hey. Y'all in Cal (or #energytwitter generally) listening? I want to talk a moment about #AB1139, an anti-solar bill. And some other stuff. Thread, beginning.
Years ago Cal passed laws to allow solar owners to sell their excess sunshine back to the grid, aka Net Energy Metering. And it worked. #AB1139
In fact, NEM worked so well that the investor owned utilities - Cal PG&E, Sempra/ San Diego Gas & Elecric, SoCal Edison -- got cranky because it was cutting into their profits.
So NEM was revised to be somewhat less generous to homeowners, and that's called NEM 2.0. #AB1139
So NEM was revised to be somewhat less generous to homeowners, and that's called NEM 2.0. #AB1139
And along comes me, the climate hawk who can't quite afford to go solar, but fed tax credits are decreasing, so in 2019 I take money out of my retirement account to pay for a brand new beautiful made-in-USA-panels solar rooftop. #AB1139
and I do so in large part on the representation that my bill would effectively be zero dollars (it's $12/ month) instead of the $200+ that I'm paying.
Along comes #AB1139 to f*ck me over.
Along comes #AB1139 to f*ck me over.
the Investor Owned Utilities have been whining about net energy metering since the beginning of time, because it cuts into their profits, and they've produced studies claiming that solar homeowners like me make the rates go up for others who can't afford solar. Hence #AB1139.
How much does NEM cut into IOU profits? An extremely slanted legislative analysis (more on that later) claims that it's $3M in 2020, $5M in 2030. You can download the analysis at the "bill analysis" tab here bit.ly/3gHVZzg
just to put this $5M into perspective, these utilities have been earning 6 to 10 percent profits, annualized over 10 years, on net income of $1 billion, so you do the math and realize that $3M is a drop in a bucket. #AB1139
but the IOUs can't say that quiet part out loud, so they get friendly unions to sponsor the bill, and gussy it up it in concern for low income utility customers, and marinate it in social justice principles, and introduce #AB1139.
To be clear, virtually all of the opposition to #AB1139 is "oppose unless amended" -- that's Sacramento-speak for "we LIKE the low income utility customer relief, we AGREE with social justice, kewl kewl just don't f*ck up rooftop solar"
sometimes legislators really want to kick off a new program, so taxpayers get in early, and then they realize that they overpromised, so they try to scale it back EXCEPT FOR PROP 13 THE ORIGINAL SIN OF CALIFORNIA POLITICS THAT DESPERATELY NEEDS TO BE SCALED BACK but I digress
I meant to say, like the original carpool stickers given to original Prius owners enabling them to drive in the carpool lanes and get free passes on toll roads, and that got scaled back. Because now Cal has much cleaner optioins than Priuses. Anyway, back to #AB1139.
to be clear, #AB1139 is a bad bill and it deserves to die, EXCEPT for the low income customer stuff. I appreciate @PhilTing voting it out of committee to work on amendments. But it needs a LOT of work. (Also appreciate @AMuratsuchi not voting)
if you, like me, wonder why California has lost its ambition on climate, bit.ly/32sVwZr look no further than #AB1139 and its supporters carrying water for the profits of the investor owned utilities.
Legislative analysis of #AB1139 is authored by Kellie Smith of the Asm Utility & Energy Committee.... back in 2017-18 I got into a screaming match with a Kellie staffing that committee, who was basically an IOU mole staffer. So if analysis seems slanted, there you have it.
Final point on the power of labor. Right now labor, specifically building trades unions, is extremely powerful in Sac'to. (And often that's a good thing... #AB1139 is the exception, not the rule) Solar companies who follow me, you will have more power with a union.
I don't expect the mom-and-pop-and-three-laborers solar installers to be unionized. But if you're big enough to be publicly traded, $tsla, you're big enough to be unionized.
because labor will sometimes work with management on bills that mean higher profits AND more jobs, like #ab1139. And Cal Dem lawmakers will listen to labor when they won't listen to management.
So if you want to build political power -- and not fight off attacks on your industry like #AB1139 every couple of years -- welcome unionization, solar companies. Don't fight it.
Thread, ended.
Thread, ended.
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