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FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — California utility regulators say that homeowners and businesses installing rooftop solar panels can keep offsetting their energy bills by sending surplus power back to the grid.
The state's Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved new solar guidelines. They add fees to future solar users, but those fall short of what utilities want to charge customers for use of the grid.
Bernadette Del Chiaro of the California Solar Energy Industries Association praised the ruling. She says the ever-dropping costs of solar equipment will offset the new fees.
She says Nevada and other states have raised the costs, pushing the solar energy out of the market.
PG&E Spokesman Ari Vanrenen says the commission's decision is disappointing but PG&E is committed to rooftop solar.
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This story has been corrected to reflect that the PG&E source's first name is Ari.
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