This article seems to have a more thorough explanation:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.marketwatch.com&#x2F;story&#x2F;is-this-sunny-state-trying-to-kill-solar-power-2016-01-07" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.marketwatch.com&#x2F;story&#x2F;is-this-sunny-state-trying-...</a><p>snip -----------------------<p>A little-understood billing mechanism called net metering is at the heart of the Nevada controversy.<p>Net metering means that residential and commercial solar customers are billed for their “net” energy consumption. They are allowed to send back to the grid the electricity their solar arrays generate when the supply outstrips demand -- such as during daytime hours, in the case of a home -- and take power from the grid when demand may exceed the system’s output -- such as at nighttime when all the lights are on, or during a cloudy spell.<p>It’s a system usually based on power-bill credits. How that quid-pro-quo works, varies from state to state and from utility to utility. In Nevada, the utility regulators have decided to pay lower, wholesale prices for that surplus power, not the higher, retail prices they had been paying.<p>California utility regulators evaluated a similar proposal, but decided against major changes. In Hawaii, regulators approved lower net metering rates, but not higher fees for the most part. Arizona and Wisconsin have imposed higher monthly surcharges for solar customers.<p>More worrying in Nevada’s case, however, is that regulators made no provision to grandfather in existing customers, said Shayle Kann, a senior vice president at GTM Research, a green-energy consulting firm.<p>-------------- end snip