California lowers incentives for selling surplus electricity generated by rooftop solar panels
December 16, 2022 By Monica Green
(Image Credit Google)
According to
reports, California utility regulators approved major changes to the state's developing rooftop solar market on Thursday that they say will help more fairly distribute energy costs and reduce the state's reliance on fossil fuels at night.
A decision that lowers the overall cost of selling surplus electricity was unanimously adopted by the California Public Utilities Commission. In an effort to convince people to install home storage systems using solar panels, it also
modifies energy prices.
To reduce the state's dependency on fossil fuels, these measures might promote the use of stored energy at night or let it flow back into the system.
According to reports, more than 1.5 million homes and other buildings in California already have solar panels, making it renowned as the nation's leader in the usage of rooftop solar panels.
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Due to a long-standing provision that permits consumers with solar panels to get paid by their power companies if they share excess solar energy, some solar homes have cheap electricity rates.
Also Read: How Solar panels can save you big money on energy bills
Rooftop solar users have drawn criticism for not contributing fairly to the rest of the energy system, which many still rely on to keep their lights on at night.
Additionally, regulators have set a specific amount that utilities can recover from homes. Transmission equipment and manpower to prevent wildfires are also included in electricity bills.
Even though California uses a lot of solar energy during the day, the majority of its evening energy comes from fossil fuels. According to the AP, California periodically has access to more solar energy than it can use during the day.