Value of Solar

Net Metering and the Value of Solar

According to a recently published study by Environment Arizona, “In state after state, the rapid growth of solar energy has led to attacks by utilities on the cornerstone solar policy of net metering. Utilities and fossil fuel interests have argued that net metering represents a subsidy to solar homeowners – one that comes out of the pockets of other ratepayers. Study after study, however, shows that the reverse is true: homeowners and businesses that invest in solar energy deliver benefits to the grid, to other ratepayers, and to society at large that often well exceed the benefits they receive through net metering.”

(Environment Arizona, 2015, Shining Rewards: The Value of Rooftop Solar Power for Consumers and Society, p. 8.)

This same report reviewed eleven recent studies of the “value of solar,” three from utilities, two from Public Utility Commisions, and six from various organizations and all of them except the utility studies showed that the value of solar was greater than the local retail rate of electricity. See Figure ES-1 below from the report.