Latest news with #D-Whittier
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bill that would cut benefits for California rooftop solar weakened by legislators
California homeowners with rooftop solar panels may see a significant change when trying to sell their homes after the California State Assembly's Utilities & Energy Committee voted to end net metering for homes with solar when the property is sold to new owners. Assembly Bill 942, backed by Lisa Calderon, D-Whittier, a former Southern California Edison executive, reforms utility-offered programs that provide energy credits to Californians who installed solar panels. The bill initially aimed to end net energy metering for homeowners after 10 years instead of the original 20, but was amended to remove that controversial proposal that led to protests by rooftop solar owners outside of Calderon's office. 'I've gotten more opposition to this bill than to any other by eight to tenfold,' Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Santa Clarita, who voted no, told the Los Angeles Times. Here's what to know about Assembly Bill 942 and potential California rooftop solar billing changes. More than 2 million homeowners and businesses in California have rooftop solar panels, according to the California Solar and Storage Association . Rooftop solar was estimated to save all California homeowners $1.5 billion in bills in 2024 alone, according to CALSSA. However, the Public Advocates Office of California estimates the NEM program costs customers without solar an estimated $8.5 billion by the end of 2024. Utilities have fixed costs — wildfire safety measures, grid infrastructure, and maintenance —that must be paid regardless of how much electricity is consumed, the Public Advocates Office reported. If rooftop solar customers pay less, these fixed costs must be recovered from all other customers, dramatically increasing rates for non-rooftop solar customers. "As the cost shift grows, it leads to higher retail electricity rates for all customers, which disproportionatelyaffects non-solar customers who are not benefiting from the financial incentives of solar programs," the Public Advocates Office reported in a fact sheet released with the study. CALSSA, though, pushed back on that research with another study that found electricity rates have increased because of unnecessary spending on grid infrastructure. "Rooftop solar keeps demand on the electricity grid from growing, which reduces the need to build grid expansions and saves everyone money," CALSSA said in a press release announcing the study. If Assembly Bill 942 passes in California, homeowners with solar panels could see their monthly electricity bills increase by about $63 or $750 a year, the Center of Community Energy reported. And requiring homes with rooftop solar sold or transferred to end net energy metering plans would hurt property values and break promises with millions of solar users, Brad Heavner, executive director of CALSSA said. 'Messing with home values and the transferability of property has long been considered a dangerous 'third rail' for California politicians, and this interference is no different,' Heavner told PV Magazine. When NEM pricing ends, your utility will switch your account to a new solar billing plan, which will likely have different rate structures and won't have the same level of credit for surplus energy produced by your panels. A workaround for the potential loss of NEM pricing is to install a solar battery at your home, energy consumer advocate website reported. Solar batteries store surplus energy at your house so you can use power generated by solar panels later instead of sending excess energy to your utility company, EnergySage reported. Solar batteries cost about $9,000 to install after tax credits, EnergySage estimated. Assembly Bill 942 is now scheduled for hearings in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. If passed by that committee, it will face a full review by the entire chamber. This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Assembly Bill 942 would change some of the benefits of rooftop solar
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Edison told the government that Calderon was an 'executive.' Now it claims she wasn't.
Southern California Edison has repeatedly insisted that its former government affairs manager, state Assemblywoman Lisa Calderon (D-Whittier), was never an executive with the company. But that's not what Edison told the federal government. Calderon is sponsoring legislation favored by Edison that would slash the credits that many homeowners receive for generating electricity with rooftop solar panels. Edison has objected to The Times' identifying Calderon as a former executive for the utility, claiming on its website that the news organization is 'choosing sensationalism over facts.' But in its official reports to the Federal Election Commission, the political action committee for Edison International — the utility's parent company — listed Calderon's occupation as an executive in more than a dozen filings made before she left the company in 2020 to run for office. All the filings were signed by the PAC's treasurer saying that 'to the best of my knowledge and belief' the information 'is true, correct and complete.' Asked to explain the contradiction, Edison spokeswoman Kathleen Dunleavy said that the company was referring in its filings with the commission to a broad class of individuals that met requirements for executive as defined by the commission, but not by Edison itself. Edison uses the term to "designate someone in a high position of authority," she said, such as "an employee director, vice president or similar title." Because Edison didn't consider Calderon an executive, she said, others shouldn't either. Calderon told The Times earlier that she was a senior advisor of government affairs at Edison International. In other biographies, she is described as government affairs director. On Monday, she said her official title was government affairs manager. For years, she managed the parent company's political action committee. In a statement, Calderon said she had not filled out the political action committee's reports. Instead they were prepared and filed by the company's law firm, she said. 'Due to her professional responsibilities, she was categorized as an executive for FEC filing purposes,' her office said. 'That does not mean that she was an executive at Edison.' Calderon's AB 942 would sharply reduce the financial credits that the owners of rooftop panels receive when they send unused power to the grid. The bill applies to those who installed the panels before April 15, 2023. It would limit the current program's benefits to 10 years — half of the 20-year period that the state had told the rooftop owners they would receive. The bill also would cancel the solar contracts if the homes were sold. It wouldn't apply to customers served by municipal electric utilities. Edison and the state's other big for-profit utilities have long fought to reduce the energy credits aimed at getting Californians to invest in rooftop solar panels. The popularity of the systems has cut into electricity sales. Read more: California officials push to cut energy credits to households with rooftop solar panels Calderon, Edison and other supporters of the bill point to an analysis by the California Public Utility Commission's Public Advocates Office that found the energy credits given to the rooftop owners were increasing the electric bills of those who don't have solar panels. The bill's first hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. Edison has been under scrutiny since Jan. 7, when videos captured the devastating Eaton wildfire igniting under one of its transmission towers. The wildfire killed 18 people and destroyed thousands of homes, businesses and other structures in Altadena. Edison says it is cooperating with investigators working to determine the cause of the inferno. Read more: Former Edison executive Calderon, now a lawmaker, seeks to cut rooftop solar credits This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Edison told the government that Calderon was an ‘executive.' Now it claims she wasn't.
Southern California Edison has repeatedly insisted that its former government affairs manager, state Assemblywoman Lisa Calderon (D-Whittier), was never an executive with the company. But that's not what Edison told the federal government. Calderon is sponsoring legislation favored by Edison that would slash the credits that many homeowners receive for generating electricity with rooftop solar panels. Edison has objected to The Times' identifying Calderon as a former executive for the utility, claiming on its website that the news organization is 'choosing sensationalism over facts.' But in its official reports to the Federal Election Commission, the political action committee for Edison International — the utility's parent company — listed Calderon's occupation as an executive in more than a dozen filings made before she left the company in 2020 to run for office. All the filings were signed by the PAC's treasurer saying that 'to the best of my knowledge and belief' the information 'is true, correct and complete.' Asked to explain the contradiction, Edison spokeswoman Kathleen Dunleavy said that the company was referring in its filings with the commission to a broad class of individuals that met requirements for executive as defined by the commission, but not by Edison itself. Edison uses the term to 'designate someone in a high position of authority,' she said, such as 'an employee director, vice president or similar title.' Because Edison didn't consider Calderon an executive, she said, others shouldn't either. Calderon told The Times earlier that she was a senior advisor of government affairs at Edison International. In other biographies, she is described as government affairs director. On Monday, she said her official title was government affairs manager. For years, she managed the parent company's political action committee. In a statement, Calderon said she had not filled out the political action committee's reports. Instead they were prepared and filed by the company's law firm, she said. 'Due to her professional responsibilities, she was categorized as an executive for FEC filing purposes,' her office said. 'That does not mean that she was an executive at Edison.' Calderon's AB 942 would sharply reduce the financial credits that the owners of rooftop panels receive when they send unused power to the grid. The bill applies to those who installed the panels before April 15, 2023. It would limit the current program's benefits to 10 years — half of the 20-year period that the state had told the rooftop owners they would receive. The bill also would cancel the solar contracts if the homes were sold. It wouldn't apply to customers served by municipal electric utilities. Edison and the state's other big for-profit utilities have long fought to reduce the energy credits aimed at getting Californians to invest in rooftop solar panels. The popularity of the systems has cut into electricity sales. Calderon, Edison and other supporters of the bill point to an analysis by the California Public Utility Commission's Public Advocates Office that found the energy credits given to the rooftop owners were increasing the electric bills of those who don't have solar panels. The bill's first hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. Edison has been under scrutiny since Jan. 7, when videos captured the devastating Eaton wildfire igniting under one of its transmission towers. The wildfire killed 18 people and destroyed thousands of homes, businesses and other structures in Altadena. Edison says it is cooperating with investigators working to determine the cause of the inferno.
Miami Herald
21-04-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Former Edison executive, now a California lawmaker, seeks to cut rooftop solar credits
Nearly 2 million California rooftop solar owners could lose the energy credits that help them cover what they spent to install the expensive climate-friendly systems under a proposed state bill. The bill's author, Assemblymember Lisa Calderon, D-Whittier, is a former executive at Southern California Edison and its parent company, Edison International. She says the credits that rooftop owners receive when they send unused electricity to the grid is raising the bills of customers who don't own the panels. Assembly Bill 942 would limit the current program's benefits to 10 years - half the 20 year-period the state had told the rooftop owners they would receive. The bill would also cancel the solar contracts if the home was sold. Southern California Edison and the state's two other big for-profit utilities have long tried to reduce the energy credits that incentivized Californians to invest in the solar panels. The rooftop solar systems have cut into the utilities' sales of electricity. The legislation, which applies to people who bought the systems before April 15, 2023, has outraged some Californians who invested tens of thousands to install the solar panels. "We're just trying to reduce our carbon footprint and you're penalizing me for that?" said David Rynerson, a Huntington Beach resident who spent $20,000 to install the panels. "That's just absurd." Until she was elected in 2020, Calderon spent 25 years at Southern California Edison and Edison International. Her last position was as a government affairs executive at Edison International, where she managed the utility's political action committee. Calderon declined to be interviewed. In a statement, she said that she wasn't acting on behalf of the utility companies. "I introduced this bill with one goal in mind: to help lower the cost of energy for Californians," she said. Calderon said if her bill was enacted it would reduce electric costs for customers who do not own the panels beginning in 2026. According to which tracks political spending, Southern California Edison and the other two big investor-owned utilities are among Calderon's most generous corporate donors. Last year, the the company gave Calerdon's campaign $11,000. Sempra, the parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric, also contributed $11,000, while Pacific Gas & Electric provided $8,000. Southern California Edison spokesperson Kathleen Dunleavy said that the company supports rooftop solar but it also supports efforts to reduce the amount of costs that have been shifted to customers who don't own the panels. She said the company's political contributions to elected officials "are based on their shared interest in how best to safely serve SCE customers reliable and affordable energy." In her statement to The Times, Calderon said that "political contributions have no bearing on any policy decisions I make." Calderon is a member of a political dynasty that has held power in the blue-collar neighborhoods east of Los Angeles for four decades. She is married to Charles Calderon, a former state Assembly speaker and former state Senate majority leader. She was elected to the Assembly seat that had been held by her stepson Ian Calderon. Under California's rooftop solar program, owners get a credit on their electric bills for the solar energy they produce but don't use. The credit is based on the current retail electric rates. The value of the credits has increased rapidly as the state's Public Utilities Commission approved rate increases requested by the companies. In December 2022, the big utility companies successfully pressed the commission to slash financial incentives that rooftop solar owners could receive by about 75%, starting with those people purchasing the systems on April 15, 2023. The commission left in place the program for owners who purchased the panels by that date. The agency says the value of the credits given to those owners is now a leading cause of the state's rising electric bills - a claim that has been disputed by the rooftop solar industry and dozens of environmental groups. In a February report to Gov. Gavin Newsom, the commission suggested reducing the number of years that rooftop solar owners can receive credits at the retail electric rate - similar to what Calderon's bill would do - as a remedy for escalating power costs. California now has the country's second highest electric rates. The commission says the rooftop customers are not contributing their fair share of the costs to maintain the electrical grid, so the expense is shifted to those who don't own the panels. Dozens of environmental groups sent a letter this month to the chair of the Assembly Utilities & Energy Committee opposing Calderon's bill and pointing out that the state has long said the solar contracts would last for 20 years, which is the expected useful life of the panels. "The CPUC's new proposal, to break energy contracts mid-stream, would be patently unfair," the groups wrote. "It would punish the very people who California encouraged to invest in solar energy. And it would gut consumer confidence and trust in government." The groups pointed out that when Californians bought the systems, they signed a state-mandated legal agreement with their utility that details in the terms that the customer is eligible to receive the credits for 20 years. In California, under a policy known as decoupling, utilities don't make more money as customers use more energy. Instead they make most of their profit by building infrastructure, including poles, wires and the rest of the grid. In their letter, the environmental groups pointed to an analysis that economist Richard McCann performed for the rooftop solar industry that found that electric rates had risen as the utilities spent more on infrastructure. Even though homeowners' solar panels helped keep demand for electricity flat for 20 years, the three utilities' spending on transmission and distribution infrastructure had risen by 300%, McCann found. "To address rising rates, California must focus on what's really wrong with our energy system: uncontrolled utility spending and record utility profits," the environmental groups wrote. A hearing on the bill is scheduled in the Assembly Utilities & Energy committee on April 30. Cherene Birkholz of Long Beach said that she and her husband spent $22,000 on panels for their home. The couple saw the solar panels, she said, as a way to control costs so they could stay in California after they retired. Birkholz said she believed the credits would continue for 20 years. The proposed legislation, she said, "came as a shock." "If I had known, I may not have made these decisions," she said. Dwight James of Simi Valley said that he spent $35,000 on solar panels in 2018 and another $40,000 on batteries to store the power in 2021. He said he financed the purchase with a 20-year loan and that he found it "disturbing" that the state would now back out of what it had promised. "If you follow the money, it gives you all the answers," James said. "My thought is that this bill is a way for the utility companies to try to hold on a little bit longer and slow the adoption of solar." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
