A recent Los Angeles Times story cites a misleading, solar industry-funded “analysis” while creating a false narrative about rooftop solar incentives and Southern California Edison’s efforts to keep electricity affordable.
Assemblymember Lisa Calderon’s bill, AB 942, is responsible and equitable Net Energy Metering (NEM) reform that would help reduce electric bills for millions of customers. A number of independent groups have identified NEM reform as vital to energy affordability in California — and SCE does too.
The facts:
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Edison supports AB 942 because it’s critically needed reform that would reduce electric bills for millions of customers.
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According to the independent Public Advocates Office (PAO) of the California Public Utilities Commission, NEM subsidies make up about 21–27% of non-solar customer bills. Put another way, rooftop solar incentives cost non-solar customers $8.5 billion in 2024, up from $3.4 billion in 2021. That’s hundreds of dollars per year with disproportionate impacts on low-income communities, including seniors and renters.
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Recognizing the pressures on customer bills, the PAO in 2024 proposed the common-sense reforms now in AB 942.
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The article incorrectly asserts Calderon’s bill would shortchange rooftop solar owners for their investments. That’s not true — the CPUC's 2022 decision revising NEM 2.0 concludes those assets would be paid off in three to five years, or several times over the estimated 35-year useful life for a major solar manufacturer's equipment.
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The rooftop solar subsidy began in 1996; the program had to change as it was no longer needed to support what’s now a mature market. The effect of that subsidy — known as the cost shift — is a proven mathematical certainty not subject to reasonable debate.
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Richard McCann’s “analysis,” funded by the California Solar & Storage Association (a trade group representing companies that sell rooftop solar systems), relies on unproven assumptions and discounts the PAO’s factual assessment as well as CPUC findings.
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Besides the PAO, other consumer advocacy, environmental and social justice groups like the Utility Reform Network, Natural Resources Defense Council, California Alliance for Retired Americans, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People of California & Hawaii support NEM reform.
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Publicly Owned Utilities have also reformed their rooftop solar programs: Imperial Irrigation District (2016), Merced Irrigation District (2019), and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District a few years back.
SCE supports transparency and welcomes vigorous, responsible reporting. We look forward to working with the Los Angeles Times to foster both.
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