A leader in solar power is no longer selling renewable energy in the Silver State, after the Public Utilities Commissions decision on December 22 to increase rates for solar energy.
Those rates took effect on January 1.
That decision and those new rates pushed SolarCity to tear down its training center Tuesday.
The company pulled out of doing future business in Nevada in the wake of the PUC's decision.
Officials at SolarCity say there's less incentive for customers to make the switch to solar, because the new rate structure cut the price of green energy that the solar companies could sell back to the power companies, increasing monthly bills for thousands of solar customers.
"We go solar because we want to help people save money and do the right thing for the planet, and with these new rates, our customers might be paying even more than they would have had they not gone solar," says Chandler Sherman, the public affairs manager with SolarCity.
SolarCity employees are being given the choice to transfer or relocate.
Motions have been filed with state regulators seeking to stay the new rate for residential net metering customers.
The rate structure has been controversial because it would include existing net metering customers moving forward, even though there was a different rate structure in place when they opted to install their systems.
The commission could vote to delay these changes at a January 13 meeting.
The solar industry is expected to begin filing motions to request that the utility regulator reconsider its order to hike rates for solar customers.
