Do as we don’t

Don’t imitate Nevada

In Indiana, where the future of rooftop solar is a subject of considerable public debate, Nevada is being used as a bad example. That state’s Senate Bill 309 phases out net metering, which requires utilities to pay solar homeowners for unused power they generate.

This law has created a considerable fuss and headlines like “Blocking the Sun: New Report Documents Efforts to Undermine Rooftop Solar”; “New Indiana solar law could cripple small businesses and customer savings”; and “Indiana politicians got thousands in gifts while pushing solar policy.”

The Indianapolis Star recounted the incident when the GOP-dominated 2015 Nevada Legislature told the Public Utilities Commission to review solar, and the PUC effectively outlawed it. The Indianapolis Star, under the headline “How Nevada ruined its solar industry—and what it’s doing to fix it” recounted the long fight, which ended when a newly Democratic legislature repaired some of the damage, which effectively took Nevada out of the race for solar industry development when companies departed the state (“Fighting the future,” RN&R, Jan. 21, 2016).