Balancing Distributed Solar Growth with Customer Protection
Synapse developed a comprehensive framework for balancing the growth of distributed solar with customer protection. Rooted in fundamental ratemaking and long-term resource planning principles, this framework enables regulators, consumer advocates, and other stakeholders to assess the merits of distributed solar against its potential for inequitable cost-shifting from solar customers to non-solar customers. The framework is grounded in addressing the three key questions that regulators should ask regarding any potential distributed solar policy: (1) How will the policy affect the development of distributed solar? (2) How cost‐effective are distributed solar resources? and (3) To what extent does the policy mitigate or exacerbate any cost‐shifting to non‐solar customers? Answering these questions will enable decision‐makers to determine which policy options best balance the protection of customers with the promotion of cost‐effective distributed solar resources. This report describes the analyses that can be used to answer these questions.