The Nevada Legislature
Credit: www.leg.state.nv.us

An intense political battle is playing out over rooftop solar power in Nevada, the latest skirmish in an ongoing war between power utilities and a species many of them have recently encountered for the first time ever: competitors.

At issue in Nevada, as in many of these fights, is a policy known as “net metering.” The details differ from place to place, but the basic idea is simple: utilities have to buy rooftop solar power from customers who produce it, at current retail electric rates. If a customer generates as much power as he consumes, he can zero out his utility bill. Currently, 44 states and Washington, DC, have mandatory net metering, and utilities in three of the remaining states allow some form of it.

The program has been extremely popular in Nevada, where it’s helped establish a thriving solar industry. According to the Solar Foundation, solar businesses employed 5,900 Nevadans in 2014 — more solar employees per […]