SACRAMENTO — In what energy executives are calling "a triumph of creative accounting," Pacific Gas & Electric unveiled this week that California solar customers are now able to experience the unique financial phenomenon of paying significantly more for electricity after installing $30,000 worth of equipment specifically designed to reduce electricity costs.
"We've developed a revolutionary system," explained PG&E spokesperson Miranda Tollbooth during a press conference held inside a vault filled with small-denomination bills. "Customers generate power, send it to their neighbors, and then we charge everyone involved. It's like a toll road where both entering and exiting cost money, and also we keep a percentage of your car."
One customer reported having "thousands of dollars in credits" displayed prominently on their PG&E dashboard.
They still write a check every month.
The credits exist in the "generation bucket." The charges exist in the "delivery bucket." Both buckets are in the same account. On the same screen. For the same electricity. From the same wires.
They cannot touch.
"It's like being rich in a currency only accepted on the moon," the customer added, before excusing themselves to stare at the sun.
The system, officially called the "Net Billing Tariff" but known colloquially as "NEM 3.0" or "The Buckets," represents what industry analysts describe as "the most innovative method of making people pay for nothing since the invention of the convenience fee."
One customer downloaded PG&E's own billing data—from PG&E's own website—and calculated they were owed $202 in export credits.
The bill that arrived: $38.
An 81% haircut. Using their own razor. The spreadsheet is still available online.
They just don't use it. For billing. The thing it's for.
State officials, meanwhile, have begun publicly blaming solar customers for the state's high electricity rates—a claim that independent analysis suggests may be what researchers technically term "complete horseshit."
THE STATE SAYS: Solar costs non-solar customers $8 billion per year.
INDEPENDENT ANALYSIS SAYS: Solar saved all customers $1.5 billion in 2024 alone.
THE DIFFERENCE: $9.5 billion.
One of these numbers will be used to set policy. Guess which one.
Governor Gavin Newsom, whose campaign has received approximately $1.6 million from utility interests, recently described solar customers as responsible for "up to 25%" of everyone else's electric bills. This assertion was made during the same decade that PG&E raised rates 110%, SCE raised rates 90%, and SDG&E raised rates 82%.
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*Not affiliated with PG&E but honestly we can't tell the difference either. Side effects may include: confusion, rage, installing a diesel generator out of spite.PG&E and SDG&E submitted a formal request to regulators:
"Limit delivery-related retail export compensation credits to offsetting delivery-related charges and limit generation-related credits to offsetting generation-related charges."
Translation: "Please make their credits mathematically useless."
The CPUC considered this request carefully.
They approved it.
Solar sales: Down 66-83%
Solar companies expecting to survive: 57%
SunPower (largest installer): Bankrupt
Jobs lost: 17,000+
State's 2045 clean energy goal: Unchanged
Acknowledgment of any connection: None
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"I thought I was saving money. I was saving feelings of betrayal for later."
*Accepts all major credit cards but not generation bucket credits, delivery bucket credits, or tears.You install solar panels. You generate electricity. You send it to your neighbor.
PG&E charges you to use the wire. PG&E charges your neighbor to use the wire. PG&E pays you 1/78th what they charge your neighbor. PG&E puts your credits in a bucket you can't spend. PG&E tells the state you're the reason rates are high.
The state agrees. The state is appointed by the Governor. The Governor received $1.6 million from utilities.
You paid $30,000 for panels. Your neighbor's bill went up. PG&E's stock went up. The Governor blamed you.
The sun is still shining. Your bill is still due.
At press time, a Fresno man was seen climbing onto his roof with a bucket in each hand, screaming "WHICH ONE DO I PUT THE MONEY IN?" while his neighbors quietly unplugged their own solar systems.
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