It is no secret that PG&E bills have gone through the roof. Higher utility bills are just one reason why people are adding solar panels to their roofs.

But California utility officials are looking at getting rid of big financial perk that comes with installing solar panels as a way of reducing energy costs for everyone else.

However, there is pushback. A San Francisco man argues solar homeowners are being unfairly scapegoated.

From the comfort of his kitchen table, Larry Maas can take a deep dive into his rooftop solar system. He has 14 panels, and can get an up-to-the-minute look at how much energy he's consuming, how much he's contributed to the grid, and much more.

"What we produce right now is going back to the grid," he said.

Maas has utilized the power of the sun since 1979.

"We did it for the good of the planet, but we also did it because it cuts our electrical bill down," Maas said.

California offers certain subsidies to those who use solar. But those financial incentives may soon be in jeopardy.

"It's very frustrating," Maas said.

In response to Governor Gavin Newsom's executive order aimed at lowering the rising costs of electricity in California, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently published a report outlining numerous recommendations of ideas to get there.

One of those ideas? Reducing or eliminating solar subsidies.

The CPUC argues that while rooftop solar is helpful for climate goals, the grid costs that solar users save are then passed on to those who don't use solar. The annual cost shift is around $8.5 billion, according to the CPUC.

"Essentially, what we're doing, we're buying less electricity from PG&E because we produce our own," Maas said. "PG&E sees that as money lost to them and they want to make that up."

But Prof. Severin Borenstein, UC Berkeley's Faculty Director of the Energy Institute at Haas, says the solar cost shift is a part of the larger puzzle that needs to be addressed.

"A lot of the costs that we pay through our electricity bills are costs that don't actually vary with how much electricity we consume," he said. "When some customers buy less electricity from the grid, we still have to pay for most of the costs of the grid regardless, and that means other customers have to pay more."

Borenstein says the cost shift is not the primary factor in driving up the price of electricity, however.

"I think a policy to start to phase out those subsidies makes a lot of sense," he said. "We're going to have to attack all of the reasons, including reining in utility expenditures, but this is one of the reasons. Otherwise, we're just not going to have affordable electricity rates."

Maas and solar advocates, however, argue rooftop solar is being scapegoated as it has been before, as to what's to blame for rising energy costs.

"Solar owners should not be penalized. They should be encouraged," Maas said. "Solar saves everybody money. Period. There is no denying that. You can obfuscate that. PG&E does a very good job of it. The lobbyists that represent the oil industry and fossil fuels do a very good job of obfuscating it."

From his vantage point, the more households that move to rooftop solar, the better it would be for the planet and the state.