Three Cheers for Net Metering

The U.S. is consuming more electricity than ever and electricity costs are on the rise. The Energy Information Administration says that retail electricity was up nearly 3 percent per kilowatt hour in 2014. Americans are turning to solar to lower their utility bills, and net metering is the cornerstone policy mechanism that is making solar the cleaner, cheaper energy alternative.

In states such as Massachusettes and Nevada, net metering caps are threatening to stall solar progress. The solar industry, environmentalists, and policy makers are focused on expanding access to this critical solar incentive.

The outlook for solar power in California just got sunnier. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation February 26 that raises the cap on the amount of customer-generated solar power utilities must reimburse through net-metering credits. Net-metering allows homes and businesses to receive credits if they generate more solar power than they can use. In effect, the customer sells the excess power to the electric grid and gets credit for it.