Dive Brief:

• California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Commissioner Mark Ferron announced last week his abrupt retirement due to a battle with prostate cancer. 
• Before leaving, Ferron gave his frank assessment of the utility industry in a final report read aloud at a CPUC meeting. "We are fortunate to have utilities in California that are orders of magnitude more enlightened than their brethren in the coal-loving states, although I suspect that they would still dearly like to strangle rooftop solar if they could," he said. "Their strategy is often: 'we will give the Commission only what they explicitly order us to give them.' This is cat and mouse, not partnership, so we have to be one smart and aggressive cat."
• "Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, with the passage of AB 327, the thorny issue of Net Energy Metering and rate design has been given over to the CPUC," Ferron said. "You – my fellow Commissioners – all must be bold and forthright in defending and strengthening our state’s commitment to clean and distributed energy generation."

Dive Insight:

California is an interesting case. The Golden State's leadership on energy policy is watched closely by regulators, policymakers and utilities. But there are still obstacles to a clean and sustainable energy future; California is just among the first to confront them. Some utilities may view California as a state rife with regulatory activism, but such proactive, forward-looking policymaking is becoming more and more widely adopted. Expect regulators across the U.S. to eventually follow them, if they aren't doing so already. It's a new reality to which utilities are adapting.