If you owned a solar power system that generated more electricity than you used, and those surplus solar electrons were sent to the grid for use by your neighbors, don't you think your utility should pay you for that electricity? We think so.

AB 920 (Huffman), the Solar Surplus Power bill, is inherently about creating fairness within California’s solar market and about spurring ever greater consumer interest in investing in solar power bringing with it important environmental and economic benefits to the state.

AB 920 was passed and signed into law in October.

QUEST on KQED Public Media.

Thanks in large part to the support and vision of Governor Schwarzenegger and the California State Legislature, California is a world leader in developing and promoting solar power. Our Million Solar Roofs Initiative is one of the biggest and boldest solar initiatives in the world.

The road to a million solar roofs, however, is long. While the state saw tremendous growth in solar last year, California has to go from today's 50,000 solar roofs to 1,000,000 by 2016. To achieve this feat, California must remove all barriers for consumers wanting to invest in solar energy and more deeply penetrate the consumer driven market for solar power.  

PROVIDES GREATER FAIRNESS FOR CONSUMERS BY REQUIRING WHOLESALE COMPENSATION FOR SURPLUS POWER: Today’s solar system owners “lose” surplus electricity at the end of each year, essentially giving it away for free to their utility, even though the utility can turn around and sell that electricity at the full bundled retail rate to other utility customers. This “give away” is a barrier for many Californians wanting to go solar.  We estimate that over 500 Californians are generating surplus power each year and giving that power to their utility without compensation.¹ AB 920 would require the PUC, through a rulemaking procedure, to determine the appropriate wholesale rate. 

REMOVES PERVERSE INCENTIVE FOR CONSUMERS TO WASTE ELECTRICITY: By giving solar system owners fair compensation for the surplus electricity they generate above and beyond their own on-site electricity needs, AB 920 removes a perverse incentive for solar system owners to waste electricity so as not to give any way or “lose” any to the utility. Furthermore, AB 920 would encourage greater efficiency and conservation at home and at a solar business;

ALLOWS UTILITIES TO COUNT PURCHASED SURPLUS POWER TOWARD RPS REQUIREMENTS: To encourage utility support of solar power and to reward those utilities that do the most to support roof-top solar installations, AB 920 would allow the utility to count the amount of electricity purchased by the utility through this surplus power program toward their annual renewable portfolio standard goals.  

In short, AB 920 is a simple, no-brainer bill that will help remove unnecessary barriers to solar power in California, help encourage greater conservation and efficiency and provide fairness for both the consumer and the utility company within today’s growing solar market.