Rooftop Solar’s Threat to Utilities by the Numbers

The rise of rooftop solar has resulted in a catchy phrase—the “utility death spiral”.  It's the idea that utilities will be put out of business by distributed energy.  A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study confirms utilities in the United States do have reason to worry but finds that changes to regulations could make solar and utilities friends, rather than foes.
...
The Berkeley Labs authors concluded that incremental changes to the regulations that govern utilities could address the economic dislocation caused by distributed energy.  For example, utilities could charge higher fixed monthly fees and rely less on kilowatt-hour sales.  Utilities could also own distributed PV systems or have customer solar count toward state renewable portfolio standards, which mandate that a portion of their energy come from renewables.

Rooftop Solar’s Threat to Utilities by the Numbers