Puerto Rico extended a key rooftop solar policy. Then came the lawsuit.

Given that deficit, and the grid’s persistent shortcomings, Puerto Rico’s lawmakers passed Act 10 in January, which amends an existing net-metering law to cement the policy in place for the next seven years.

Before Governor Pierluisi signed the law, the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau had been scheduled to reevaluate the program — a move that solar proponents worried would lead to weaker incentives. Now, under Act 10, the bureau can’t undertake a comprehensive review of net metering until January 2030, and any changes wouldn’t take effect until the following year.

The FOMB argues that Act 10 imposes ​“corrosive and dangerous politically motivated restrictions on the Energy Bureau” and is driven by special interest groups, including the island’s rooftop solar installer lobby. Act 10 goes against the intentions of a separate 2019 law, known as Act 17, that established the bureau as an independent energy regulator, the board said.

“The energy system has only just begun to recover from decades of political mismanagement that left the people of Puerto Rico with a failing electric system,” Robert F. Mujica Jr., FOMB’s executive director, wrote in a July 29 column.

The new law ​“removes the referee from an important element of Puerto Rico’s energy transformation. It is as if we remove the umpire for one inning. It’s not how a good game is played,” he said. ​“That is why the Oversight Board believes Act 10 must not stand.”

The oversight board insists that it supports net metering, rooftop solar, and Puerto Rico’s broader efforts to achieve 100 percent renewables. On its website, the FOMB says that invalidating Act 10 won’t change the current net-metering program or prevent new customers from enrolling. Instead, it will create space ​“for an honest dialogue based on facts and data” by allowing the Energy Bureau to complete its study, which could ultimately uphold net metering.

A draft version of the Energy Bureau’s study, published in June, raises questions about whether net metering is the most efficient or equitable pricing mechanism for driving renewable energy adoption, particularly as residential rooftop solar grows. The regulator argues that net-metering customers are overcompensated compared to the value of service they provide to the broader grid — a shortfall that’s borne by utility customers that don’t participate in net metering.

“New methods need to [be] explored and adopted,” according to the draft report, which called for a ​“collaborative approach” to evaluating and implementing net-metering alternatives.

The debate is reminiscent of battles playing out in states like Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada, where critics of those net-metering regimes say the policies unjustly shift costs from those who can afford solar to those who can’t. Meanwhile, solar industry advocates and environmental groups argue that weakening net metering will slow momentum for rooftop solar at a pivotal moment in the nation’s clean energy transition. In California, home rooftop solar projects have plummeted since regulators slashed incentives last year.

For Puerto Ricans, ​“Net metering is the only thing that exists that gives people an additional financial reason to move towards solar,” said Ortiz of Solar United Neighbors. The nonprofit works with communities to develop solar-powered resilience centers, which provide places for people to cool off, refrigerate their medicine, and seek shelter during weather events and grid outages. He said the centers use the electricity bill savings to provide such services to residents.

“When I hear them [FOMB] say they’re only trying to look out for the interest of the people, it really concerns me,” Ortiz said. ​“Because this is the will of the people, that the net-metering law should be left as is.”