From: rooftop-solar-defenders@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 5, 2023 11:53 AM
Subject: NEXT STEPS to Save Solar for Renters, Schools, and Farms! (And a thank you!)

Dear friends,

I hope this email finds you well and that you had a restful Labor Day weekend – while honoring our hardworking siblings in the Labor Movement for making the extra day possible. What we accomplished together last Thursday was nothing short of incredible! I counted over 50 public comments to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in support of saving solar for renters, schools, and farms. Our message was heard loud and clear by the CPUC. But – as we know from being in the trenches of campaigns together – we must continue to shout from the rooftops (no pun intended) on this issue. Here are some additional steps you can take. (Steps 1-2 should collectively take you no more than 5 minutes to do.) Please don’t hesitate to reach out should you have any questions. As always, thanks for all you do! All clean power to the people!

 

1. Please tell the CPUC not to block solar for renters, farms, and schools

• • • Go to the CPUC website and click “Add Public Comment”. 
    • Ideas for what to write are below
    • Complete the public comment form and hit submit. You can use the points above for your comment.

2. Call the Governor at (916) 445-2841.The script is below.

The CPUC has issued a proposed decision on virtual net metering and net energy metering aggregation that would eliminate the opportunity to install solar and storage for multifamily housing, and for many schools, farms, water districts, and others. It is discriminatory against renters because it prevents multifamily properties from directly using the energy they generate, when the CPUC just allowed this under Net Energy Metering 3 for single-family homeowners. Builders will turn away from expanding housing in California if they are required to install solar while the solar tariff for multifamily is not viable. I appeal to our shared commitment to reduce the costs of building multifamily housing. Please call on your CPUC commissioners to amend the VNEM/NEM-A proposed decision to allow on-site netting for multimeter properties.

3. Write a letter to the editor or opinion piece. We need every major media outlet to publish opinion pieces and letters to the editor. We can help draft them and get them submitted. We will work with your customers and allies to produce these. Contact usif you can do that, and please let us know if you are a multifamily renter (with or without solar) and/or are affiliated with a school, community college, and/or farm (e.g., faculty, on a PTA).

 

BACKGROUND AND SCRIPTS:

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Proposed Decision (PD) was released earlier this month, and it is BAD! Under this PD – largely carbon-copied from the investor-owned utilites’ proposal – renters (and anyone who lives in multifamily housing), farmers, and schools would be blocked from economically using their own solar energy. This would close the door on rooftop solar for apartments, farms, and schools across California. It would end the ability of renters to save as much as $50 a month on their utility bills. It would drive up the cost of housing and saddle already overburdened school districts and farmers with skyrocketing utility bills. And it’s discriminatory – it would make renters worse off than solar customers in single-family housing.  With your help, we can amend this decision to allow local, affordable, renewable energy to grow – not shrink.

 

Ideas for what to say in your written comment 

1) Your name and where you live (and if you are with an organization). Please be sure to mention in your comment if you rent in or own a multifamily property, or are affiliated with a school, school district, college, college district, and/or farm, and whether it currently includes solar or if you would like to go solar – but won’t be able to if the utilities have their way.

2) Please modify the PD to include on-site netting, so that people like me [or my tenants, if you’re a landlord; or students; or school districts; or my farm – modify as appropriate] can benefit from local, renewable, and affordable energy in the form of rooftop solar. Such a tariff should, at minimum, include on-site netting (the ability of those in multifamily housing, schools, or farms to benefit from the local renewable energy that their own solar system generates.

3) In your own words, one reason to back up your request. Below are some options. Of course, say it in your own words, it is more powerful that way!

The proposed decision is discriminatory: It would deprive multifamily housing tenants [or condominium owners], schools, and farmers of the ability to receive full savings on their energy bill from the solar that our solar roof produces/would produce – a benefit enjoyed by single-family homeowners with solar. Modify the proposed decision to include on-site netting, thereby ensuring an opportunity for tenants and property owners alike, as well as schools, and small farmers, to save costs through solar on their own rooftops or farms.

No one should have to choose between paying their rent and paying their utility bills: At a time when the cost of both is dramatically going up, rooftop solar can save multifamily tenants as much as $50/month in utility bills. Please don’t abandon this important lifeline for renters in the name of further profit to the utilities. Modify the proposed decision to include on-site netting, thereby ensuring an opportunity for tenants and property owners alike, as well as schools, and small farmers, to save costs through solar on their own rooftops or farms.

The proposed decision flies in the face of the Governor’s own commitment to housing affordability. The Governor has often spoken about the need to build more multifamily housing to address the housing affordability crisis renters [or working/middle-class families] like me face. The utilities’ proposal makes the cost of building and maintaining this housing more expensive. Modify the proposed decision to include on-site netting, thereby ensuring an opportunity for tenants and property owners alike, as well as schools, and small farmers, to save costs through solar on their own rooftops or farms.

What’s at Stake for Solar for Multifamily Housing, Schools, and Farms

• • • Please review this fact sheet
    • Here are the letters that were sent on the subject prior to the proposed decision’s release;renter advocates,  local elected officials, schools, and market-rate multifamily property owners.

Additional Background Information: 

Five letters, from agricultural customers, schools, renter advocates, local elected officials, and market rate multifamily property owners, with over 700 hundred individual and organization signatures, were sent to the CPUC, and yet the content of these letters is not seen in the proposed decision. The CPUC ignored hundreds of comments and instead sided with the three investor-owned utilities – PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E. That’s why the CPUC and Governor need to hear from you!