States Wrestle with Making Net Metering More Equitable

For those in the sustainability industry, getting net metering policies adopted has been hard fought—and looking back, generally hard won. Net metering (the practice in which utilities credit customers for the excess electricity generated by their solar panels that’s sent to the grid) is currently in place in 41 states and it is “consistently recognized as a foundational policy to support the growth of a distributed solar marketplace,” according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

In the initial fight for net metering, there seemed to be good guys and bad guys, Karina Hershberg of PAE Engineers told BuildingGreen. “Early in my career, I thought there were the progressive utilities that were allowing it and others that were blocking it purely because they were looking out for their own interest.”