Letters to the Editor: Will Newsom go down as the governor who killed solar in California?
To the editor: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has failed electricity ratepayers, the rooftop solar industry and the need for us to transition away from polluting fossil fuel energy. (“Solar installations are plummeting and California regulators are to blame,†editorial, Dec. 28)
His appointments to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), who voted twice in 2023 to reduce incentives for homes and businesses that install solar power systems, prioritize profit for the investor-owned utilities, resulting in higher costs and less resilience for the rest of us.
Hopefully, state legislators are drafting a bill to reverse the CPUC’s 2023 boondoggle decisions. We can’t continue to watch previously capable and busy solar installers out of work while the sun shines on our rooftops and parking lots.
We should be seeing commercial, wholesale, business and multi-family residential solar generation, storage and resilient community microgrids showing up everywhere — and, of course, sensible incentives for residential rooftop solar.
Jan Dietrick, Ventura
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To the editor: Your editorial on the state of the solar industry in California is an example of the elitist thinking that turns the common man against progressive policies.
The editorial board does not disagree that “solar customers weren’t paying their fair share to maintain the power grid, raising electricity rates for lower-income households and renters.†That’s the effect of a system that encourages homeowners to install solar panels by controlling the price utilities pay to buy the homeowners’ extra power.
We all benefit from solar, so we should all pay the incentive to those who can install solar panels. The state should pay that incentive by taxing all of us.
Having people who aren’t able to install solar panels pay for a benefit we all enjoy is perverse.
Allan Baker, Morongo Valley, Calif.
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To the editor: I commend the editorial board for shedding light on the responsibility of Newsom and the CPUC in impeding progress in California’s solar energy sector.
As a youth leader deeply invested in addressing the climate crisis, I am disheartened by our governor’s apparent lack of concern for environmental issues. The recent actions of his CPUC appointees not only hinder clean energy production, but also perpetuate environmental racism, denying millions a path to sustainable energy and jeopardizing thousands of energy jobs in the state.
Newsom’s support for extending polluting coastal gas plants and the risky Diablo Canyon nuclear plant raises significant questions about his priorities. It is crucial that we hold our leaders accountable and demand a commitment to a sustainable, equitable, green future.
Alejandro Sobrera Barboza, Anaheim
The writer is a diversity and justice associate with the Climate Reality Project.
