Thread by @solar_rights

1/18 CBSMornings and @BRP1949, your story omitted some really important perspectives and data. Whether you intended to or not, the result is a one-sided story. #SaveSolar @GavinNewsom

https://twitter.com/CBSMornings/status/1515309568682823684

2/18 Had @CBSMornings done even a little bit of research, you would have found that indeed, not only do solar users pay for the grid, but they actually make the grid cheaper for all ratepayers.

3/18 Solar users pay for the grid through the $10 minimum bill, plus an average of $50-$120 / mo for power when the sun's not shining, plus "nonbypassable charges" the utility deducts from the net metering credit.

4/18 Utilities lied about this, so we got the data from a public records request. We'd love to dive into this and other data with you in a follow up story.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/…

5/18 Had the @CBSMornings chosen to do a more balanced story, you could have interviewed @DrChrisClack who found that more rooftop solar and batteries could cut $120 billion in costs from the grid.
vibrantcleanenergy.com/wp-content/upl…

6/18 With a little Googling, you may have found that rooftop solar and energy efficiency were responsible for cutting $2.6 billion in long distance power line spending in 2018 alone.
utilitydive.com/news/efficienc…

7/18 @CBSMornings could have interviewed the many experts who have shown over and over again how rooftop solar has and can continue to reduce the need for spending billions of dollars in grid infrastructure.
clean-coalition.org/news/webinar-r…

8/18 @CBSMornings could have disclosed the funding sources of Severin Borenstein's Energy Institute, which include PG&E, Sempra and SoCal Edison.
haas.berkeley.edu/energy-institu…

9/18 @CBSMornings could have dug deeper, like we did through this public records request, and found that the Energy Institute took $223K from the utilities and another $40K from Calpine Corporation since 2018.
drive.google.com/file/d/1vMoqE2…

10/18 @CBSMornings could have noticed that the Energy Institute has made quite a few inaccurate forecasts over the last decade regarding renewable energy. And perhaps decided to not lean so heavily on just one person.
solarrights.org/haas-rooftop-s…

11/18 @CBSMornings could have found that many frontline community leaders think the Energy Institute's claims are laughable and don't speak for them.

https://twitter.com/crystalxhuang/status/1509253737071595521

12/18 @CBSMornings could have made a few more phone calls and learned that over 150K people, 600 nonprofits, cities, school districts and elected officials, and most of the state's major newspapers don't buy the utility claims about rooftop solar.
docs.google.com/document/d/1eB…

@CBSMornings would have learned that 20 affordable housing developers and many environmental justice leaders, Black Church leaders, consumer protection organizations, and advocates for the disabled don't buy the utility lies about rooftop solar.
mercurynews.com/2022/01/13/opi…

14/18 @CBSMornings could have seen that the "utility coalition" is made mostly of organizations who took $1.67 million in donations from the utilities in 2020 alone.
insideclimatenews.org/news/08022022/…

15/18 @CBSMornings could have looked at solar demographics data themselves and interviewed advocates for low income communities and found that just under half of all new solar is going into middle and working class neighborhoods.
emp.lbl.gov/solar-demograp…

16/18 @CBSMornings would see that households making $50K or less installed solar in about the same numbers as households making $250K or more.

17/18 They could have interviewed frontline community leaders who see the utilities about to take away rooftop solar just as it is getting into the hands of the working class.
lasentinel.net/policymakers-s…

18/18 All of that would have required homework to pierce the utilities propaganda and their sophisticated echo chamber. We understand. Balanced stories are hard work. @CBSMornings @BRP1949 how about a follow up story? #SaveSolar #UtilityProfitGrab