To the editor: Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration has failed electricity ratepayers, the rooftop solar industry, and the need for us to transition away from dirty fossil fuel energy. (“Solar installations are plummeting and California regulators are to blame,” editorial, December 28)
His appointments to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which voted twice in 2023 to reduce incentives for homes and businesses that install solar energy systems, prioritize profits for investor-owned utilities, which resulting in higher costs and less resilience for the rest of us.
Hopefully, state lawmakers are drafting a bill to reverse the CPUC’s wasteful 2023 decisions. We can’t continue to see previously capable and busy solar installers out of work while the sun shines on our rooftops and parking lots.
We should see commercial, wholesale, enterprise and multifamily residential solar generation, storage and resilient community microgrids popping up everywhere, and of course, sensible incentives for residential rooftop solar.
Jan Dietrick, Ventura
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To the editor: His editorial on the state of the solar industry in California is an example of elitist thinking that turns the common man against progressive policies.
The editorial board does not disagree that “solar customers were not paying their fair share to maintain the electric grid, which increased electricity rates for low-income households and renters.” That’s the effect of a system that encourages homeowners to install solar panels by controlling the price utility companies pay to buy the extra power from homeowners.
We all benefit from solar energy, so we should all pay the incentive to those who can install solar panels. The State should pay for that incentive by taxing us all.
That people who cannot install solar panels pay for a benefit that we all enjoy is perverse.
Allan Baker, Morongo Valley, California.
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To the editor: I commend the editorial board for shedding light on Newsom and the CPUC’s responsibility in impeding progress in California’s solar energy sector.
As a youth leader deeply committed to addressing the climate crisis, I am disheartened by our governor’s apparent lack of concern for environmental issues. The recent actions of their CPUC appointees not only hinder clean energy production, but also perpetuate environmental racism, denying millions of people a path to sustainable energy and jeopardizing thousands of energy jobs in the state.
Newsom’s support for expanding polluting coastal gas plants and the risky Diablo Canyon nuclear plant raises significant questions about his priorities. It is crucial that we hold our leaders accountable and demand a commitment to a sustainable, equitable and green future.
Alejandro Sobrera Barboza, Anaheim
The writer is a diversity and justice associate for the Climate Reality Project.
