Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Solar industry pressures Sandoval, while thanking PUC

Solar thank you card

Special to the Sun

Dan Meyer, a SolarCity employee, holds a thank-you card signed by rooftop solar consumers. The card thanks commissioners for passing an interim deal that lifts the solar cap without adding new charges or fees. The PUC will begin working on a long-term solution in November.

As uncertainty looms for rooftop solar companies, industry advocates are waging a sweeping battle to keep the Public Utilities Commission from approving new fees for NV Energy’s solar customers.

The solar industry’s efforts are a mix of scorched-earth tactics and guarded politicking to keep rates low for net metering, a policy that provides consumers credits on their power bills for providing energy to the grid with solar panels. Their opponent, NV Energy, has proposed to the PUC a plan that could cut credits and add new charges for rooftop solar customers. The policy, the power company says, unfairly shifts costs to nonsolar consumers. In a recent quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, NV Energy said technology like rooftop solar presents an “operational risk” for the company.

The Alliance for Solar Choice, a coalition including rooftop leasing companies Sunrun and SolarCity, is the loudest and most active player in the battle over net metering. They account for half of the solar jobs in the state and the majority of the market for solar leases.

The two are engaged in a carrot-and-stick approach with their public relations.

On Wednesday, Sunrun vowed to take immediate legal action if Gov. Brian Sandoval’s office didn’t fulfill a record request asking for correspondence between his staff and NV Energy lobbyists.

The record request intimated untoward ties between Sandoval’s administration and NV Energy’s lobbyists. Sandoval has two policy advisers who lobby for NV Energy and the governor was once an attorney for a utility shareholders group.

This month, Sandoval will replace an outgoing PUC commissioner — and many in the power industry have concerns about whom he will pick.

"Sunrun will sue if Gov. Sandoval continues to stonewall," said Bryan Miller, a senior vice president. "The governor is in charge of appointing a new commissioner who will determine whether solar homeowners are protected from NV Energy's extreme rate hikes, so it's critical that the public understand whether the governor's leadership is jeopardized by inappropriately close ties to his NV Energy friends."

That was the stick.

The carrot was delivered by SolarCity in the form of a 3-by-5-foot thank-you card signed by 700 customers to the PUC for its recent work to prevent an industry shutdown.

The industry overcame a hurdle last month when consumers maxed the solar cap, a law that limited how many people could participate in net metering. The PUC could have added fees or stopped the industry when the cap was hit.

One signatory — Mary from Las Vegas — wrote that net metering saved her family hundreds of dollars on their electric bills for this summer. “We are on a fixed income and my husband is a disabled veteran. So this helps a lot. Thank you.”

The mix of tactics underscores what companies will do to keep the industry, which has seen a 1,000 percent rate of growth over the last year, alive.

“It’s been a long haul,” said Tyson Megown, an inside energy specialist for SolarCity.

State agencies must first respond to record requests in five days, but the precedents for filling them varies depending on their scope. Some will return quickly, take months or end in legal battles.

The Sandoval administration said it was treating Sunrun's record request like it treats all others and that the governor "consistently emphasizes accountability and transparency."

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