The chance to reform a net metering system that has hampered the implementation of rooftop solar projects in California was thwarted yesterday.
Credit: SnapNrack
The California Court of Appeals upheld the current net metering program, Net Energy Metering 3.0 (NEM 3.0), after a months-long review. Various solar industry and environmental groups has filed a lawsuit v. California Public Utilities Commission regarding NEM 3.0 in 2023, and the California Supreme Court took up the lawsuit in April 2024. The California Supreme Court ruled in August 2025 that the Court of Appeals must review and review NEM 3.0.
But now the program remains unchanged.
“We are extremely disappointed in the appellate court’s decision on the state Supreme Court’s remand. Instead of looking at this case with fresh eyes and conducting due diligence by reading and interpreting the statute, the appellate court rushed to judgment and sided with the pro-utility CPUC and its allies,” Bernadette Del Chiaro, senior vice president for California at EWG, said in a news release.
NEM 3.0 was launched in April 2023. The net billing framework shifted to an hourly time-of-use rate to compensate residential solar customers based on when the exported energy was most needed on the grid. This change was made in part to encourage greater use of energy storage at the residential level, but the energy export offset for PV was reportedly reduced by 70 to 80% compared to California’s previous net metering programs.
By the end of 2023, California was expected to lose 22% of its residential solar workforce. Energy storage in the state has grown – with Berkeley Lab reporting a 60% capture rate by 2024 – but rooftop PV has not yet recovered in the leading state in solar energy.
“We may have just turned the clock forward an hour, but this decision sets California back a decade when it comes to building a clean energy future. It’s not just Washington DC that sets us back on energy affordability and reliability. California is making more than its share of forced mistakes,” Del Chiaro said.
