Category: "Net Metering"

01/27/22

  01:51:00 am, by   , 492 words  
Categories: All About Solar Power, Commercial Solar, Residential Solar, Ranting, Non-profit solar, Net Metering

Prepared Remarks of Jim Jenal before the CPUC

Today’s CPUC public comment period attracted more than 400 people looking to speak - each for no more than one minute.  Below are the prepared remarks of Run on Sun Founder and CEO, Jim Jenal.

My name is Jim Jenal, and I am the Founder and CEO of Run on Sun, a solar and storage installation company in Pasadena.

I saw the flier that SCE distributed in my service area proclaiming that the present NEM rules are “Making Billionaires & Big Businesses Rich” – and I just had to shake my head, as I really don’t know who they are talking about.

Run on Sun is a gross revenue, half-a-million a year company, not exactly a big business; and no, I’m not a millionaire, let alone a billionaire.  Nor is anyone I know in this industry.  Most of us are small, and scrapy, and are doing this because we believe in the mission: to make the world a better place – one roof at a time.

And after all, isn’t that what we all strive to achieve?  To make the world a better place for our kids?

The Proposed Decision does the opposite, and it needs to be scrapped.

(Editor’s note: this was all that could be presented in one minute.  The remainder of the prepared remarks continue below.)

SCE's lying flyer

SCE’s lying flyer distributed to rate payers.

The statements on SCE’s flier prove just one thing: the IOUs and their allies LIE.  They are lying to the public and to this Commission about what is at stake with this rule change.

My company, Run on Sun, has been in business since 2006 – we have weathered two massive recessions and survived a once in a century, global pandemic.  We went a full quarter in 2020 and didn’t book a nickel in revenue – but we are back, stronger than ever.

And why is that?  Because our clients want what we offer – independence.  Independence from the misrepresentations and mismanagement of SCE and its IOU counterparts.

We are a local company, roughly 60% of our business is in SCE territory.  After thousands of “kitchen table” conversations with prospective clients I can tell you that if the Proposed Decision is adopted, 80% of our SCE clients will NOT go forward.  A twenty-year payback period just doesn’t make sense for most folks.  Rather, the only ones who will go forward will be those for whom payback periods just don’t matter. 

Surely that won’t make going solar more equitable.

The Proposed Decision is a disaster for the rooftop solar industry, for our clients, and for California’s stated goal to be a leader in solving the Climate Crisis.

The Proposed Decision does the opposite.  It will decimate the rooftop solar industry in California, and send a terrible message to the rest of the country.

It needs to be scrapped, and replaced by a rule change that spurs the necessary expanding growth of the most successful solar and storage market in the country.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

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01/14/22

  03:05:00 am, by Jim Jenal - Founder & CEO   , 270 words  
Categories: All About Solar Power, Commercial Solar, Residential Solar, Non-profit solar, Net Metering

Run on Sun Rallies for Solar Jobs - along with a few thousand of our friends!

On Thursday, January 13, 2022, the Run on Sun crew - and a few thousand of our friends and colleagues - got together at simultaneous rallies in Los Angeles and San Francisco.  Our message was simple: the Proposed Decision from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) would imperil thousands of solar jobs, drive up the cost for solar for everyone (truly meaning that only the most affluent could afford it), and frustrate California’s efforts to address Climate Change.  It is time for Governor Newsom to do more than suggest that the proposal, “needs some work."  In fact, the Proposed Decision needs to be scrapped in favor of a policy that will make solar more affordable for everyone.

Nearly two thousand people gathered in LA’s Grand Park to listen to CALSSA’s Policy Director,  Brad Heavner, and other speakers exhort the crowd to stand strong in solidarity against the CPUC’s disastrous proposal.  We then marched from the park the four blocks to the CPUC’s offices in DTLA.  Along the way we were greeted by cars honking in support of solar - including the driver of a Metro bus!

Here are some images from the rally:

Amanda does her thing!

Project Coordinator Amanda Watson puts the finishing touches on our signs!

Crowd listens

Crowd at Grand Park listens to Brad and the other speakers.

Marching to the CPUC!

Amanda’s colorful sign tells the story!

Making our voices heard

Making our voices heard outside the CPUC offices.

Colleagues

Amanda and Adrian flank Scanifly’s Chance Venable at the march’s end.

By any measure, the rallies were a success - but there’s still one metric to be determined: the final outcome! Of course, we will write about that as soon as we know more. Watch this space.

12/16/21

  05:16:00 am, by Jim Jenal - Founder & CEO   , 380 words  
Categories: Ranting, Net Metering

Your solar investment is under attack. Fight back!

Folks –

We have written about the changes being contemplated to Net Energy Metering (NEM) 3.0 previously, but the Preliminary Decision released on Monday is nothing short of a disaster for the industry and for existing solar clients.  We are asking folks to take action as we have just six weeks to convince the Governor and CPUC to put a stop to this utility power grab.

Here’s a brief blurb from our friends at CALSSA, outlining our urgent next steps:

On December 13th, the California Public Utilities Commission announced their intent to give in to demands from PG&E, SDG&E and SoCal Edison to retroactively reduce the amount of time solar customers like yourself stay on their net metering rate from 20 years to 15 years. While this shocking decision from the Commission would hurt the solar investment you and over 1.3 Million Californian families, businesses, schools, community groups and farms have made, we still have time to stop this. 

**Click Here**  to join 100,000+ Californians asking Governor Newsom to step in and save solar.

The Commission also announced new fees and drastically lower credits for solar customers that would make solar unaffordable for everyday Californians. We need to make it easier for people to get solar, not harder. Rooftop solar gives everyday Californians the power to control their energy bills and keep the lights on. We must ensure that Gov. Newsom and the Public Utilities Commission see that California supports rooftop solar!

That’s why I’m asking you to please sign a public comment to Governor Newsom to save solar in California!  The final decision is January 27th so we only have a few days left to make our voices heard! 

Tell Governor Newsom: stand up to the utility attack on solar users

It’s easy and only takes 30 seconds.

Once you’ve signed (or if you’ve already signed), please consider forwarding this email to your network.

Thank you!

If you signed our petition before, we still need you to click on a link and speak out again.  In addition, on January 13th there will be rallies in Los Angeles and San Francisco to make our voices heard.  We need everyone who can, to show up on the 13th!  You can register by clicking here, and we will be publishing more details as they become available.

Together, we can win this!

10/30/21

  03:11:00 am, by Jim Jenal - Founder & CEO   , 588 words  
Categories: Solar Economics, Residential Solar, Net Metering

NEM 3.0 Transition Rules - Potential Solar Clients Need to Read This!

New solar clients in Southern California Edison territory (along with their counterparts in PG&E or SDG&E territories) will soon find themselves operating under the not yet known, but certainly less advantageous NEM 3.0 rules that has the potential to significantly affect their return on investment.  While NEM 3.0 won’t go into effect for some time, we already have an idea of what clients need to do to secure the benefits of the present NEM rules.  Here’s what we know so far…

NEM 2.0 - the Present State of Play

SCE customer presently operate under NEM 2.0 rules established a number of years ago.  (Municipal utility customers, such as those in PWP or LADWP, are unaffected by any of this, fortunately.)  We wrote extensively about the impact of the NEM 2.0 transition at the time, as this article from 2017 explained: NEM 2.0 is Here - Now What? 

Essentially the NEM 2.0 rules made several changes: they introduced a one-time application fee of $75, they forced solar customers onto a Time-of-Use rate structure (instead of the more solar-friendly tiered rates), and they introduced the concept of non-bypassable charges - components of the rate structure that have to be paid on every kWh imported from the grid, even if it would otherwise be “netted out” thanks to energy exported.

Those changes, while concerning as they marked the first successful effort to chip away at the benefits of net metering, turned out to be relatively mild and the industry surged forward despite them.

NEM 3.0 - Dark Days Ahead?

Now we are in the middle of the process of bringing about NEM 3.0, and it looks far scarier than what we faced in 2017.  For example, one proposal calls for monthly fees on the order of $75 for every residential solar customer (commercial customers would pay far more).  The value of exported energy might drop by as much as 80%!  Payback periods could balloon to as much as 20 years!

(Take a moment to sign the petition to make the new NEM 3.0 rules more favorable to solar system owners!)

However that process turns out, if it is possible to get in under the current rules you will save a lot of money!  Here’s what we know about how the transition period will be handled:

  • If you sign a contract and submit your complete interconnection application to SCE by mid-January you are guaranteed of 20 years under the more favorable NEM 2.0 rules!

  • If you submit between mid-January and April, you will start under NEM 2.0, but the 20-year term is not guaranteed.

  • If you submit after April but before NEM 3.0 is fully up and running, you will start on NEM 2.0 for a set term of years, but you may be forced onto a rate that includes a monthly fee.

  • Applications submitted after August, will likely be completely under NEM 3.0

The uncertainty around all of this is distressing but is out of our hands.

What we can do is to urge folks on the fence about going solar to act before mid-January.  Bear in mind that the project does not need to be completed by mid-January, you simply have to have your completed application submitted by then.  We anticipate quite the rush to get applications in by then, and there is always the concern that a reviewer at SCE might kick back an application and deem it incomplete.  The best way to be safe is to get the application in as soon as possible, thereby avoiding the crunch.

So right now really is the best time for anyone in SCE’s service area to go solar!  Give us a call and let’s get the process started!

 

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10/22/21

  03:00:00 am, by Jim Jenal - Founder & CEO   , 386 words  
Categories: SCE, Residential Solar, Net Metering

Battle to Save Rooftop Solar - Act Now!

Readers of this blog are well aware of the fight being waged before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) as we first wrote about this back in February!  Now we are entering the final stretch in this fight, and quite frankly, we are losing. 

Why, you ask?  How can we be losing the battle to preserve your right to put solar on your home or business, when everybody loves that idea?  The answer is easy: the opposing forces - we are talking about you here, Southern California Edison - have nearly infinitely more money than we do, and they are spending it like crazy.  So how do we possibly fight back?

With you.  And tens of thousands of other folks just like you.

The California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA) - our trade association - is fighting hard to preserve the value of the investment made by past solar clients, and those in the future.  They have created an audacious goal: generate 200,000 public comments by November 20!  Here’s how CALSSA framed the fight:

“If the broad light of day could be let in upon men’s actions, it would purify them as the sun disinfects” – 1891, Louis Brandeis, US Supreme Court Justice

In 2015, the pro-solar coalition submitted 130,000 public comments to the CPUC on the NEM-2 decision. Today, as we near the homestretch in the NEM-3 proceeding, the headwinds are greater and the opposition better organized. Therefore, we are launching a campaign today to reach our goal of generating two hundred thousand public comments by November 20. Reaching this goal would break the record for the greatest number of public comments received by a state agency in history – previously set by solar advocates in 2015. Simply put, two hundred thousand is a number that the CPUC and the governor simply can’t ignore. It is the sunshine that is needed to fight against the corrupting influence of SCE and the other utilities

We cannot afford anyone sitting on the sidelines.  If you own a solar power system, the value of your investment is at stake.  If you realize that rooftop solar is a key piece in how we reduce carbon emissions to combat climate change, that goal is under attack!

It’s easy to join the fight: Mash that button below and tell the CPUC to side with solar consumers and not with the utilities!

Sign the Petition!

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Jim Jenal is the Founder & CEO of Run on Sun, Pasadena's premier installer and integrator of top-of-the-line solar power installations.
Run on Sun also offers solar consulting services, working with consumers, utilities, and municipalities to help them make solar power affordable and reliable.

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