Pennsylvania AG Protested Petition that Requested FERC Assert Jurisdiction Over Net Metering

JUNE 15, 2020

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed a protest urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to deny a petition that requested the commission assert federal jurisdiction over net metering. If approved, the petition would upend existing state-based net metering programs and dramatically slow the growth of rooftop solar and other kinds of distributed electricity generation. In the petition, AG Shapiro expressed “serious concerns” about the petition and its potential impacts on Pennsylvania’s “regulatory scheme, ratepayers, renewable energy development, economic growth, and diversification of energy resources.” The protest also warned that if granted, the petition could “undermine the Commonwealth’s progress toward meeting greenhouse gas reduction goals” and “harm Pennsylvania’s interests in future expansion of solar technology and the environmental benefits to be obtained from that expansion.”