Nevada Kneecaps Solar. Nevadans Are Not Amused.

Last month, the Nevada Public Utility Commission voted to put in place new rates and charges for solar customers that could kill the growth of residential solar energy in Nevada. The new rates will, over the next five years, triple the monthly charge for solar customers to nearly $40, while cutting the residential net metering credit by three-quarters. Since the new rates apply retroactively to existing solar customers, they are being felt as a betrayal of trust by Nevadans who have already invested in solar energy.

At the center of Nevada’s solar debate is Nevada’s dominant public utility, NV Energy, which serves all the state’s big population centers including Las Vegas. NV Energy has come under scrutiny for its role in the PUC’s decision, and for its close ties with state lawmakers. Nevada solar customers have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of nearly 15,000 Nevada net metering customers alleging that NV Energy “participated in whole or in part in the scheme to reduce or eliminate competition, inflate prices, and illegally increase revenues.”[pdf] In addition, the solar company Sunrun is suing Nevada governor Brian Sandoval for failing to comply with a public records request for communications between his administration and NV Energy lobbyists.

These new allegations against NV Energy shouldn’t come as a surprise. Our recent report, Blocking the Sun, documented NV Energy’s campaign against solar – part of a broader campaign against solar energy by Berkshire Hathaway Energy, the large utility holding company of which NV Energy is a subsidiary. Here’s an excerpt:

NV Energy’s opposition to solar has taken many forms. NV Energy has pushed for new fees for solar customers and has proposed putting solar customers into a new, more expensive rate class. NV Energy worked to keep in place Nevada’s net metering cap – and solar companies have claimed that NV Energy misled them about the speed in which the cap would be reached. Most recently, NV Energy proposed cutting in half the net metering credit received by its solar customers. The utility’s actions have earned it the ire of state solar proponents: In May 2015, hundreds of people gathered outside NV Energy headquarters to protest the utility’s role in fighting solar power.

Nevada is far from the only state where the utility and fossil fuel industries have waged fights against solar energy. Yet while attempts to slow solar energy’s growth have been successful in some cases, including in Arizona and Florida, these efforts are wildly out of step with the public. In Nevada, for example, 75 percent of people in a January poll stated their support for continued tax incentives for solar and wind energy.  And in most cases, the attacks are failing. Just look at the recent decision by the California PUC to maintain strong net metering policy despite opposition from California utilities.

Today, despite opposition from some of America’s most powerful business interests, solar energy is booming, accounting for 30 percent of all new U.S. electric generating capacity in the first three quarters of 2015 – and solar energy’s dramatic rise remains one of the most promising trends in the fight to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and prevent the worst impacts of global warming.