Coalition members oppose the CPUC’s decision to eliminate net energy metering aggregation for solar at schools
October Press Conference at Oakland Unified School District, who also opposes the CPUC’s proposed decision.
Signed by more than a dozen organizations, members of the Climate Ready Schools Coalition submitted a letter opposing a change from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to eliminate net energy metering aggregation, a move which would all but end the ability of schools to install and use solar power.
Solar is a critical tool for schools to provide healthy, safe learning environments for students, as well as to decrease carbon emission from the burning of fossil fuels. It is imperative that schools are able to remain open and provide healthy, safe learning environments for children during extreme weather and power outages. Schools often also play a vital role in serving as community resilience hubs, which is especially important as our state electrifies and electricity demand increases. These goals necessitate that schools be able to generate their own power through solar and storage.
The CPUC is currently considering a proposed decision from the utilities that would make changes to NEMA and how energy is netted on-site. This decision would make it economically unfeasible for schools, community colleges, and universities to install solar and storage. If adopted, it would require schools to pay the utility for their own self-generated energy, which projections show would reduce energy cost savings by 75%, taking that money directly out of our classrooms.
Given the importance of schools as resiliency centers for our students and communities, we need property-wide netting to ensure it is affordable for schools to install solar and storage. For these reasons, the Climate Ready Schools Coalition urges the CPUC to reject this proposed decision and instead work to protect property-wide netting at school sites, ensuring that schools are able to serve their core functions for our children and broader society.
You can read our letter to the CPUC here.
