Last month Nevada’s Public Utilities Commission voted to increase charges and lower compensation for rooftop solar users. The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC) estimates that most customers are now looking at a surcharge of $40 while their solar savings only amount to $11 to $15 a month.
In a press release, TASC writes the new rate structure intends to make solar customers pay their fair share of fixed costs for the utility NV Energy. However, as CleanTechnica writer Tina Casey finds, the new rate structure won’t just apply to new users, it will also apply retroactively to existing users, which has never been done before. Casey wonders if the new fees are meant to undermine the national solar industry and not just Nevada’s.
In response, SolarCity announced it would cease all operations and sales in Nevada, closing down its facilities and laying off 2,000 employees in the state. It was only a month ago the company had announced its fifth new training facility in the state.
Casey also links SolarCity with its entrepeneur Elon Musk, who also owns Tesla. Tesla just announced another facility in upstate Nevada, but many in the state are now wondering if Musk will halt the facility in response to the blow.
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