chance she is sitting still, Amanda is likely covered in dirt and tending to her many plants, or covered in glue and making a piñata, while talking about politics.  

Amanda is our newest Projects Coordinator, so you are likely to hear her voice on the phone asking for a year's worth of usage data, or scheduling our next site evaluation or installation!

Welcome aboard, Amanda!

The Battle to Preserve Net Metering is Underway - Time to Fight!

TL;DR - We need your help to preserve net metering - Sign the Petition!

Run on Sun has been installing grid-tied solar power system since 2007, and one constant in all of that time has been the hostility towards such systems evinced by the Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs): SCE, PG&E and SDG&E. Nowhere is that hostility on clearer display than it has been in their efforts to erode, if not eliminate altogether, net metering.  But now, with the IOUs lobbying for the creation of Net Metering 3.0, the battle for the survival of net metering is about to be joined in earnest.  If your right to put solar on your home or business is to be preserved, we are going to need all of you to join the fight.  Here's our take...

What is Net Metering?

Big utilities want to kill rooftop solar!

Net Energy Metering (NEM) or just net metering for short, is the basis by which a solar system provides the owner with a significant portion of their financial benefit.  Solar systems on a clear, sunny day produce energy that follows a normal distribution, with the peak energy production occurring around solar noon, and rolling off in a typical "bell curve" on either side.  That energy saves the system owner money twice: first, by directly offsetting the energy usage of the home or business, but secondly, by allowing the excess energy to be exported back to the grid for retail credit.  That retail credit is then applied against energy imported from the grid to power loads at night or on cloudy days.  At the end of the billing cycle, those two values - the amount of energy imported versus the amount of energy exported - are "netted" out, and if the amount imported is greater than what was exported, the difference is charged to the customer.  Conversely, if more energy is exported than imported, the customer has a credit for that period that can be carried forward.

Of course, the energy exported to the grid for which the net metering customer gets credit doesn't disappear - the utility sells it to another customer for that full retail value.  Moreover, because that energy did not have to be transported from far-off generation facilities, there is less demand to build expensive infrastructure like high-voltage transmission lines - you know, like the lines that have sparked deadly wildfires in the past few years.

So you might think that net metering would be a win-win for everyone - solar clients get a greater financial incentive to foot the bill for installing energy generation systems and the utility gets additional energy without incurring the costs of building or maintaining them.  But you would be wrong.  You see, IOUs don't make money selling energy.  They make money building things.  In fact, in a stunningly perverse incentive structure, the IOUs get a guaranteed return on investment of 10% for every dollar they spend building stuff: generation plants, transmission lines, etc.  So they see the growth of solar, particularly rooftop solar, as a threat to their antiquated business model, and the best tool at their disposal is to take as big a bite out of net metering as possible.

Where are We Today and Where are the IOUs Trying to Go?

The version of net metering described above actually no longer exists with the IOUs, instead, they transitioned to NEM 2.0 a few years ago.  (Municipal utilities, like PWP, still offer full net metering.)  Under that scheme, a one-time interconnection charge was created, along with what are known as Nonbypassable Charges, which require their customer to pay a relatively small amount for every kilowatt hour of energy imported, even if that energy is actually offset by exported production.  The real kicker was that all solar customers in IOU territory were switched to Time-of-Use rates that made the value of exported solar lower, and energy imported from 4-9 significantly more expensive.

But now, heading into NEM 3.0, the IOUs are going all in!  A recent report by the consulting firm E3 was released by the CPUC and it highlights some options for changing net metering that would seriously impact the value of solar.  In particular, the report proposes fixed monthly charges of between $50 and $70 for all solar customers, combined with a "grid access charge" each month of between $5-$7/kW installed!  That means that under the best case scenario of their proposals, a residential customer with a 4 kW solar system installed would pay an extra $70 per month, every month, just because they have solar - that they paid for - on their home!  That is an $840/year penalty for going green! 

If that doesn't make you see red, nothing will!

We're Not Gonna Take It!

To say that the California solar industry is in the fight of its life is an understatement.  But so are all solar customers, who could see the value of their investment greatly eroded by these misguided policy proposals.  And that is where you come in.  We are fighting back and we need you in the fight!  The California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA - our trade association) and the Solar Rights Alliance are gearing up to organize against the threat.  The first step is in signing a petition to Governor Newsom - we need him as an ally now.  It is super easy to sign on and we are looking to collect 20,000 signatures before April 1.  As of this writing, we are at 923 supporters, so we have a long way to go - and that starts with you!  (We will have more news on ways to fight back in the coming weeks, so watch this space.) 

Please click the big button below and let's get this done!

Traffic Brings Hope!

As we move into 2021 we are seeing signs that things might be getting back to something like normal!  Exhibit A - take a look at how our website traffic has been trending us since the end of November:

At the start, the weekly pageviews was under 1,000, but by the end of last week?  A whopping 3,884! We had pageviews from more than 100 countries speaking more than sixty languages or dialects!  Two thirds of those views came from men, and the 25-34 age group was the biggest slice of our readership (23%), but those 65 and older made up a not insignificant chunk at 13%.

In our experience, website traffic is a leading indicator of future business, which makes this a very good sign.  (February was our best month for submitting proposals and new contract signings since the end of the summer.)

And I got my first dose of the vaccine, with round two coming on my birthday!

So yes, as we head into the Spring we are seeing signs of an improving prospect for 2021.  It is our sincere hope that proves to be the case, not just for Run on Sun, or the solar industry more generally, but for all of us, worldwide.

Watch this space...