Page 2 February 25, 2016 Rooftop Solar Touches Off a Power Struggle By Rob McCarthy If solar work trucks seem to be everywhere on the road and in South Bay neighborhoods, it’s not your imagination. California is ground zero for the rooftop-solar revolution. Half of the nation’s homes that produce some or all of their electricity from the sun’s rays are in the state. California has the sunshine, the abundant population, and an environmentally friendly Gov. Jerry Brown. Sacramento favors clean energy, and state officials want 1 million solar rooftops by 2018. The federal government offers a home-solar tax credit, which it extended to the delight of the installation companies that feared losing a tax break that homeowners find attractive. Residential solar’s future isn’t crystal clear because of opposition from public-owned utilities. Southern California Edison and their investors stand to lose if California electric customers offset their lower monthly bills using solar power. Households that generate electricity and swap it for bill credit receive preferential treatment, the state’s big utilities argue. They asked the Public Utilities Commission to rewrite the rules so that solar-powered outliers pay more to Edison. The two-year deliberation ended last month in a 3-2 vote, which exposed the friction building between the old guard utilities and the new kid-on-the-block solar. The commissioners in a Solomonic decision gave each side something it wanted, but denied anyone a clear victory. “Our course is not for the rooftop solar industry or for the utilities,” Commission President Michael Picker said after the Jan. 28 meeting. The public utilities asked for and were granted a $75-$150 hookup fee from solarconversion homes in the future, plus additional monthly costs - known as non-bypassable charges - that assist low-income households and fund development programs. The home-solar industry conceded that the additional fees imposed on new and existing home-solar customers were fair. The average power bill for a solar household is expected to jump by $9 per month, up from $82. “We agree that all customers should pay the Public Purpose Program Charges (which fund low-income and clean energy programs), nuclear decommissioning and DWR bond charges,” wrote Sean Gallagher, vice president of state affairs for the Solar Energy Institutes Association, in the days leading up to the Public Utilities Commission vote in San Francisco. The Public Utilities Commission explained that being users of the grid made it only right that home-solar customers pay charges borne by other customers. The commission decided to levy new costs, but not to charge solar customers for the upkeep of transmission lines. The solar industry cheered that change, even as it prompted two commissioners to vote against a decision they said they otherwise would have supported. The non-bypassable charges were small potatoes compared to net-metering. The fears were so great that California might end net-metering in 2016 that 130,000 petitions were delivered in wheelbarrows to the commission’s San Francisco offices in favor of continuing net-metering. By the narrowest of margins, the Public Utilities Commission extended net-metering until 2019, when it will reconsider the contentious payment system consumers favor and utilities dislike. The Jan. 28 decision required Southern California Edison and other utilities to keep paying solar-powered homes and businesses the retail rate that Edison charges its customers. Net-energy is important to home-solar companies because it defrays the costs of buying or leasing a rooftop system. Net-metering households use the electric utility grid like a bank account. They can deposit electricity they don’t use immediately withdraw the same amount later (such as at night) at no net cost. It’s a year-round system, which allows households to build energy credit in summer when days are longer to compensate for shorter, winter days. The three-year reprieve saved Californians who’ve installed rooftop solar panels $4.8 billion and kept the renewable-energy option affordable, according to the Solar Energy Institutes Association. The industry lobbied California utility regulators to retain netmetering, as Colorado, New Mexico, New York and New Jersey have done, to keep rooftop systems affordable. The number of solar homes in the United States is fast approaching 1 million, with 65 percent of residential solar being installed in communities with median incomes below $70,000, according to industry figures. California leads the nation with 479,000 solar homes, and is nearly halfway to the goal of 1 million solar rooftops by 2018 . The utilities lobbied equally hard to sway the commission and its President Michael Picker, even introducing an 11th-hour proposal that critics said would jeopardize the federal tax credit for home solar conversions. The solar industry, which faced an uphill battle with Big Utilities despite strong political support from the governor, criticized the late changes and Big Utility’s tactics. Picker said it had been a “very difficult task” for the agency to keep solar affordable without burdening most Californians with significantly higher costs. He characterized the net-metering program as “a big step forward toward giving California consumers more choice, more control and more responsibility over their energy choices.” Nobody got everything they wanted. Call it a draw. The January net-metering decision won’t end the utilities-vs.-solar struggle. It pushes it down the road to 2019, when the Public Utilities Commission will reconsider net metering once changes to residential electricity rates and grid modernization proceedings take full effect. Even the members of the Public Utilities Commission who supported the net-metering program admit that more charges are coming in 2019, which will affect the affordability of home solar. One of the changes the commission approved will result in solar homes paying higher rates for power during peak-use times and lower rates during off-times. The switch to time-of-use rates instead of a flat rate creates uncertainty about the actual costs and savings for a homeowner who switches to net metering, said Gallagher of the Solar Energy Institutes Association, a nationwide alliance of 1,000 companies in the solar-energy business. The goal of time-varying rates, as explained by a news report in USA Today, is “giving people a financial incentive to cut back in the evenings, on hot summer days and during other periods when demand traditionally peaks.” All homes will be switched to time-varying rates in 2019, under a separate decision by the Public Utilities Commission. Home-solar professionals didn’t view the new costs as a deal breaker . They were confident the industry will be able to reduce prices to offset the utility charges on homeconversions in the future.• Classifieds The deadline for Classified Ad submission and payment is Noon on Tuesday to appear in Thursday’s paper. Advertisements must be submitted in writing by mail, fax or email. You may pay by cash, check, or credit card (Visa or M/C over the phone). Errors: Please check your advertisements immediately. Any corrections and/or changes in an ad must be requested prior to the following Tuesday deadline in order to receive a credit. 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For Rent 1718 Mariposa, El Segundo 1 bed 1 bath 1 car enclosed garage $1,650/ Month Avail March 1st Call Bill Ruane’s Apartments for Rent 2 Bed/2 Bath, in Southwest corner of town, w/ lots of storage both in unit and carport. Laundry on site, NO PETS. $1950/mo. For more info call (310) 880-1460. Employment Photographer wanted: We need five pictures per week, plus coverage of some events.$10/per published photo. Must provide names and captions with all photos. Interested parties email management@heraldpublications. com. No calls please. Employment Senior Fixed Income Analyst. MBA w/major in Finance, Accounting or rel field (or fgn equiv) w/5 yrs exp in: U.S. credit & interest rate market research; Excel & Bloomberg; using risk mgmt techniques (stress testing, scenarios analysis using both stat & fundamental analysis tools); perform risk analytic computations; using derivatives; analyze corporate credits using key balance sheet & income stmt metrics; assign credit worthiness scores; analyze structured products. Exp to also include 3 yrs w/Intex. Job in El Segundo, CA. Send resumes: Joyce Whitcomb, Athene Annuity and Life Company d/b/a Athene, 7700 Mills Civic Pkwy, 6A-18e, West Des Moines, IA 50266-3862. EOE. Employment Computer/IT: Accenture LP seeks a Technical Architecture Lead, in El Segundo, CA, to design, implement, & maintain dvlpmnt of environment, Oscar Nominee Embrace of the Serpent is an Intimate Journey of Epic Proportions By H. Nelson Tracey for www.CINEMACY.com The festival darling turned foreign film Oscar contender, Colombian adventure drama Embrace of the Serpent, is undoubtedly one-of-a-kind. Borrowing from the distinctive black & white photography style of early 20th century South American visitors and neo-colonialists, the entire film paints the Colombian jungles with a distinctly colorless palette, giving every image a natural depth and mystery. Two storylines follow the same protagonist Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and only survivor of his kind, guiding two different white men to search for a rare plant deep in the Colombian jungle. It is better to know going into the film that these are the same character roughly 30 years apart because it isn’t immediately clear and much can be deciphered from watching his differences as a young man (played by Nilbio Torres) vs. an old man (played by Antonio Bolivar). The inherent conflict remains the same in the parallel storylines: the world of the ancients clashing with the modern. Considering the time period the film covers is roughly 1909 and 1940, few differences can be made between the two time periods: this is deliberate, because in comparison to the ancient legacy of the native people, this is merely a blip. The parallels between the journeys become the most compelling part of the story. At a dense two hours, Serpent can feel long at times because there is so much focused on the mood and the subtlety it doesn’t always leave the viewer with as much to grasp. Similarly, some details pass by quickly that need to be noted in order to comprehend later sections of the film. A few distinct languages are spoken, primarily Spanish and an indigenous language, but for non-speakers it can be hard to distinguish the subtle differences that carry thematic weight. Viewing becomes easier as the film unfolds and reaches more narrative moments. The film is more focused on the protagonist grappling with his place in the changing world. We never see the ‘civilized’ world that all viewers of the film are a product of, but its weight is felt in profound contrast to the images of this ancient jungle, and the stories told by the indigenous peoples. That being said, the photography is a true innovation and feels unlike anything we’ve ever seen in a narrative film. Press images may have you fooled in thinking this is a documentary because of the intentionally shot images that feel like archival work even though everything was shot for this film. This is a prime example of using elements to capture the essence of what message the film is trying to convey. Overall, Serpent isn’t as emotionally moving as some of its fellow foreign-language nominees, like last week’s Danish drama A War, but it makes its mark in how unique of a look it has compared to any other recent release. Those who prefer a more clear narrative may not gravitate toward this film as it meanders like the rivers the characters follow, but audiences who love mood and thematic displays will undoubtedly embrace every picture that comes on screen during this film’s runtime. Embrace of the Serpent is now playing at the Nuart Theatre and is not rated. • Film Review Photo by Andres Córdoba / Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories office 310-647-1635 For Lease 1718 Mariposa #E 1 bed 1 bath $1,650/Month Avail March 1 Call Bill Ruane’s office 310-647-1635 For Rent Professional suite for lease. Building is centrally located in heart of old Torrance on Torrance Blvd in a newly renovated building. 711 Sq ft., 2nd floor, No elevator. Suite has glass storefront windows & door, 2 rooms, large windows, lots of light. Private washroom with all new fixtures. Onsite tenant and guest parking. EZ access, property is beautifully landscaped/maintained. One year lease renata623@gmail.com or 310-666-4541. 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