The foundation of all affordable solar energy: Net Metering

• Net metering (NEM) lets solar users share their extra solar energy with the community, for a bill credit. 

• It's the foundation of rooftop solar.

• Keeping and strengthening the NEM credit so that customers on CARE or FERA get full credit for their extra solar is essential.

Expanding access for renters through "Virtual Net Metering" 

• Virtual Net Metering (VNEM) allows renters in multi-family homes with solar to get credit for the extra solar energy that is shared with the community, even if the solar array is owned by the landlord. 

• We need to ensure that renters continue to get full credit for their extra solar and expand access to VNEM so that even more renters benefit.

Targeted public funds reduce the upfront costs of solar and battery storage for working communities

• Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) allows tens of thousands of income qualifying renters to benefit from access to solar for the first time - and save up to $50 per month on their utility bills. 

• Single-family Affordable Solar Homes (DAC-SASH) helps homeowners in communities of concern receive no-cost rooftop solar installations. 

• The Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) goes towards free and reduced-cost batteries for income-qualified and wildfire-prone Californians.

• The initiatives should be strengthened and streamlined to work in concert with each other, so the money gets out the door faster and is used more effectively.

Helping working communities finance the upfront costs of solar

• Existing financing tools such as leases and Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) already help eliminate the up-front cost of solar for many. 

• The state and utility providers should also allow a third option, On-Bill Financing, which lets people to repay their solar loan through their existing utility bill.

• It is a simple option for consumers and removes credit barriers that may exclude working families and individuals from traditional financing options.

• Utilities have lobbied to block on-bill financing; we want to fight back and make this a widespread option.

Community Partnerships: Bringing solar and batteries to entire neighborhoods all at once

• Microgrids, Community solar and virtual power plants are different ways for interested parties to build and string together multiple solar and battery systems all at once. 

• The location of the projects is flexible: sometimes on nearby land, sometimes on apartments and churches and businesses in a neighborhood, sometimes all of the above. 

• Building projects all at once lowers the upfront installation costs, gives communities control over their energy and, in some cases, can provide backup power when the grid goes down. 

• These projects can supercharge the local grid with enough clean energy to retire polluting local power plants. This helps make our neighborhoods cleaner and our families healthier.

• Red tape and poor program design, whereby customers don’t save enough or have enough say in the project, have stymied the growth of these partnerships. 

• An emphasis on local contracting, hiring and apprentice programs as part of Community Project Agreements (CPSs.)