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Regulatory Capture Thwarts Feedback

Chapter 7 examines net metering. These laws have been crucial across the country for the development of the solar market. They set the rules for how to compensate individuals and organizations supplying energy to the grid, typically excess solar energy. After passing a series of clean energy targets in the 1990s and early 2000s that the state never implemented, Arizona finally began to get serious about renewable energy in 2008, passing a net metering law that year. However, the state regulator made a series of decisions from 2013 to 2017 that weakened and ultimately retrenched the state’s solar policies. Here, regulatory capture was key to electric utilities’ success in controlling the policymaking process. One utility, Arizona Public Service, spent over $55 million across several elections to block clean energy policies and elect anti-solar politicians. This chapter shows how opponent interest groups can directly drive retrenchment through regulatory capture.