Critical public hearings and comment period: Idaho Power Seeks Changes for Solar Customer Compensation
Boise, ID - Idaho Power alleges that customers who generate their own electricity (“net meterers”) are not paying for their fair use of grid infrastructure. The Company has asked state regulators to approve a plan to put these customers into their own customer class-- a first step towards charging these customers different rates. If approved, this regulatory change could have drastic implications for customers’ right to self-generate and offset their electricity demand.
The Public Utilities Commission will be hosting two public hearings on Idaho Power’s proposal:
· Boise hearing: Thursday, March 1 at 7 pm at the IPUC Hearing Room, 472 W. Washington St.
· Pocatello hearing: Monday, March 5th at 7 pm at the City Council chambers, 911 N. 7th Ave.
Zack Waterman, Director of the Idaho Chapter Sierra Club, issued the following statement:
“Idaho Power’s proposal to segregate customers that generate their own electricity into a separate rate class is poor public policy because it puts the cart before the horse. The Company has yet to complete any comprehensive benefits-cost study to show there is any cost shift problem that needs to be addressed. Today Idaho’s solar industry employs hundreds of workers across the state and is growing fast. Before we single out solar customers and cast uncertainty into the marketplace, it’s in everyone’s interest to slow down and go about this the right way.
Net metering solar customers provide power to their next-door neighbors and can help reduce the need for expensive transmission and distribution infrastructure necessary to move electricity from power plants that may be hundreds of miles away. A recent report by the nonpartisan Brookings Institute found that net metering “frequently benefits all ratepayers when all costs and benefits are accounted for”. Completing a comprehensive benefit-costs study is necessary before any changes to existing net metering policy are implemented.
If studies determine the value of energy exported to the grid is worth less than retail rates, any future policy changes should only address the value of energy exported to the grid. Idahoans must continue to have the right to reduce their own consumption without discrimination, whether that be through self-generating electricity or reducing consumption through energy efficiencies”.
More information can be found here.
