The fight to keep solar at schools affordable

Assemblymember Mia Bonta speaks at press conference with other community leaders.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is currently considering a proposed decision that would require schools to pay market prices for electricity that’s generated on their own property by their own solar panels for all of the meters which are not directly attached to the panels. It’s a regressive proposal which would make solar financially unattractive to schools, diverting money away from classrooms and towards investor-owned utilities.

UndauntedK12 has been actively engaged in rejecting this proposed decision, attending a press conference on October 2nd at Fremont High School in Oakland and authoring a letter to the CPUC along with members of the Climate Ready Schools Coalition.

"It's baffling that anyone would make solar projects more difficult rather than easier at this very urgent time," Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) board member Sam Davis said.

Net Energy Metering Aggregation refers to the way that solar energy generated on a site that has multiple utility meters, like a school or farm, is collected on property.  Currently, electricity that is generated at a school can be used across its property.  This keeps electricity costs down, as schools are able to use what they generate on their panels before having to pay the utilities for any additional energy used.

The proposal currently being considered by the CPUC would bring huge changes to the current schema, making it so that schools that have solar panels across their property would only be able to use the generated electricity on those specific meters.  For example, if a school has solar panels near the football field because that’s the ideal site to maximize solar gain, they would no longer be able to use the energy from those panels in their classrooms, if the classrooms were on a separate meter.  Instead, they would have to sell the unused energy from the panels to the utilities at cents on the dollar, and would be forced to buy back those same electrons at a much higher price to power their classrooms.

These proposed changes are predicted to reduce schools’ savings from solar energy by 75% at a time when our schools and fleets are electrifying and we need solar energy more than ever.  It would be a shame and a setback if the CPUC were to pass this regressive proposal.

The CPUC will be making the decision about whether or not to adopt this proposal at the November 2nd meeting.  We will be following closely and keeping you all informed!

Read our letter to the CPUC commissioners here.