The US government’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has put out a warning that it’s seeing a rise in complaints related to cryptocurrencies and assets. As much of a shock as that may be, it’s not just concerned with straight-up fraud and scams, though those are the most common problems the agency hears about — the CFPB also says consumers have been sounding the alarm about issues with transactions going through , lost savings, and more.

The bulletin is a 45-page document that analyzes the crypto-related complaints the CFPB has received from October 2018 to September 2022, showing the increasing frequency of consumers reaching out for help and providing several examples of bad behavior. In that time frame, almost 40 percent of the over 8,300 complaints the agency received were about scams and fraud, 25 percent where about miscellaneous transaction problems, and 16 percent were about money not being available when promised. The most complaints — around 13 percent — came from California, followed by Florida with 689 complaints, around 8 percent.

The report also digs into the surprisingly common practice of exchanges freezing funds, which the CFPB says has affected “millions of customers.” And that’s just when it’s done on purpose; the bureau has also received plenty of complaints about technical difficulties at exchanges, especially during large price fluctuations, where not being able to trade could wind up costing users a lot of money.

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The California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) new solar energy proposal removes a previously proposed monthly grid tax that could’ve added hundreds of dollars per year to the cost of solar installations (via Reuters).

The CPUC was looking to slash solar incentives for customers of investor-owned utilities and, in December, proposed charging a monthly fee of $8 per kilowatt to connect new solar customers to the grid. As pointed out by my colleague Justine Calma, some industry groups opposed the plan saying it “would end California’s solar boom,” which has made it the state with more rooftop solar than anywhere else in the US.

The CPUC responded by removing the monthly grid fee from its proposal.

At the same time, the CPUC is also planning to reduce energy payouts back to the grid, called Net Energy Metering (NEM). This could reduce payouts from $0.30 per kilowatt to a pallet $0.08, according to an analysis by the clean energy business group California Solar & Storage Association (CALSSA), reducing the possibility of recouping installation costs in less than 10 years.

Reuters notes that the new proposal included an additional $900 million to support battery and solar systems, mostly for low-income customers, and that the CPUC has previously said it wants to encourage battery storage over selling excess power. The CPUC also said that the adjusted NEM rates would only affect new solar installations, and current panel owners can continue selling back to the grid at the higher rate.

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