Crying for sunlight

Utilities call foul on ruling on solar rate

Last Sunday, the Arkansas utilities called foul, saying they are “looking at challenging” the APSC net-metering ruling. There is no reason for crying, the APSC ruling came after four years of consultations with utilities and solar proponents. APSC Chairman Ted Thomas said after the ruling “We want consumers to have the best option without shifting costs to other customers.”

To be fair, the APSC ruling is not the “solid victory” solar advocates claim nor a total loss for the utilities. It is a short-term deal leaving doors open for a yearly fee to protect coal, oil, and gas.

However, the power of states to set electric rates is at high risk. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will decide next week a request by a secret utility group asking FERC to treat the exchange of kilowatt-hours (kWh) as regulated wholesale transactions.

My comment to FERC, submitted Monday: “Dear Commissioners, I am a grandfather speaking for my solar rights. My family invested in rooftop solar to avoid carbon emissions, not to avoid the cost of energy. We are not a utility, we don’t sell kilowatt-hours, and we don’t have a FERC rate. Unlike the petitioners, we have nothing to hide.

“Last Thursday, the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reached a three-million-year high, at 417.1 parts per million, despite the 17% drop in daily emissions brought about by the coronavirus lockdown, according to annual measurements at the atmospheric research lab at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. These numbers, posted by the U.S. National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration, capture the annual peak in CO₂ levels at the end of May and reflect a 2.4 ppm increase over 2019. By contrast, the annual growth rate in the 1960s was about 0.8 ppm.

“Please deny the request from the secret group in full.”

Who owns the grid?

Every transmission line has been paid for by electric customers. We own the grid. All electric customers pay a monthly connection fee to maintain the grid. Residential and industrial customers have different energy demands and should be treated differently.

Arkansas residential solar customers, around 1 in 10,000 homes, have small scale solar systems. Net metering benefits the utilities, they get kWh’s at peak hours. The 7 cents per kWh utilities are crying about is insignificant, a rounding error on their balance sheet.

Large industrial solar customers with solar farms are a completely different case.

The utilities’ business model is based on the market price of electricity. The economic principle “the market is always right” is stock market fiction, irrelevant for regulated monopolies with never-ending subsidies and bailouts granted by Congress.

What about the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit? Incentives are used for new technologies where first adopters pay higher prices. The ITC is only used to reduce federal income tax and expires in 2022.

Last month, energy experts Wood Mackenzie found that the cost of solar systems would decrease by 30 percent by removing the 2018 import tariffs, paid in full by American solar customers.

The Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Corporation’s CEO, Buddy Hansen, said, “As electric co-ops, we are used to planning for the unexpected, whether it be restoring power after a tornado or flood or making sure we can serve our members in a pandemic. Our goal is to always provide electricity to our members in an affordable, reliable, and responsible manner.” Solar customers can work together with AECC and increase the storage and resiliency of the grid.

Last week, the True value of solar described how families and communities are investing in distributed solar and storage, along with electric vehicles. These investments to decarbonize are high-risk for Arkansans where net-metering is under attack, and exorbitant yearly fees on electric vehicles are arbitrarily imposed to protect gasoline sales.

Good news for the utilities. The demand for electricity will increase with the number of EVs and the use of air conditioners to deal with heat and humidity.

Rise for solar

To protect your family’s solar rights, and preserve the APSC, please send FERC a comment to keep net metering at www.SaveSolar.org by June 15.

Dr. Luis Contreras