POWER UP NOW! NEM Coming April 1st, 2023

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved version 3 of the Net Energy Metering (NEM) policy at its December meeting. NEM 3.0 reduces compensation for extra energy put back on the grid by solar customers by 75% or more, eliminates month-to-month carryover credits, and has no indication when terms may change. The CPUC Commissioners cited incentives to install battery storage as one of the reasons for approving the new policy, but the legacy utilities supporting NEM 3.0 wanted more profits to invest in electric distribution grid maintenance and upgrades. NEM 3.0 takes effect next April 1st, no fooling.

 

If you get approval to install rooftop solar panels before April 1st, you can lock in NEM 2.0 terms for 20 years and get market rate credit (currently about 30 cents/kilowatt hour) for energy you send to the grid. If you were ever considering installing solar panels, now is the time to act. Existing solar customers are grandfathered with the current rules and rates for the next 20 years.