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Now's the Best Time for Solar: A Net Energy Metering (NEM) 3.0 Update
Corrina Hansen – 11/27/22

NEM 3.0. will cut the value of solar electricity retail export compensation by about 75%. If you have been considering solar and would like to secure the benefits of the NEM 2.0 tariff you still have time.

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It’s been a full year since our last blog post about the proposed changes to the NEM 3.0 tariff. In that year, we lobbied and rallied across the state. Shortly after the rallies in January in Los Angeles and San Francisco Governor Newsom announced that “We still have some work to do.” The CPUC was originally scheduled to vote on NEM 3.0 on January 27 but they postponed their vote. The CPUC listened to over 7 hours of public comment with 325 people calling in opposition to the proposed tariff (4 were in favor). Last week the CPUC released their revised Proposed Decision. The Proposed Decision has some major wins: No grid access charge, no fee on behind the meter self-generation, no retroactive changes to customers who are currently on NEM-1 and NEM-2 and customers on NEM 2.0 can add storage without transitioning to NEM 3.0. As expected though the value of retail export compensation has decreased by about 75%. The proposed decision will cut the average export rate in California from $0.30 per kWh to $0.06 per kWh. The export compensation values won’t be calculated using typical peak and off peak time of use brackets but rather by average hourly rates for each month and weekdays/weekends based on the utility’s Avoided Cost Calculator (ACC). The hourly rates will be locked in for the first five years of NEM 3.0 at which point they will be updated yearly.

Protesters at the State Capital (Image credit: Sun Green Systems / Twitter)

If you have been considering solar and would like to secure the benefits of the NEM 2.0 tariff you still have time. NEM 2.0 enrollment will end 120 days after the decision is final (currently estimated to be 4/14/23). Contact us and we can assist you in getting grandfathered into NEM 2.0 for 20 years.

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