VISALIA, California—At the January 28, 2016 Voting Meeting of the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), the five commissioners voted 3-2 to formally sign the December 15, 2015 draft NEM (Net Energy Metering) decision. The news was welcomed by analyst and experts alike, as reported by entelligent, an online information source reporting on the U.S. energy industry and issues of environmental regulation:

The decision upholds NEM for customers who choose to go solar now, and ensures that they can stay on the same tariff rate for 20 years. It also adds on a small interconnection fee, and requires customers to take service on a time-of-use rate schedule, meaning that rooftop solar generation will be credited more during times of peak electricity demand.

The decision received positive feedback from consumer advocacy groups, energy think tanks, and from the solar industry itself, including CalCom Solar’s Andrew Hoffman:

“We are pleased with where things ended up on NEM,” said Andrew Hoffman, Senior Director of Strategy & Market Development at Visalia, California-based CalCom Solar. “The PUC is making a statement that distributed generation is an important piece of our energy and environmental future in California. There were over 150,000 petition signatures, from all walks of life, that went to the CPUC in support of a good NEM decision,” said Hoffman. “I hope that other states take a look at that and see how important NEM is for their communities.”

Some key points of the approved program:
Click here to read the entire entelligent article by Nithin Coca, a freelance journalist who focuses on energy, environment, and economic issues.

• Successor NEM program will take effect for new customers after the utilities’ existing NEM program participation caps are met, or July 1, 2017, whichever comes first
• Net Energy Metering Aggregation (NEMA) will be continued, an important win for agricultural customers
• A nominal one-time interconnection fee (likely to be approximately $75-$150) will be required for new NEM system interconnects

About CalCom Solar

CalCom Solar, a leading California-based solar provider serving agriculture and water districts, has extensive expertise in Ag energy/water-use optimization. Our founding team has 35 years of solar experience—delivering tremendous value-add for agriculture and water district customers. For more information, please visit www.calcomsolar.com

Contact:
559-667-9200
info@calcomsolar.com