California Supreme Court Decision Gives Rooftop Solar A Fighting Chance

In August, the California Supreme Court ruled that the California Court of Appeals must revisit the decision regarding solar Net Energy Metering 3.0 (NEM 3.0). We celebrate the CA Supreme Court ruling that gives rooftop solar supporters their right to appeal, after the disastrous gutting of net energy metering by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in 2022.

An earlier version of the policy incentivized rooftop solar with “net energy metering” which enabled people to pay off the cost of the solar installations after only a few years. This resulted in a robust growth of local solar energy production in California, especially for working and middle-class households. After the CPUC voted to eliminate that benefit in late 2022 with NEM 3.0, there was a catastrophic decline in rooftop solar installations and 10,000 solar jobs were lost in 2023. That drop clearly violated requirements in the Public Utilities Code that any revision to the tariff (incentive) for rooftop solar must ensure continued growth of rooftop solar and be based on all the costs and benefits of solar installations. 

Three organizations, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Environmental Working Group and the Protect Our Communities Foundation, filed the petition with the California Court of Appeals, asking them to reverse the CPUC’s NEM 3.0 decision. However, the Appeals Court deferred to the CPUC’s decision. Subsequently, the three organizations appealed to the CA Supreme Court to make arguments about why the Appeals Court decision was wrong. Local Clean Energy Alliance (LCEA) with the help of Caroline Farrell, Associate Professor of Law at the Environmental Law and Justice Clinic, and eleven other organizations signed onto an Amicus brief in support of that effort. 

On June 4, 2025, the CA Supreme Court heard oral arguments in that case. Finally, in August the CA Supreme Court released their findings, which agreed with the three petitioners that the Appeals Court’s deference to the CPUC was wrong. The California Supreme Court decision this year in favor of rooftop solar is a giant leap in the right direction.

The original case now moves back to the California Appeals Court and we will continue to provide updates.