Daily Journal Quotes Seth Hilton on Future of Solar Program in California

Stoel Rives attorney Seth Hilton was quoted in the Daily Journal in an article titled “Solar program faces utilities’ challenge.” The article discusses the battle over the fate of a popular California solar program, a driver in the boom of solar installations in the state in the last few years. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) must decide by the end of 2015 whether to leave the program essentially unchanged or to revise the program’s net energy metering requirements, which allow solar panel owners to sell excess power into the grid thereby reducing their bills.

The debate pits the utility industry against solar proponents over the question of whether solar customers are paying their fair share of fixed grid operation costs. Hilton says CPUC’s decision could have a strong effect on people’s motivation to install solar panel on their roofs and would impact California’s aggressive goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

"This is the rubber hitting the road in terms of where we want to go with greenhouse gas emissions and growing our renewable generation," he said. "How are we going to do it and how are we going to pay for it?"

Read “Solar program faces utilities’ challenge,” published October 15, 2015. (Subscription required.)

For more information on this topic, please read this post on our Renewable + Law® blog.