【商业周刊 20160128】太阳是谁的？
【中文标题】太阳是谁的？
【原文标题】WHO OWNS THE SUN?
【登载媒体】商业周刊
【原文作者】Noah Buhayar
【原文链接】http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-solar-power-buffett-vs-musk/
沃伦•巴菲特掌控着内华达州的传统能源供应商，埃隆•马斯克是颠覆市场的太阳能公司的拥有者。所以，故事开始了。
距拉斯维加斯长街7英里处，有一个现代化的三层办公楼，二楼是公共设施管理处。在办公室的外面，一个女声合唱组在唱着野兽男孩的经典歌曲：“We’re gonna fight ... for our right ... to go soooolar”。
这是1月13日，周围是一篇明亮的沙漠，天上飘着一绺细云。旁边高速公路上不时有汽车疾驰而过。街道对面，建筑工人正在一片空地上施工。当地电视台的工作人员开始近景拍摄合唱团，周围有数百名抗议者挥舞着标语，上面写着“不要霸占太阳”、“拯救太阳能工作岗位”。还有一个标语牌直指当地的电力公司：“不要做卑鄙的内华达能源企业”。
抗议者大部分都是太阳城公司的员工和客户。特斯拉汽车首席执行官埃隆•马斯克和他的两位表兄林顿•莱弗和彼得•莱弗在十年前成立了这家公司，在十几个州为用户提供清洁能源，年收入高达3.5亿美元。公司设计、安装、出租屋顶太阳能板，使用户可以节约电费的支出，当然同时也为应对气候变化做一点贡献。太阳城公司承诺，在20年之内，免首付款为用户安装太阳能板。这家公司最早建立于加利福尼亚州，后来扩展到亚利桑那州和俄勒冈州，它在2014年开始在内华达州的业务，很快成为全国领先的太阳能板供应商。
太阳城的成功部分归功于政府的补贴政策，叫做“净电量结算政策”，它允许使用太阳能板的用户把多余的电量卖给供电企业，以抵消太阳能板不发电时的用电量。与其它40多个州一样，内华达州要求供电企业必须以规定的价格购买用户多余的电量——基本上和供电企业出售电量的价格相同。在内华达，这样的政策执行效果良好。于是，这个州最大的公用事业公司——内华达电力公司——拼命在反抗这个政策。
首先，内华达电力公司派人游说政府部门，要求把普通居民和小企业的最大太阳能发电量限制为所有公共设施最大发电量的3％。之后，它明智地向政府监管机构阐明了自己的态度，后者改变了净电量结算政策的规则。12月份，内华达电力公司取得了一个巨大的胜利：内华达公共事业管理处实施了一项政策，不但让太阳能电力的使用更加昂贵，而且让已经使用太阳能电力的用户经济负担增加。类似的政策摩擦在其它几十个州也频频发生，但是内华达州最大程度地伤害了已经安装了太阳能板的用户的利益。
这些事情激怒了独立、自由市场的参与者，也激怒了关心环境保护的内华达人。1月13日一整天，人们涌进市政府的听证大厅，严厉斥责特派员。（还有两名特派员通过视频会议参加，他们在卡森市也在同时举行听证会。）官员们坐在桌子后面，一脸茫然。来自太阳城和另外一家公司日兴的员工说，他们已经被解雇，因为管理处的最新政策让他们的公司在内华达业务难以为继。大约1.8万名已经安装了太阳能板的用户说，官方在本来一个公平的游戏中作弊。一个用户威胁要提起赔偿金额高达10亿美元的集体诉讼。另外一个人把内华达电力公司比作国王乔治三世。
“你是不是收回扣了？”一个女人质问，她要求管理处提供证据证明他们的政策是符合公共利益的。
“回答她！”人群中一个人喊道。
“辞职！”另一个人喊道。
1月13日，演员马可•鲁法洛在公共设施管理处门前声援太阳能支持者。
马可•鲁法洛也来到了示威现场。这位演员专门飞到拉斯维加斯，径直前往管理处办公室，旁边陪同的是两名太阳城员工。六、七架摄影机跟着他来到一个麦克风前，集会民众起立鼓掌。他说管理处是劫贫济富的“反罗宾汉”，还说“公共设施有满满一锅肉”，而民众“只想要一小勺汤”。当一位电视台记者发现她把绿巨人拍摄进来时，兴奋地挥舞拳头。
所有这一切都未能左右管理处的决定。大约在下午4点30分，他们装模作样地进行了一番交叉询问，之后通过不记名投票一致反对延迟实施该政策。这是内华达电力公司和它的老板伯克希尔•哈撒威的又一次胜利，这家公司由沃伦•巴菲特投资并掌控。他并没有对此发表评论。
太阳城首席执行官林顿•莱弗说，在内华达“后果极其恐怖”。普通居民再也没有安装太阳能板的理由，那些已经安装太阳能板的人不得不在未来二十年里额外支付1.1万美元。他说：“我们要抗争到底，通过法律途径抗争，我有信心一定会赢。”
不久之前，太阳城与内华达官方的关系还是颇融洽的。莱弗说：“他们把自己标榜成友好的太阳能人士，经常会说：‘嗨，我们支持太阳能，要好好利用太阳能。’”而且，无论太阳城去到哪里，都会创造很多就业岗位。傻瓜也知道在一个大部分都是沙漠的州探索太阳能的潜力是名正言顺的。
2004年，莱弗夫妇和马斯克一起驾车去参加火人节聚会。莱弗当时正在寻找一个“对人类有深远影响”的商业机会，马斯克建议他的表兄考虑太阳能。莱弗在接受《圣何塞水星报》采访时说：“他并没有说更多的细节，只是让我进入这个行业。”从节日庆典回来之后，他把这个想法跟弟弟做了沟通，他们在2006年7月4日成立了太阳城公司。公司的使命是：帮助人们放弃化石燃料。当时已经通过PayPal攫取了巨额财富，并且在梦想火箭飞船和电动汽车的马斯克，投入了一笔钱，并担任公司的董事会主席。马斯克并没有回复我们对此采访的邮件。
第二年，太阳城就成为国内最大的太阳能服务商之一。在它进入的每一个市场，它都雇用了数百人来销售、维护和安装设备。但是莱弗一直没有进入内华达。为了让它的服务模式有所收益，太阳城需要一些合适的政策。多年来，内华达利用抽奖的方式为使用太阳能的居民提供折扣和退款。他说，这种随机性把很多潜在的客户挡在门外。
林顿•莱弗和彼得•莱弗。
多年来，内华达的立法机构在逐渐改变太阳能用户的鼓励政策。2013年，它终于取消了抽奖补贴政策，所有人都可以安装太阳能板了。州政府设置了一个最高限——不能超过所有公共设施最大发电量的3％。这些条款往往是为了安抚公共设施机构，让立法机构有机会研究更多的小型太阳能系统对整个电网的影响如何。
在2012年底，太阳城开始在全国范围内寻找呼叫中心的落脚点，并且开始考虑内华达州。州长布莱恩•桑多瓦尔的办公室开出了一些优惠条件。内华达州有一个“催化剂基金”，鼓励公司在州内开展业务。前州长秘书罗斯•米勒说：“这是‘爱情金钱’。”他在负责发放基金的理事会中任职。2013年3月，州政府公布了太阳城所获得的优惠政策。如果它能达成预计的就业指标，三年时间里公司可以得到40万美元的资助。当时，米勒在接受《维加斯》采访时说：“我果断给埃隆•马斯克跪了。”
当年8月，太阳城为其维加斯的新办公室举办了一个开业典礼，这里不仅是一个呼叫中心，还承担全国的销售和行政工作。桑多瓦尔说，这是整个州经济发展的“分水岭”，他和民主党参议员哈里•瑞德用一把巨大的剪刀剪开一条蓝丝带。瑞德说：“内华达将是你永远的家乡。我们会竭尽一切所能，让它成为你理想中的幸福家园。”
在新的净电量结算政策和补贴政策生效之后，太阳城在2014年5月1日正式开始营业。查理•卡塔尼亚在当天就打来电话。卡塔尼亚有点像吉斯•菲尔宾（译者注：美国传奇的脱口秀节目主持人），他在70年代来到维加斯，一辈子都在凯撒皇宫的纸牌桌上工作。他说：“我一直希望成为环境保护者，但是使用太阳能的成本太高了。”在与太阳城签订合同之后，他预计长期算下来的费用会有所节省，因为未来20年里他的电费价格都是固定的，内华达电力公司未来的调价对他的影响微乎其微。他说：“我已经71岁了，如果我能活到合同到期的91岁，那就感谢上帝了。”
数千人效仿了卡塔尼亚的做法，他们纷纷与太阳城、日兴和其它太阳能公司签订了合同，有退休人员、计算机工程师、酒吧招待、年轻人、老人、民主党人、共和党人、自由派人士，大部分都来自内华达南部。总体而言，使用太阳能的居民大都是环保人士，但是省下一点点钱更让他们乐不可支。
为了满足日益增长的需求，莱弗在州内建立了更多的服务中心，工作人员在外出时可以更方便地携带太阳能板和其它设备。公司设立了一个“主席奖杯”，以表彰各分公司中工作效率最高的工厂。2015年，拉斯维加斯的两座工厂霸占了评选的头两名，他们几乎每个月都获胜。
发展势头喜人，但是问题逐渐浮现：莱弗和他的员工发现他们快要达到3％的封顶线了。
巴菲特在1999年进入公共事业领域。当很多投资者在追逐硅谷的最后一轮IPO时，他买下了德梅因的一家电力公司。建造电厂、维持电网运行需要大量的后续投资，钱对他来说不算回事。作为垄断性和核心产业，电厂永远不会消失。他后来说，公共事业“不是致富之道，而是‘保富’之道。”
到2013年，位于伯克希尔的能源集团已经囊括了电力公司，为俄勒冈州、华盛顿州、爱达荷州、怀俄明州和犹他州部分地区供电。它还投资了数十亿美元在衣阿华州建造风力农场，在加利福尼亚州和亚利桑那州建造巨型太阳能列阵。在太阳城从内华达州得到“爱情金钱”两个月之后，巴菲特斥资56亿美元购买了内华达电力公司，伯克希尔的这个举动让内华达电力公司贡献了集团五分之一的能源收入。
电力公司的产业环境处于政府的高度监管中，所以他们与当选的官员们有密切的关系。内华达电力公司在内华达州的内部关系尤其强大。它的两名游说专员——皮特•厄尔诺特和格雷格•费拉罗是桑多瓦尔几十年的朋友。桑多瓦尔在接受《雷诺加泽特日报》的采访时说，这两个人最早在2010年劝说他竞选州长。他成功就职之后，他们继续在他的办公室任职。
州长行事力求公正，他曾经倡导有助于太阳能产业发展的政策，还否决了一些对公用事业明显有利的提案。甚至太阳城在当地的游说专员罗伯特•李斯特都说，桑多瓦尔是“一个完全正直的人”。尽管如此，州长很难摆脱一些负面形象。拉斯维加斯PBS电视台的政治节目主持人琼•拉尔斯顿说：“厄尔诺特和费拉罗给他很大的影响。”
2015年的立法会议去年2月份在卡森市召开，太阳能板的生产企业主要关注是否可以提高3％的上限，而巴菲特的公共事业坚决反对。李斯特说：“我们和内华达电力公司的游说专员做过无数次的沟通，他们成群结队地整天呆在政府大楼里，我们无法达成一致意见。”
3月9日，厄尔诺特给桑多瓦尔的两位高级顾问发送了一份有关净电量结算政策的简要文件。日兴公司在申请记录公开之后得到了这个信息。文件中说：“净电量结算政策与客户的选择和竞争无关。”太阳能板的用户已经得到了一些补贴，如果把上限定为10％，补贴的金额必定还会上升，正如太阳能企业所期望的那样，所有的用户将会支付更高的费用。公共设施方面认为，通过大规模的太阳能列阵来发电是效率更高的做法。
一个月之后，莱弗去拜访州长。会面一开始，桑多瓦尔拿出一份打印好的他在维基百科上的词条。有人刚刚在州长的生平中添加了一些有关内华达电力公司游说净电量结算政策的信息，说他可以提高太阳能电量的最高限，来避免太阳能公司裁员的后果。
莱弗说：“他非常愤怒，耳朵里似乎要冒出烟来。他说：‘这是你们这帮人干的，都是你们干的。’我赶紧说：‘噢，等等，等等。是来谈这个州太阳能产业的前景的，这不是我们干的。’”
桑多瓦尔的一位发言人玛丽•圣•马丁说：“州长并没有表现出不快。”但是他“的确提到了一些值得质疑的行为，太阳能板生产商的一些人的卑鄙小把戏，在互联网上散布一些误导的信息，影响到州长的权威。”
双方的争论拖入到5月份，太阳城和其它太阳能企业需要尽快做出决定。只要州立法委员会可以提高上限，会议在6月1日就可以结束。在那之后，立法委员直到2017年才会再一次开会。内华达电力公司、太阳城和其它太阳能企业最终同意立法委员会取消上限，但是公共事业管理处需要重新研究净电量结算政策的价格，以确保其它消费者不会承担不合理的额外成本。政府官员将在最晚12月31日审批公共事业所提出的新价格。莱弗说：“就像是一把枪顶着我们的脑袋让我们同意。”
内华达电力公司在7月底向公共事业管理处提交了价格方案，之后的五个月是极为紧张的讨论和决策过程，目的是在12月做出最终决定。政府的办事员花费了数百个小时查询数据、研究文件。听证会持续了4天。莱弗说：“我们没有看到任何迹象已经使用太阳能板的用户的电费价格会发生变化。”
最终，管理处决定所有已经安装太阳能板的居民将会享受统一的政策。还决定，享受净电量结算政策的小企业和普通居民每年可以从其它用户那里得到超过1600万美元的补贴。为了填补这个缺口，管理处在新年前夜达成一致意见，提升两项收费，降低一项收费。用一个内华达南部的太阳能板用户来举例，他将会看到每个月的电费会逐渐上升。到2020年，每年多付的电费在12.75美元到38.51美元之间。在此期间，他出售太阳能电量的收入将会减少75％。他从电网获得的电量价格会稍微有所降低。
内华达电力公司试图通过公布在网站上的一张电费单样本来解释这样的变化。一位叫做简•多依的居民住在拉斯维加斯幸福大街1234号（虚拟地址）。在新电价系统下，她1月份的电费单是94.64美元，按照以前的价格计算，她的电费是84.66美元。内华达电力公司的电费样本仅显示了第一年的变化。莱弗说，太阳城的报价仅仅比内华达电力公司以前的价格低一点点，所以他马上就得出结论，他们已经无法继续在内华达做生意了。
公布裁决一天之后，莱弗宣布，太阳城将会停止在内华达的产品销售。之后，他还宣布公司将会裁减当地550名员工。日兴和其它太阳能公司也做出了类似的表态。太阳城在拉斯维加斯的呼叫中心依然有1000多名员工，但他们主要服务其它州的客户。
内华达电力公司能源供应副总裁凯文•加雷特说，在整个过程中，让他觉得沮丧的是，太阳能企业总是“用情绪来左右技术和财务分析”。如果你想用太阳能，“就必须承担公平的电网运作成本”。他说太阳能板的用户还会继续享受电费“巨大的”节省，居民的投资回报率最终取决于内华达电力公司的价格走势。而公共事业最近若干次降低了他们的价格。
加雷特认为太阳城误导了消费者。他说：“这就是他们在内华达的所作所为，他们在其它州也是一样。”太阳能公司不喜欢管理处的裁定结果，因为“他们无法挑战事实和数字”。“他们总是用一成不变的、模糊的屋顶太阳能板概念来忽悠，在面对事实和数字时无力辩驳。”
莱弗回击道：“内华达电力公司说的不对，他们的数字有误，所有人都希望管理处能看到这一点。”
2015年4月22日，抗议者在拉斯维加斯内华达电力公司门前的道路上集会。
内华达的能源之争并不鲜见。太阳能产业正在美国蓬勃发展，部分原因在于太阳能板价格的迅速下降。考虑到通货膨胀的因素，70年代中期一瓦特太阳能电量的成本是96美元，生产工艺的改进和产量的大幅提升让成本下降了99％，今天的数字是68美分。像太阳城这类公司提供的租赁服务，更加速了它的普及。联邦政府在12月份决定给予太阳能用户30％的税收优惠，也起到了重要的作用。
仅仅在十年的时间里，太阳能已经从环境保护者的梦想，变成了严肃的政府游说工作，在全国范围内引发了这种争斗。据北卡罗来纳清洁能源科技中心提供的信息，超过一半的州已经准备在2015年第三个季度修改他们的净电量结算政策。无论太阳能公司去到哪里，都会引发公众的支持，而且往往都得到了明星的支持。1月24日，一个支持太阳能的组织主办了一场音乐会，迈克尔•弗兰蒂、鲍勃•威尔和萨米•哈格尔在旧金山呈现了一场免费的听觉盛宴。
能源公司或许无法赢得公众的支持，但是他们也在开发自己的新能源技术，以跟上社会态度的转变，同时满足政府的要求。在北卡罗来纳州，杜克为太阳能产业投入了9亿美元。巴菲特的公司承诺，从2014年开始在各类产业中陆续投入150亿美元开发各类可再生能源。去年，奥巴马政府宣布了气候变化承诺之后，它宣布把这个投入加倍。大部分资金都被投入衣阿华州公共事业和中美能源公司，目前的风力涡轮发电量占其全部电量的30％。
巴菲特的公司还签订了一些长期的合同，购买可再生能源。去年，内华达电力公司与太阳能产业巨头First Solar签订了一项电力采购合同，价格是每兆瓦时38.70美元。分析人士当时说，这是有史以来最便宜的价格。政府专员引用了这样的例子来证明，没有必要在内华达继续鼓励净电量结算政策。如果目标是让更多的太阳能电量进入公共电网，内华达电力公司的采购成本会进一步降低。
当然，这些举措无法抚慰已经安装了太阳能板的内华达人的情绪，公众的声音似乎也已经被内华达电力公司意识到了。1月25日，内华达电力公司说，它会要求管理处允许已经在享受净电量结算政策的用户在未来二十年里继续使用旧的系统，如果满足一定条件的话。公共事业管理处负责人保罗•考迪尔在一份声明中说：“一个公平、稳定、可预见的成本结构，对于我们所有的客户来说都非常重要。”管理处很快会举行这个问题的听证会。
即使公共事业机构的建议被接受，也远远达不到太阳能企业的要求。12月的决定或许会被提交法院，甚至直接到总统办公室。太阳城和其它组织正在试图把这个问题在11月份提交投票表决。
陷入困境的人中包括戴尔•克里尔。管理处听证会的第二天，他向媒体展示了自己位于拉斯维加斯郊外亨德森的房屋上铺设的56块太阳能板。2011年，他花了4.8万美元安装太阳能板。由于太阳城当时还没有在内华达州开设商店，所以他把自己的房屋再次抵押来支付这笔费用。这套系统让他每个月收到的内华达电力公司电费账单从以前的330美元，下降到大约80美元。在一年时间里，他收到了内华达电力公司寄来的一张1355美元的支票，因为他的太阳能电量达到了公共事业对于新能源电量的需求标准。他说：“这曾经是我做出的最明智的决定。而现在，那是我做过的最愚蠢的事情。”
克里尔是小型货机的飞行员，他已经打算退休，但是他恐怕还需要找其它的工作，直到他有信心处理巴菲特的公共事业的账单。他说：“如果事情彻底无法挽回，我就会用电池。反正我要彻底摆脱电力公司的掌控，让他们去死吧！”
原文：
Warren Buffett controls Nevada’s legacy utility. Elon Musk is behind the solar company that’s upending the market. Let the fun begin.
Outside the Public Utilities Commission office, which is on the second floor of a modern, three-story building about 7 miles from the Strip in Las Vegas, a chorus of women are shouting to the tune of a Beastie Boys classic: “We’re gonna fight ... for our right ... to go soooolar!”
It’s Jan. 13, a crisp desert morning with high, wispy clouds. Cars zoom by on a nearby freeway. Across the street, construction workers are leveling ground in front of a subdivision. Local TV news crews close in on the women as several hundred other protesters wave signs that read “Don’t hog the sun” and “Save our solar jobs.” Another poster takes a jab directly at the local power company: “Don’t be shady NV Energy.”
Many of the protesters are employees or customers of SolarCity. Started a decade ago by Tesla Motors Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and two of his cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive, SolarCity has brought renewable energy to the masses in more than a dozen states, generating about $350 million in annual revenue. The company designs, installs, and leases rooftop solar systems at prices that allow homeowners to save on their monthly power bills—and fight climate change along the way. For a 20-year commitment, SolarCity will set customers up with panels for no money down. After starting in California and expanding to Arizona and Oregon, SolarCity began selling in Nevada in 2014 and quickly became the state’s leading installer of rooftop panels.
SolarCity’s success is partly because the government provides subsidies and enables an arrangement called net metering, which allows homeowners with panels to sell back to the grid any solar energy they don’t use. This helps offset their cost of power when the sun’s not shining. Like more than 40 other U.S. states, Nevada forces utilities to buy the excess energy at rates set by regulators—usually the same rate utilities charge (hence, the net in net metering). In Nevada, it’s worked well. So well, in fact, that NV Energy, the state’s largest utility, is fighting it with everything it’s got.
First, NV Energy deployed its lobbyists to limit the total amount of energy homeowners and small businesses were allowed to generate to 3 percent of peak capacity for all utilities. Then it expertly argued its case before regulators, who rewrote the rules for net-metering customers. In December it scored a major win: Nevada’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) imposed rules that not only make it more expensive to go solar, but also make it uneconomical for those who’ve already signed up. Similar regulatory skirmishes are playing out in dozens of other states, but no other has gone as far as Nevada to undermine homeowners who’ve already installed solar arrays.
All this has enraged independent, free-market, and environmentally conscious Nevadans. All day on Jan. 13 people enter the hearing room to give the sole commissioner an earful. (Two more commissioners are piped in via video from Carson City, where the hearing is happening simultaneously.) The bureaucrats sit blankly behind their desks as employees from SolarCity and a competitor, Sunrun, explain that they’d been let go because the commission’s recent ruling killed their companies’ business in the state. Some of the roughly 18,000 customers who have already put solar panels on their roofs say the officials have rigged the game against the players. One homeowner threatens a $1 billion class-action lawsuit. Another compares NV Energy to King George III.
“Are you getting kickbacks?” demands one woman, who asks the commission for records proving it made its ruling in the public’s interest.
“Answer her,” shouts a man in the crowd.
“Resign!” yells another.
Actor Mark Ruffalo rallies solar supporters in front of the Public Utilities Commission office on Jan. 13.
At one point, Mark Ruffalo shows up. The actor has flown in for the rally and makes his way into the commission office flanked by two SolarCity employees. A half-dozen camera crews follow him to the mic, and he receives a standing ovation after he calls the commission the “anti-Robin Hood” for taking from the people and giving to a monopoly. “The utility has the whole pie,” Ruffalo adds. The citizens, he says, “just want a tiny, little slice.” A local TV reporter, realizing she just got the Hulk on film for her segment, pumps her fist.
None of it sways the commissioners, and at around 4:30 p.m. they make a show of cross-examining each other before voting unanimously to deny requests to delay the new rules. It’s another victory for NV Energy and its owner, Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company controlled by Warren Buffett. He didn’t respond to requests for comment.
“The outcome was horrendous” in Nevada, says SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive. Homeowners no longer have any financial incentive to put panels on their roofs, and those who already did may end up paying an additional $11,000 over the next two decades, he says. “We will fight this. We will fight it legally, and I’m highly confident we will win.”
Not that long ago, things were far more cordial between SolarCity and Nevada officials. “They sold themselves as being solar-friendly,” Rive says. “It was, ‘Hey, we are for solar. We want to make solar work.’ ” It probably didn’t hurt that SolarCity also had created scores of jobs wherever it went and that it was a no-brainer to tap the sun’s potential in a state that’s largely desert.
In 2004, Rive, his wife, and Musk were in an RV on their way to Burning Man. Rive was casting about for a business idea that could “have an impact on humanity,” and Musk suggested that his cousin look into solar power. “He didn’t say how or what, but just get into the industry,” Rive told the San Jose Mercury News in December. When Rive got back from the festival, he told his brother about the conversation. They founded SolarCity on July 4, 2006. The company’s mission: to help people leave fossil fuels behind. Musk, who had made a fortune on PayPal and was dreaming up rocket ships and electric cars, put up some capital and became chairman. Musk didn’t reply to an e-mail seeking comment.
SolarCity grew into one of the country’s largest solar operators in the years that followed. In the markets it entered, it hired hundreds of people to sell, maintain, and install its systems. But Rive didn’t enter Nevada. To make its contracts work, SolarCity needed the right policies in place. For years the state provided rebates for homeowners who wanted to go solar through a lottery system. The randomness turned potential customers off, he says.
Lyndon and Peter Rive
Nevada’s legislature had been gradually changing incentives for solar customers for years and, in 2013, it did away with the lottery for rebates, so anyone could get one. The state also set a new cap on installations—3 percent of the utility’s peak demand. Such provisions usually appease utilities and give regulators a chance to study what it means to have more small solar systems on the grid.
SolarCity had begun a national search to figure out where to open a call center in late 2012 and considered Nevada. Governor Brian Sandoval’s office offered a sweetener, Rive says. Nevada had set up something called the Catalyst Fund to encourage companies to locate operations in the state. In the economic development trade, “it’s called ‘love money,’ ” says Ross Miller, a former secretary of state, who served on the board that doled out the funds. SolarCity’s grant was announced in March 2013. The company would get paid as much as $400,000 annually for three years if it met certain hiring targets. “You had me at Elon Musk,” Miller told Vegas Inc., a business news outlet, at the time.
In August of that year, SolarCity had an opening ceremony for its Vegas office, which was to serve as its main call center and handle sales and administrative functions nationally. Sandoval called the opening a “watershed moment” for the state and joined with Democratic U.S. Senator Harry Reid in cutting a green ribbon with a giant pair of scissors. “Nevada is going to be your home for a long time,” Reid said. “And we’re going to do everything we can to make it one that’s a happy, happy home.”
With the new net-metering and rebate policies in place, SolarCity began taking applications on May 1, 2014. Charlie Catania called that same day. Catania, who resembles Regis Philbin, came to Vegas in the 1970s and spent most of his career at Caesars Palace working in the baccarat pit. “I wanted to be a good steward of the environment,” but going solar was always too expensive, he says. By signing with SolarCity, he anticipated saving money over time, because his energy rates would be locked in for 20 years. That would help him minimize the impact of any increases NV Energy might make. “I’m 71,” he says. “If I live to 91, when my lease is up, hallelujah.”
Thousands more followed Catania, signing contracts with SolarCity, Sunrun, and other providers. They were retirees, computer programmers, bartenders, young, old, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian. Most were in southern Nevada. By and large, the homeowners who went solar cared about the environment. But the thought of saving a few bucks—and sticking it to NV Energy—didn’t bother some of them, either.
To meet the demand, Rive opened more operations centers in the state, where its crews of installers would grab panels and other supplies before going out on a job. The company had created something called the Chairman’s Cup—after Musk—to honor the most productive warehouse nationally. In 2015 its two locations in the Las Vegas area dominated the competition, winning almost every month.
The growth was good. But another problem was looming: Rive and his staff thought their industry was about to reach the 3 percent cap.
Buffett got into utilities in 1999. While many investors chased the latest Silicon Valley IPO, he bought a nice electric company in Des Moines. Building power plants and maintaining the grid offered almost endless opportunities to reinvest cash, which he had a lot of. And, as a monopoly providing an essential service, the local power company wasn’t going away anytime soon. Owning utilities isn’t “a way to get rich,” he later said. “It’s a way to stay rich.”
By 2013 the energy unit at Berkshire had expanded to include power companies serving parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. It had also invested billions of dollars in wind farms in Iowa and giant solar arrays in California and Arizona. Two months after SolarCity got its love money from Nevada, Buffett offered $5.6 billion to buy NV Energy. Soon after Berkshire completed the purchase, NV Energy accounted for about a fifth of the company’s energy revenue.
Because power companies operate in a highly regulated industry, they stay close to elected officials. NV Energy’s ties in Nevada were particularly strong. Two of its lobbyists—Pete Ernaut and Greg Ferraro—have been friends with Sandoval for decades. Sandoval told the Reno Gazette-Journal that the lobbyists had first suggested he run for governor in 2010. Both ended up serving as advisers to his successful campaign and have continued to lobby him in office.
The governor has tried to avoid favoritism—and, at times, has promoted policies that helped the solar industry and vetoed legislation that the utility wanted. Even Robert List, SolarCity’s lobbyist in the state, says Sandoval is “a man of total integrity.” Still, it’s difficult for the governor to get away from the perception that “he’s being influenced by them,” says Jon Ralston, the host of a political affairs show on Las Vegas’s PBS station.
As the 2015 legislative session opened in Carson City last February, the rooftop solar industry was focused on lifting the 3 percent cap. Buffett’s utility was set against it. “We had numerous conversations with the NV Energy lobbyists, and they were swarming all over the building constantly,” List recalls. “Nobody could seem to find a middle ground.”
“Whoa. Hold on. Hold on. I’m here to talk about the solar future of the state. This is not us.”
On March 9, Ernaut sent a briefing document on net metering to two of Sandoval’s senior advisers, according to an e-mail that Sunrun obtained through a public records request. “Net metering is not about customer choice and competition,” it said. Rooftop solar customers, it went on, were already getting a subsidy, and it would only increase if the cap were lifted to 10 percent, as the solar industry wanted. All customers would have to pay higher rates if that were allowed, according to the document. Instead, the utility argued it would be more cost-effective to generate power from large-scale solar arrays.
A month later, Rive went to see the governor. Sandoval began the meeting by handing over a printout of his Wikipedia page, Rive recalls. Someone had just inserted information about NV Energy’s lobbying on net metering in the governor’s biography and wrote—erroneously—that he could lift the cap to prevent solar companies from cutting jobs.
“He was really upset, like fuming out of the ears,” Rive says. “He goes, ‘This is what you guys are doing. This is all you.’ … And I’m like, ‘Whoa. Hold on. Hold on. I’m here to talk about the solar future of the state. This is not us.’ ”
“The governor did not express frustration,” Mari St. Martin, a spokeswoman for Sandoval, says of the meeting. But he “did bring up the questionable, petty tactics of some members of the rooftop solar industry, which included misleading online postings about the governor’s authority on the issue.”
The debate dragged into May. SolarCity and the other installers needed a resolution. Only the state legislature could lift the cap, and the session was scheduled to end on June 1. After that, lawmakers wouldn’t convene for a regular session again until 2017. NV Energy, SolarCity, and other solar companies agreed to legislation that eliminated the cap. But it also required the utilities commission to study net-metering rates and eliminate any unreasonable shifting of costs to other customers. It set a Dec. 31 deadline for officials to review and approve new rates that the utility would submit. “We literally had a gun against our head to support it,” Rive says.
NV Energy made its case to the utilities commission in late July, kicking off a five-month process that culminated with the December decision. Staff spent hundreds of hours requesting data and reviewing information. There were four days of hearings. Nowhere in all this, Rive says, was there any hint of changing rates for people who had already gone solar.
Ultimately, the commission decided that everyone who put panels on their roofs should be treated the same. It also found that small commercial and residential net-metering customers were getting more than $16 million in subsidies a year from other people. To fix that, the commissioners agreed on New Year’s Eve to two rate increases and one decrease. A residential solar customer in southern Nevada, for instance, would see her monthly service charge gradually step up in annual increments from $12.75 to $38.51 in 2020. The amount she got paid for the electricity she produced would plunge by about 75 percent during the same period. She’d also get a slightly cheaper rate on the energy she drew from the grid.
NV Energy tried to explain the changes by posting sample bills on its website. A southern Nevada homeowner called Jane Doe residing at (the wishfully named) 1234 Happy Dr. in Las Vegas, for instance, would end up paying $94.64 for her January bill vs. $84.66 under the old rates. NV Energy’s sample bills also account for only the first year of changes the commission approved. SolarCity’s pricing undercut NV Energy by just a little bit in Nevada before the new rates, Rive says. So he knew immediately that he could no longer do business in the state.
A day after the ruling, Rive announced that SolarCity would cease sales in Nevada. Later, he said the company would have to dismiss 550 workers in the state. Sunrun and other solar companies followed suit. SolarCity still employs more than a thousand people in Las Vegas at its call center, but they mostly serve other states.
Throughout the process, says Kevin Geraghty, NV Energy’s vice president for energy supply, he’d been frustrated by how the solar industry has tried “to influence what is a technical, financial analysis with emotion.” If you go solar, he adds, “you have to pay your fair share” for the grid. He says rooftop solar customers will continue to enjoy “substantial” savings on their utility bills. A homeowner’s payback on a rooftop system ultimately depends on the trajectory for NV Energy’s rates, he says. Recently, the utility has managed to cut them several times.
Geraghty blames SolarCity for confusing customers. “That’s what they did in Nevada,” he says. “They’ve done it everywhere they’ve been.” The commission came out with a ruling that the solar companies didn’t like because “they didn’t challenge the facts and figures,” Geraghty says. “They rolled out the same tired, generic, rooftop solar arguments. And in the face of facts and information, they failed.”
“NVE is wrong—their data was flawed, and everyone except the commission recognized this,” Rive fires back.
Protesters line the street during a rally in front of NV Energy on April 22, 2015, in Las Vegas.
The power struggle in Nevada is hardly unique. Solar is booming in the U.S., in part because of a stunning drop in the price of panels. Adjusting for inflation, it cost $96 per watt for a solar module in the mid-1970s. Process improvements and a huge boost in production have brought that figure down 99 percent, to 68¢ per watt today, according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Leasing from companies such as SolarCity has only sped up adoption. And a multiyear extension of the 30 percent federal solar tax credit in December has also helped.
In just a decade, solar has gone from an enviro’s dream to a serious lobby that will be fighting these kinds of battles nationwide for years. More than half of U.S. states were studying or changing their net-metering policies in the third quarter of 2015, according to the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center. Just about everywhere solar companies go, the industry has stirred up popular support, often with help from celebrities. On Jan. 24 a pro-solar group arranged for musicians Michael Franti, Bob Weir, and Sammy Hagar to play a free, acoustic concert in San Francisco.
Power companies may not be winning any popularity contests, but they’re developing their own renewable energy to keep up with changing attitudes and to meet state mandates. In North Carolina, Duke Energy is spending $900 million on solar. Buffett’s company had committed $15 billion across all its operations through 2014 to all types of renewable energy. Last year it pledged to double that as part of an Obama administration climate pledge. Much of this money has gone to its Iowa utility, MidAmerican Energy, which can generate about 30 percent of its power from wind turbines.
Buffett’s company has also bought renewable energy through long-term contracts. Last year, NV Energy signed up to purchase power from a giant First Solar installation outside Las Vegas for $38.70 per megawatt-hour. Analysts said at the time that it was one of the cheapest rates on record. Commissioners cited projects like that for why it made no sense to continue encouraging net metering in Nevada. If the goal is to put more solar on the grid, it’d be far cheaper for NV Energy to procure it.
This, of course, is of little consolation for the Nevadans who’ve already blanketed their roofs with solar panels. The public outcry seems to have registered with NV Energy. On Jan. 25 it said it would ask the commission to allow existing net-metering customers to stick with the old system for two decades in some instances. “A fair, stable, and predictable cost environment is important to all our customers,” Paul Caudill, the utility’s president, said in a statement. The commission will soon rehear that portion of the case.
Even if the utility’s proposal is accepted, it may not go far enough for the solar industry. The December decision could be challenged in court—or taken straight to voters. SolarCity and other groups are trying to get the issue on the November ballot.
Caught in limbo are people such as Dale Collier. The day after the commission hearing, he showed off a 56-panel system on his home in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson. It cost him about $48,000 to install in 2011. SolarCity hadn’t yet set up shop in Nevada, so he paid for it by refinancing his house. The system took his NV Energy bill down to about $80 a month from the $330 it used to average, he says. One year, he got a $1,355 check from NV Energy because his solar power was helping the utility meet its renewable energy requirements. “It was the smartest thing I’d ever done,” he says. “Now, it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”
Collier had planned to retire from his job flying small cargo planes. But he doesn’t want to stop working until he has a better handle on his monthly bills from Buffett’s utility. “If it goes totally haywire, I’m going to look at batteries,” he says. “I’d love to just go off the grid totally, and tell them to f--- off.”
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