These customers include thousands of Nevadans who applied to go solar but have not yet installed their systems, and now have the ability to install solar under the grandfathered net metering program.
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The agreement reached with the Public Utilities Commission and SolarCity would lock customers who installed a rooftop solar system before December 31, 2015 into their old net metering rates for 20 years.
The commission was sued by Vote Solar after it cut back the amount solar owners get reimbursed for the energy their systems feed back into the electric grid and tripled the fixed fee they pay to NV Energy.
The Commission’s decision this morning, which was delivered after the testimony of half a dozen upset solar owners, follows the decision by a Nevada district court earlier this week that found that the commission had violated existing solar customers’ Constitutional due process rights by switching them to a new tariff without adequate notice.
The PUCN on Friday hears a plan that would grandfather in the old rates for existing net metering customers for the next 20 years.
The Commission’s reversal on Friday re-establishes the prior more favorable rates for about 32,000 customers that already own rooftop solar panels in Nevada.
Nevada solar groups and the Nevada Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection challenged the ruling, saying it violated the contract clause of the Constitution because many rooftop solar contracts were predicated on retail rate net metering. “The Court confirmed that the Commission acted lawfully and that the decision to protect non-NEM customers from unreasonable cost-shifts was based on substantial evidence”.
In a statement on Tuesday, NV Energy said its proposal was meant to “offer a solution” for solar customers “in the most efficient and timely manner”.
But many in the solar industry say the future rate changes are still a major problem.
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Solar panels are installed on a home near West Gowan Road on February 4, 2016.
