California proposes big changes to rooftop solar incentives

California officials want to slash payments for rooftop solar power, saying the changes would help the state achieve 100% clean energy while keeping the lights on, preventing electricity rates from rising and encouraging people to install batteries.

But solar executives are furious with the changes, saying they would backfire and crater a thriving industry.

The proposal from Martha Guzman Aceves, one of five members of the California Public Utilities Commission, would revamp an incentive program called net energy metering that has helped the state become a national solar power leader, with more than 1.3 million rooftop and other small-scale systems installed. The solar industry and climate change advocacy groups are lobbying Gov. Gavin Newsom and his appointees on the utilities commission to keep the program's basic tenets unchanged.

In an interview, Guzman Aceves said net metering needs to evolve to reflect California's changing energy needs. The Golden State's power grid is increasingly flooded by solar energy during the afternoon but strained on hot summer evenings, when millions of people throttle up their air conditioners to cope with high temperatures made worse by the climate crisis.

Reducing demand for planet-warming fossil fuels such as diesel and natural gas during that "net peak" period in the evening, Guzman Aceves said, is her overriding goal.

She and her staff crafted a plan to phase out net metering that will encourage new and existing solar customers to add battery storage systems that can bank