The new struggle on Hawaii foreshadows what the rest of the country could face as solar moves closer to the mainstream, several involved in the debate said.
"Hawaii is a crystal ball into what every other state is going to have to look at as they start reaching higher and higher levels of solar activity," said Robert Harris, executive director of Sierra Club Hawaii. "There is a national debate about what is the future model of the utility. That is happening in real time in Hawaii."
'I am from the future'
The Hawaii development comes amid battles in California, Arizona and Colorado over the future of net energy metering (NEM). That policy -- which exists in some form in 43 states and the District of Columbia -- lets households with renewable energy earn bill credits for surplus power delivered to the grid.Utilities in states with growing levels of solar have argued that fixed fees and other changes are needed because customers with net metering bill credits don't pay their fair share of transmission and distribution charges. The Golden State's Legislature has ordered the California Public Utilities Commission to retool NEM by 2015. The new program will need to be "based on electrical system costs and benefits to nonparticipating ratepayers."