Utilities want to cut solar payouts

Three large providers propose to shift more cost to customers who add rooftop systems.

California’s three big investor-owned utilities proposed changes to the state’s rooftop-solar program that would lead to new connection charges and lower compensation for customers who install panels on their homes.

PG&E Corp., Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric filed a joint proposal Monday with state regulators who will consider amendments to the state’s rooftop-solar policies this year. The proposal would affect only new installations.

The utilities say their plan is designed to address the “growing inequity” in state policy that has resulted in customers without rooftop systems paying about $3 billion more annually in their electricity bills to subsidize rooftop customers.

A 25-year-old program that pays residents for their excess clean power has led to more than 1 million installing solar panels on their homes. It also helped spur an industry of solar installation companies that have fiercely resisted changes to the way rooftop customers are compensated.

Under the California utilities’ proposal, new rooftop-solar customers who send power back to the grid would receive a lower credit on their bills than the rate that current solar users get.

The reduced credit would better reflect the value of that power and more closely resemble the costs of energy from large-scale renewable resources, the utilities said.

In addition, new solar customers would pay a monthly connection charge of $12 to $24 for grid services.