Back in 2008, the total amount of installed solar capacity in the U.S. didn't even reach 1,000 megawatts .
Fast forward ten years, however, and that number had grown by more than 20-fold, with total U.S. solar capacity just shy of 20,000 megawatts.
The reason for this explosive growth is pretty simple. Solar panel efficiency kept improving while prices steadily declined, as more and more Americans discovered that they could substantially lower their energy bills by going solar.
But as great as it's been for homeowners and small businesses, the big utility companies have a somewhat different take on America's 21st-century solar power boom.
From their perspective, achieving energy independence by going solar just makes you another lost customer.
Ultimately, for the big utility companies, the continued growth of solar power means a gradual but permanent erosion of their customer base.
So it's not surprising that their lobbyists have been working overtime trying to cripple the economic viability of rooftop solar.
The latest battleground is Arkansas.
House Bill 1370
The Arkansas state legislature is now considering a new bill that would drastically cut the compensation solar-equipped homes and businesses get for the surplus energy their systems produce during peak sun hours.
Just like Pennsylvania, Arkansas currently mandates that utility companies pay the very same rate that they charge, effectively allowing residents to "bank" the surplus solar energy their panels produce during peak production for later use.
Arkansas HB 1370 would reduce net-metering compensation to so-called "avoided costs." What that means is that utility companies would only have to pay for electricity at a wholesale rate that's substantially lower than what they charge.
A systematic assault
Arkansas Bill 1370 is just the latest skirmish in a decade-old war.
Back in 2013, the big utility companies started lobbying individual state legislatures to enact policies that would increase the cost of rooftop solar.
By 2019, 46 states were considering rule changes that would make rooftop solar more expensive, with many focused on gutting existing net-metering requirements.
Just last year, utility companies successfully lobbied state legislatures in California, Florida, Indiana, Idaho, Michigan, and North Carolina to pass laws that would slash net metering compensation.
Looking forward
Fortunately, state legislatures are generally pretty reluctant to pull the rug out from under people after they've made the investment.
So, they'll typically grandfather anyone who's already gone solar under whatever compensation scheme was in effect when their system was installed.
But rooftop solar is enough of a threat to the big utility companies that their state-level attacks on net metering compensation are bound to continue.
Meaning that, if you're one of the many homeowners who's been postponing lowering your energy bills by going solar, you might want to get in now while the getting's still good.