The Edison Electric Institute has led a successful campaign to roll back incentives for home solar installations, helping bring a once-growing industry to a halt, the New York Times reported Saturday.

EEI and it member electric utilities have convinced many states to either review or scale back homeowner incentives for installing solar panels on their homes. A prominent target has been net metering—a policy in which homeowners are given credits for the excess power they pump into electric grids, sometimes eliminating their monthly power bills completely.

Critics of solar argue that net metering results in making a smaller, and often economically poorer, number of homes responsible for covering the cost of maintaining electric grids. EEI and other utilities groups have successfully leveraged the argument in getting state lawmakers to review or revise their solar incentive policies.

"We believe it is important to balance the needs of all customers," EEI spokesman Jeffrey Ostermayer told the Times.

New rooftop solar installations have recently ground to a halt after years of explosive growth, the newspaper reported. In addition, Energy Secretary Rick Perry recently ordered a review of how renewable energy is hurting traditional energy sources like coal, oil and natural gas. Perry's chief of staff is former EEI lobbyist Brian McCormick, who is in charge of the study. http://nyti.ms/2tC9KoD

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