The Imperial Irrigation District has filed a civil lawsuit against the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.
The suit was filed in Riverside County Superior Court and alleges that the Riverside County Board knowingly adopted an ordinance that is in conflict with state law. According o the IID , Riverside County Ordinance number 943 was adopted to benefit a private business owner whose business would benefit directly from the impacts of the ordinance. Ordinance Number 943 would require the IID to drop their board adopted solar tariff and net energy billing and create a new solar tariff that closely resembles that of Southern California Edison , a privately owned utility that also operates in Riverside County. IID Board president James Hanks said , " While IID values its relationship with Riverside County , we will not sit idly by and allow the board to undermine the district's responsibility to its customers in Imperial and Coachella valleys." According to the IID the district has surpassed its state obligations under the net energy metering program , IID currently provides a similar solar tariff , net energy billing , to any of its customers who install residential solar systems. The District says that to date , IID customers have installed approximately 5,000 solar systems totaling more than 68 megawatts.