Tesla has shared a new campaign on its Engage website, this time asking customers to “thank the Governor and the CPUC for keeping California a leader in clean energy!”.
The electric automaker says, “we’d like to share with you some good news for the future of clean energy in California and ask you to take a moment to thank Governor Newsom for his leadership in helping stop a proposal from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that would’ve been disastrous for solar and storage.”
Tesla says “Thousands of Californians spoke out against the solar tax, and last week the CPUC approved a new version of NEM 3 that supports the continued growth of clean energy in California.”
Previously, a CPUC proposal on net metering (NEM 3) would have imposed a tax of $60 per month or more on customers of PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E, for having solar panels on their roof.
The proposal would’ve also lowered the amount of time an existing solar customer can stay on their original NEM tariff, which was set at 20 years previously.
“The new NEM 3 Decision issued by CPUC President Reynolds changes NEM compensation such that the credits reflect the value of energy for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The new Decision encourages solar customers to add batteries to capture excess solar generation and move the state forward in its journey to 100% clean energy. Importantly, the revised proposal does not penalize solar customers with a monthly fee, and maintains the 20-year contract for existing NEM customers,” explains Tesla.
“Thus, during spring afternoons when energy from the grid comes mostly from inexpensive, GHG-free renewables, NEM credits will be very low, in order to encourage customers to store their solar energy for use later use. On summer evenings when grid energy is generated by dirty fossil plants, NEM 3 customers will be compensated at nearly $3/kWh (about 10 times the retail rate) to encourage reducing emissions by sending clean energy back to the grid,” said the automaker.
“At this time, we feel it’s appropriate to thank Governor Newsom and the new CPUC leadership for abandoning the solar tax and facilitating a more reasonable NEM proposal,” says Tesla.
“Using the tools above, send a message to Governor Newsom and the Public Utilities Commission, thanking them for being clean energy leaders and stopping the solar tax. Then, tweet your appreciation using the hashtag #SaveSolar,” says Tesla.
