California puts limits on program that paid wealthy homeowners to install backup batteries

State utility regulators Thursday overhauled a flawed rebate program designed to help Californians cope with deliberate blackouts engineered to reduce wildfire risks.

The Public Utilities Commission voted 4-1 to revise a 10-month-old program that offers sizable rebates to customers who buy expensive batteries that can provide electricity when the wildfire-safety power outages kick in. The vote came as thousands of PG&E Corp. customers endured the fourth deliberate blackout in a little over a month.

The PUC program, financed with ratepayer money, was designed with low-income residents in mind. But in its original version, the commission neglected to set income limits on one enormously popular segment of the program, which offers rebates for those installing batteries to power their water wells.

Commissioners said they were hearing reports that some of the rebates were going to high-income residents — and in some cases, going to people putting batteries on vacation homes.

The revised program will limit eligibility for water-well battery rebates to residents whose household income is 80% of the area median, or less. Residents must also show that they’re using the batteries at their primary homes, not vacation homes.

The revision ensures that the program will funnel “what are really scarce public resources to the customers with the greatest need,” said PUC Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen.

This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 12:22 PM with the headline "California puts limits on program that paid wealthy homeowners to install backup batteries."