SolarCity’s recent announcements that it’s launching services in South Carolina and Florida could indicate a big policy shift toward more favorable solar regulations in the Southeast US.

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 sun will continue to shine on the solar industry in California. Utility regulators there voted this week to retain retail rate net metering for solar customers. While there will be some changes to the state’s net metering policies, the vote is seen by most as a victory for California’s rooftop solar customers and businesses.

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.

Between the recent climate accord in Paris and a likely deal between Congressional democrats and republicans to extend the solar investment tax credit, the future is looking bright for rooftop solar.

Solar stocks started climbing after more than 250 nations came to a historic agreement this month to take actions aimed at slowing global warming. With the United States standing arm-in-arm with the United Nations at the Paris Climate Change Conference in early December, it’s clear the government will increase its support of renewable energy technologies.

Could the utility war on solar be so catastrophically timed as to spur mass grid defection?

If California utilities had proposed slashing net metering benefits in half and tacking on an $18 monthly connection fee for solar customers three years ago, it might have stifled the growing industry. Instead, the proposal to the California regulators is timed to coincide with the release of the Tesla Powerwall.

For the first time ever, residential rooftop solar installations outpaced non-residential solar in the US in 2014. That’s thanks, in large part, to more and more creative financing options for homeowners who want to generate their own electricity, according to a report from GTM Research.

SolarCity launched a new loan program this week that didn’t make big headlines, but that could be big news for the solar industry.