Nevada took a bold step towards promoting clean energy as it recently passed a couple of new laws pertaining to the use of renewable resources.

Nevada is one of the most progressive states when it comes to the use of renewable energy and it aims to fulfill at least half of its total energy needs through the use of clean resources by the year 2030.

If Nevada’s Public Utilities Commission won’t listen to the public, maybe it’s time for a new commission.

It’s a rare thing for three individuals to stand in defiance of the Governor who appointed them, the majority of the legislators whose laws their charged with enforcing, 89 percent of the public they were appointed to protect and even one of the major utility companies they appear to be supporting with their highly controversial decisions.

The Nevada Public Utilities Commission voted Wednesday not to delay implementation of new fees and lower net metering rates for rooftop solar customers.

The unanimous decision came in the face of more than 1,000 people protesting outside “we want freedom” and hundreds more inside who made thoughtful and impassioned arguments against the new charges for all solar customers – including about 18,000 home and business owners who have already made the investment.

Nevada utility regulators have created an ugly legacy for themselves with their December decision to slash net metering benefits and increase fees for rooftop solar – even to those customers who have participated in the program for years.

Nevada solar advocates are outraged at the state’s largest utility’s seemingly deceptive tactic to trick the legislature into enacting a net metering cap that could begin limiting rooftop solar installations before September.

Nevada lawmakers were tasked with deciding whether or not to increase the net metering cap this spring and ultimately made a small boost from 225 megawatts to 235 megawatts. But they might have made the decision with bad information from the state’s biggest utility provider.