Energy
Solar Stocks Get Boost From California Decision
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The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Thursday approved the continuation of the state’s net metering program until 2019. The ruling allows homeowners with rooftop solar installations to continue selling surplus electricity to their utility company at full retail rates.
This is a victory for solar energy advocates and companies, and a perhaps temporary defeat for utility companies that want the net metering rate to be reduced to the wholesale rate and to charge homeowners for maintaining the power grid.
Shares of SolarCity Corp. (NYSE: SCTY) jumped 8.5% on Thursday to close at $35.62 and traded up another 2.7% early Friday at around $36.58 on the news. SolarCity pulled out of Nevada’s solar market in December when that state’s public utilities commission adopted a change to the net metering program that would have cost homeowners with solar installations to pay regardless of when their panels were installed. NV Energy, the state’s largest utility, said earlier this week that it supports grandfathering installations for up to 20 years.
In a statement issued Thursday, SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive said:
Since December we have seen a paradigm shift on the world’s approach to electricity, with the Paris climate agreement, extension of the federal Investment Tax Credit, and now a decision from California that will continue the successful net metering policy while ensuring rooftop solar users begin to provide valuable services to the grid. This new paradigm is one in which our most important goal is to deploy renewable energy as fast as possible. SolarCity looks forward to working with everyone to exceed the world’s expectations on how fast we can do it.
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