Now their firm, SolarCity, is coming forward with statistics they say show that the utilities are, at best, completely befuddled by the challenge and, at worst, may actively be throwing up obstacles along the path to connecting solar customers to the grid.

So far, of the 100 customers who've had units installed at their homes since they went on sale at the end of 2011, just 12 have been hooked into their local grid, SolarCity said. The firm now has a backlog of 500 applications for connections, and has had to stop adding to their queue.  

"We're trying to drive down the road, but there’s a roadblock," said SolarCity spokesman Will Craven. "We're not going to drive through a roadblock — we're just waiting for roadblocks to be removed."