Life is not fair, and it can get worse!
After the Dec. 5, 2019, Arkansas Public Service Commission (APSC) public hearing on net energy metering (NEM) the utilities demanded a quick decision. They did not know life was going to get worse.
On March 5, 2020, an op-ed in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette “A threat to state, solar users must pay a fair share,” by Ray Dillon, claimed electric rates would go up and companies would stay away from Arkansas. Dillon painted a scary picture of doom and gloom, pointing a finger to the solar “radicals” taking “advantage” of their neighbors.
On June 1, 2020, after four years of bickering over NEM, the APSC decided to credit solar customers one kilowatt-hour for each kilowatt-hour sent to the grid. The decision is valid through 2022 and applies to solar systems up to 1 megawatt.
Last week, Entergy Arkansas LLC filed a 35-page petition with the APSC requesting a re-hearing of the NEM rules, claiming the ruling was not “fair.”
Was the APSC fair?
The APSC was told by the Arkansas Legislature to make a difficult choice, with two groups looking at an elephant from different sides. The utilities got the trunk and solar customers the tail.
The utilities had information about the cost of their operations and the number, specifications, and energy generation of the solar systems in Arkansas. They had staff and lawyers dedicated to the docket. Solar customers had no information about the utilities or the solar systems, and no way to charge for time and expenses.
Who owns what?
Utilities ignore the investments solar customers have made to build their systems and the fact people own the grid. The kilowatt-hours sent to the grid during the day, lowering peak demand, are not “free” – the sunlight is nature’s gift, but the systems are expensive with import tariffs going to the Treasury.
Who sells what?
To lower greenhouse gas emissions, solar customers make high-risk investments to decarbonize the grid and promote energy efficiency. Solar customers do not have a license to sell, do not collect sales tax, and don’t advertise. Offsetting produced kilowatt-hours is not a sale. Product sales require a sale agreement, scheduled delivery, amount, and terms of sale.
In the “Entergy Net Metering” and rate schedule APSC Docket 18-073-TF Order No. 2, there are no references to product sales, buyer, seller, retail price, nor wholesale price: “With Net-Metering, the kilowatt-hours produced by the customer and supplied to the grid offset the kilowatt-hours supplied to the customer in that month (net kilowatt-hours). If the customer sends more kilowatt-hours to the grid than used, the kilowatt-hours charge is zero that month. The kilowatt-hours generated by the customer in excess of the kilowatt-hours used are accumulated and credited to the customer’s account.”
As long as no money is exchanged for the kilowatt-hours sent to the grid, solar customers should be viewed by utilities as “friends with benefits.”
Up to 68 percent of grid power comes from burning coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Coal is the main fuel used in 40-year old plants. Entergy’s White Bluff is a deadly 1,659-megawatt plant, with 10.3 million metric tons of greenhouse gases per year running without scrubbers to remove highly toxic sulfur dioxide!
The energy lost during electric generation and transmission increases the amount of carbon emissions. According to “Lost in Transmission,” November 2015, “we lost 22 quadrillion Btu’s from coal, natural gas, nuclear and petroleum power plants in the U.S. and we lost 69 trillion Btu’s moving electricity from plants to homes.
Energy resiliency is the answer
Utilities ignore the climate emergency, but the centralized grid is not weatherproof. Resilient systems withstand extreme weather without power interruptions. Last April, a storm caused 23,407 power outages for Entergy customers in Jefferson County, Ark.
Distributed energy microgrids with long term power storage and solar generation designed to run isolated are our best hope for survival.
APSC made a fair choice
Arkansas needs distributed solar energy with private and public funds working together. Solar energy is out of the box, let’s invest in distributed storage to decarbonize and enhance energy resilience.
Dr. Luis Contreras
In 2013 my family invested our savings to de-carbonize the grid and reduce our carbon footprint.
Why? We know what is coming – extreme weather from burning fossil fuels. We are in the middle of a climate emergency, and like the COVID-19, some people choose to party and go to political crowded events.
These are life-death issues, if Entergy has their way and changes the NEM as a sale of kilowatt-hours no one in Arkansas will invest in clean energy.
The average utility bill for 1,000 kWh per month is $100. It takes over 15 years to payback the cost of solar energy without state incentives, and paying 30 percent import tariffs going to the Treasury … never to be seen again
Solar customers do not invest in solar to lower their monthly bills
Please post questions or comments.
https://talkbusiness.net/2020/07/entergy-arkansas-requests-rehearing-of-psc-net-metering-order/
The net energy metering is not a state problem, it is a national problem with climate deniers selling fossil fuels
“A petition filed in April by the New England Ratepayers Association (NERA) has requested that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reassess its authority over retail solar sales, stating that the federal government, through FERC, not individual state legislatures and public utility commissions, has exclusive jurisdiction over wholesale energy sales and should end the practice of net metering.”
Like Entergy Arkansas, NERA is not happy and wants a new hearing!
Who is NERA?
http://www.neratepayers.org/about/
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/petition-seeks-federal-overturn-net-metering-calls-question-federal-vs-state
Outages are no longer unexpected in Arkansas
Heatwaves + blackouts are life-threatening for most people
http://www.magnoliareporter.com/news_and_business/regional_news/article_3216344e-7e7a-11ea-a900-73f57ff0145f.html