Nevada Legislature advances bill to reinstate net metering for solar

The Nevada Legislature recently advanced a bill that would restore the state’s Net Energy Metering mechanism, but with a reduced rate for customer-generated energy that is sent to the grid.

The bill, AB 405, also includes solar consumer protection measures and a “Bill of Rights” for solar customers.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) issued a statement recently urging Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval to approve the legislation.

“We applaud Assemblymen Watkins, Brooks, Yeager, and Fugo and Senators Ford, Atkinson, Manendo,
and Spearman for their leadership, and we urge Governor Sandoval to sign this bill into law and restore Nevada to its rightful spot as a top solar state,” Sean Gallagher, vice president of state affairs for SEIA, said.

The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada eliminated net metering in 2015. According to SEIA, this stalled the state’s residential solar market and led to a loss of over 2,600 jobs.

“Nevada is one step closer to a policy that will allow it to get back thousands of solar jobs that were lost,” Gallagher said. “This bill is a compromise that doesn’t fully value the benefits of distributed solar. It will, however, allow Nevada consumers and small businesses who may have wanted to go solar, but found it uneconomic under the existing solar policies, to now proceed.”