Dive Summary:
- After months of public clashes between utilities and rooftop solar advocates, the California Senate voted 33-5 in favor of AB 327, legislation that redefines the state's net metering and residential electricity rate policies.
- The bill was changed many times before the California Senate passed it in its current form; the bill now extends the use of net metering while the bill's proposed rate structure allows regulators to impose additional fees on rooftop solar owners. For a more detailed overview of what's in the bill, click here.
- The legislation will now return to the state Assembly for a "concurrence vote" on the Senate's amendments before it can go to Gov. Jerry Brown for signing.
From the article:
"...it looks as if the latest changes to AB 327 are bringing the remaining opponents of the bill around to support it. CalSEIA executive director Bernadette Del Chiaro, who had previously held a position of “oppose without amendments” to the bill, characterized it as a “historic bill” that will “breathe new life into California’s solar market” in Monday’s press release -- even as she noted that “the devil will be in the details hammered out at the CPUC.”
