Solar Snub: Thousands of Mass. solar customers denied retroactive payments as 2022 law takes effect

BOSTON — Thousands of Massachusetts solar customers who installed panels on their homes in recent years have yet to realize the full savings of their investment because of a delay in updating utility regulations.

In August 2022, former Governor Charlie Baker signed a new clean energy law. Among the changes, it raised the state’s 10-kilowatt-hour cap on residential solar arrays to 25 kWh. But it’s taken more than two years for the state’s Department of Public Utilities to enact the legislation.

For customers like John and Amy Meyers of Waltham, the delay has cost them savings they will not get back.

STICKER SHOCKED

The Meyers spent thousands of dollars to install solar panels in Spring 2024, only to discover too late that their system exceeded the prior 10 kWh cap and the 2022 law was not yet in effect. Because their system was deemed too large, it was labeled a “Qualifying Facility,” significantly reducing the amount their utility credited them for power sent back to the grid.

“As my wife would say, the math wasn’t mathing when we started to look at our bills from Eversource,” John Meyers told Boston 25 News.

The Meyers’ solar panels generated more energy than their home needed in their first month of operation. As a result, the Meyers sent approximately 500 kWh of electricity back to the grid. The credit they received on their following bill was based on the wholesale price of power in New England, which is less than the retail rate utilities charge.

“The first month we were in operation, we got somewhere on the order of about $18,” Amy Meyers said. “If we had paid for that out of pocket, we would have been more on the order of $200.”

The summer months are peak season for solar customers. During the longer and brighter months, many homes with solar panels generate more power than they consume. Customers under the 10 kWh cap typically see their overproduction reflected as a credit on their bill close in price to what the utility would have charged for the electricity. Credits build and are banked during the summer to offset future winter bills, when solar panels are less productive and customers rely more on their utility to light their homes, run appliances, and generate heat.

It’s why Robin Sheridan chose to add panels to her home in Hanson. Because Sheridan’s home is entirely electric, her winter bills can easily top $1,500 in a single month.

“I work really hard and I’m really honest,” Sheridan told Boston 25 News. “I just want to keep my daughter and grandkids and myself warm.”

But her solar investment hasn’t paid off as she hoped. Like the Meyers, Sheridan receives only a fraction of the credit most solar customers receive because she is over the 10 kWh cap.

Sheridan shared two years of her utility bills from National Grid, along with correspondence documenting her frustration with the situation. In one bill from July 2023, Sheridan’s rooftop panels sent more than 1,000 kWh back to her electric company, more than double the use of the typical Massachusetts home.

She was credited $36.

Sheridan now chops wood in her backyard to keep a wood stove burning for heat in the winter, one more way she’s trying to lower her energy use.

“It’s upsetting,” Sheridan said. “I really get upset when I talk about it.”

SOLAR SNUB

Sheridan hoped her situation would improve after the state passed the 2022 Clean Energy Act more than two years ago. In December, she learned she will finally begin receiving full credit for her surplus electricity starting in 2025.

So will John and Amy Meyers, and approximately 7,500 other customers around the state, according to estimates from Cadmus Group, the third-party administrator for Massachusetts’ net metering program.

But the Department of Public Utilities, having heard from both frustrated customers and concerned utilities, says it cannot make credits retroactive to 2022 for those who exceeded the previous 10 kWh cap during those years.

DPU declined Boston 25 News’ request for an interview. But in online public filings, DPU said there is no precedent for making payments retroactive and lawmakers did not mandate utilities reimburse customers to the year the law was signed.

“The plain language of… the 2022 Clean Energy Act does not specify whether this change should be retroactive,” DPU notes in a November 2024 order regarding the 2022 law and new utility regulations.

Additionally, DPU noted lawmakers approved the law “without any directive regarding the timing of this change.”

Massachusetts Utilities told DPU that while it is “unfortunate that these customers feel misinformed about the effective date” of the law, forced retroactive payments could lead to higher rates for all customers.

“Distribution Companies contend that re-billing and crediting small, mostly residential customers… would be a long and arduous process and could be confusing for customers,” DPU’s filing states, adding, “should the Department allow retroactive Net Metering Credits, all distribution customers would bear the cost.”

In the end, DPU decided retroactive credits would be “inappropriate” and “beyond what the statute and Department precedent allow.”

IN THE DARK

Robin Sheridan and the Meyers say despite all their research, they never realized - and nobody told them - their solar installations could not exceed a specific size or they would be penalized.

“I never heard of it,” Sheridan said. “Nobody told me... That was one thing that got by me.”

“That never came up in any of our discussions with our installers,” John Meyers said.

Each acknowledges their responsibility to do due diligence. But they also blame a lack of communication and education on the part of their utilities and the private, third-party companies who designed, sold, and installed their rooftop systems.

“The state and the utilities probably should have done a better job of communicating the status of things to at least the professional installers,” John said. “If the installers are confused, I think it’s very clear that the state DPU and its utilities are not getting the information out in a way that people can understand.”

He also believes the state bears responsibility because it incentivizes customers to adopt solar.

“They’re telling homeowners, ‘We want you to buy solar, it’s green, it’s good for the environment,’” John said. “If they’re going to encourage homeowners to do this, they need to make sure they’re educated and understand the implications of what they’re going into.”

In its updated utility regulations, DPU noted the decision to install solar – and the size – ultimately lies with installers and customers.

“The Department expects developers to have a working knowledge of the applicable Net Metering rules and regulations so that they may properly advise prospective and existing Host Customers,” DPU noted, adding, “It is essential that Host Customers appreciate and understand the cost and benefits of Net Metering prior to participating.”

BRIGHTER DAYS AHEAD

For Robin Sheridan, a years-long frustration is finally nearing an end. But it’s left her tired.

“It just seems so unfair,” she said. “You can only fight Goliath so much before you start losing steam”

The Meyers also believe the state should require utilities to reimburse affected solar customers.

“We bought the system in good faith,” John Meyers said.

Utilities, including National Grid and Eversource, must soon begin notifying solar customers affected by the change in law. But impacted customers don’t have to wait and can begin calling their utility now to be reallocated under the new rules. Customers will begin receiving higher credits once electric utility companies implement their updated net metering tariffs, which are currently under DPU review.

While she’s hopeful the changes will make her bills more affordable next winter, Sheridan isn’t over the savings she’s lost in the last three.

“We’re hard-working people, they’re a big corporation,” she said. “We lose again. What else is new?”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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