Solar Showdown: Nevada’s Consumer Protection Bureau Files Lawsuit Against Public Utilities Commission’s Approval of Solar Price Hikes

In a pair of high-stakes lawsuits filed just weeks ago, environmental justice advocates and the state attorney general’s Bureau of Consumer Protection are taking the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) to court, claiming the regulators overstepped their bounds by green-lighting a billing overhaul from NV Energy that could add hundreds of dollars annually to the tabs of thousands of solar-powered households.

The controversy centers on a November 20 PUCN decision that ushers in what NV Energy touts as a “fairer” energy pricing model — but critics slam as a punitive tax on green energy. Starting April 2026, Southern Nevada residential and small business customers will face a new daily “demand charge” based on their peak 15-minute energy draw during the day, ditching the longstanding total-consumption metric. For Northern Nevada solar users, a parallel tweak shifts to 15-minute net energy metering, further squeezing credits for excess power fed back to the grid.

Solar supporters warn this first-of-its-kind nationwide shift will disproportionately hit the state’s 144,000 solar-equipped homes — most clustered in the Las Vegas Valley — hiking average monthly bills by about $12 for those with panels. Non-solar customers might see a slight dip thanks to lowered per-kilowatt-hour rates, but the real losers, say plaintiffs, are everyday Nevadans betting on rooftop renewables to slash fossil fuel dependence and combat “climate change.”

“It’s a major step backward for Nevada’s clean energy future,” declared Chauntille Roberts, regional director for Vote Solar. “Nevada deserves energy policies that protect consumers, expand access to solar, and move our state forward — not backward.”

The opening salvo came November 26, when Vote Solar — a national nonprofit which “advocates in 25 states across the U.S. to accelerate our transition to 100% clean energy for all” — teamed up with Earthjustice to file in Carson City District Court. Their petition for judicial review blasts the PUCN’s approval as unlawful on multiple fronts: violating state statutes, exceeding regulatory authority, botching procedures, ignoring solid evidence, and imposes unjust and unreasonable rates that inflict unfair burdens on solar customers.

Drawing from the complaint’s core arguments, Vote Solar contends the demand charge and netting changes flout Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 704.040’s mandate for “just and reasonable” rates, while undermining the PUC’s core duty under NRS 704.001 to shield ratepayers from unfair burdens. Environmental allies like the Sierra Club’s Nevada chapter, Veterans Power America, and the Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition have rallied behind the suit, amplifying calls for “equitable energy access.”

Following their lead, the Nevada Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection (BCP) — which tried (and failed) to stall the changes pre-approval — lobbed its own grenade on December 10 in Clark County District Court. BCP’s filing zeroes in on how the policies breed “unjust, unreasonable, and unlawful” rates that shift an estimated $50 million annual subsidy burden from solar users to the broader grid.

BCP goes further, skewering the PUCN for rubber-stamping $2.7 million in “affiliate charges” — overhead costs NV Energy funnels through sister companies — without a shred of evidentiary backing. “The Commission’s decision… is belied by the record,” labeling it “arbitrary and capricious” and a betrayal of consumer safeguards.

In a statement, NV Energy defended the demand charge, saying in part: “The demand charge more accurately captures the cost of energy delivery. It also helps to fix inequities between rooftop solar and non-rooftop solar customers. NV Energy believes the changes that were approved and reaffirmed by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada are consistent with state law.”

Under the Democrat-controlled legislature, and signed by former Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak, the majority ushered in legislation that required the state to be fueled by 50 percent renewable energy by 2030, which has caused NV Energy to pass on costs for retrofitting and related conversion to its customers.

However, an investigation by state regulators found that, since 2002 to 2024, NV Energy overcharged its customers to the tune of $65.4 million.

As reported by The Nevada Current:

NV Energy estimates it overcharged customers at both ends of the state by a total of $65.4 million from 2002 through 2024, the company reported in response to an investigation by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission.

The utility initially acknowledged overcharging some 60,000 customers by roughly $17 million, the Current reported in May, but the utility later found through an audit it had overcharged another 20,000  “previously unidentified ‘multi-family accounts’ for an undisclosed amount.”

A law passed by the Legislature this year in response to NV Energy’s failure to make customers whole requires that utilities pay back all overcharges with interest. Active customers will get a credit to their bills, while previous customers will receive a refund, according to the law.

The Globe will continue to provide updates to this ongoing litigation.