Monopoly utilities want to extinguish the independent rooftop solar market in America to protect their socialist control of how we get our electricity. They have engaged in class warfare and tried to sabotage net metering, a billing method that gives individual homeowners fair credit for power produced on their own rooftops. They would like to deny us Americans energy choice and maintain their monopoly status.
As a son of Arizona, I know we have no greater resource than the sun. Republicans want the freedom to make the best choice and the competition to drive down rates.That choice may mean they save money, and with solar that is the case. Solar companies have a track record of aggressively reducing costs in America. We can't let solar energy - and all its advantages and benefits it provides us - be pushed aside by monopolies wanting to limit energy choice. That's not the conservative way and it's not the American way.
Barry Goldwater Jr., Former US Congressman
For information and background on TUSK see this article from the Wall Street Journal from July 2013! IndianaDG has been following TUSK since this WSJ article appeared.
A revolutionary alliance of conservative and liberal renewables advocates is watching events in Indiana, where they say Republican-sponsored legislation may threaten solar growth.
The Green Tea Coalition has changed the politics of renewable energy in other states. Its leaders are now studying Indiana’s HB 1320, which State Representative and bill sponsor Eric Koch (R) calls a pro-solar bill. Solar advocates say it is actually designed to kill the industry in Indiana.
“What is not getting attention are the provisions of the bill designed to promote and grow distributed generation in Indiana,” Koch told Utility Dive. “It authorizes leasing of distributed systems, which is not permitted right now.”
The Indiana Energy Association, which represents the state’s 14 utilities, supports the bill, according to spokesperson Dave Arland. In addition to establishing solar leasing, it has “important consumer protections, including a disclosure requirement about the details of the lease. And it gives the Indiana Attorney General the authority to deal with bad actors.”
“It is a well-crafted technical bill that is difficult for the solar industry and elected officials and consumers to fully understand,” said Midwest spokesperson for the Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC) Amy Heart. “This bill adds fees and gets rid of any economic viability of customer-owned and rooftop-sited solar.”
Renewables are growing, but Indiana still largely relies on coal
Credit: Indiana Energy Association
Inside HB 1320
The bill has three particularly troublesome provisions that would impact owners of distributed generation (DG) like rooftop solar, according to Citizens Action Coalition Executive Director Kerwin Olson.
It will change the remuneration for net metered solar from the retail rate to the significantly lower avoided cost of acquiring electricity from another source.
It allows Indiana utilities, if the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approves, to add, for the first time, a fixed monthly charge to DG system owners’ bills.
It allows utilities, with regulatory approval, to set their own rules for DG interconnection and may allow them, for the first time, to establish interconnection fees.
It also may, Olson added, allow utilities to create a fixed monthly charge for all Indiana utility customers for the first time.
“That section may fundamentally change the way we regulate utilities,” Olson said, “because it may mandate the commission to allow the fixed charge on a cost causation basis alone, ignoring the long held regulatory principle that utility rates must be just and reasonable in a broader, more societal context.”
Finally, Olson charged, the consumer protections for solar leasing customers described by Arland and other stipulations of the bill “burdensome and unnecessary obstacles,” as they are known in regulatory proceedings.
“Under the bill, the commission will make a determination of what is just and reasonable and in the public interest,” Representative Koch said.
HB 1320 would allow Indiana’s solar industry to expand through solar leasing, "but along with that growth comes the issue of cost shifting," Koch said. "The fixed charge, which seems to get most of the attention from the critics, is designed to make sure the costs of the grid are fairly apportioned to those who use it.”
“The bill provides a pricing structure that is fair to the customer who installs solar and is fair to the customer who does not,” explained Indiana Energy Association President Mark Maassel. It addresses potential problems with net metering that have been encountered in other states before they become problems for Indiana, he said.
“And, because we are opening up the possibility of leasing, which is something that in other states has led to a lot of solar being installed, we are creating a market for Indiana that can support long term growth because it makes sense.”
TASC does not agree. By lowering net metering remuneration for DG owners, possibly adding a monthly fixed charge to their bills, and instituting interconnection fees, the very solar leasing program the bill authorizes becomes uneconomic, Heart said. “But Indiana legislators may not see past its advocates’ claim that it is pro-solar.”
Indiana currently has a higher net metering cap than its Midwest peers
“This is an attack on solar and on freedom of choice going on nationwide,” said Atlanta Tea Party Patriots Co-Chair Debbie Dooley. She has been talking to Olson and others about engaging in Indiana.
Dooley, one of 22 founders of the national Tea Party movement, sits on the Board of Directors of the Tea Party Patriots and is the leader of the Green Tea Coalition. An alliance of environmentalists and free-market advocates, the coalition was initially formed in Georgia to protect access to solar. More recently, it has been active on behalf of solar in Florida.
“I am talking to some people about going to Indiana and calling the utilities out for trying to stop competition,” Dooley said. “Choice is free market and a lot of Republicans support the free market except when it comes to government-created utility monopolies that make a guaranteed profit off of building new power plants.”
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Koch brothers-funded groups are behind utility-led efforts to block solar and “stop competition and protect their profit margins,” Dooley believes.
“The reason I like solar is the average person can’t go out and build a new power plant but the average person can put solar panels on their roof,” Dooley said. She is not protecting solar as much as she is protecting the right to choose solar. “At some point, we are going to have to look at the structure of the monopoly utilities,” Dooley said.
Dooley's message for Republicans
“I have a message for Republicans," Dooley told Utility Dive. "If you are protecting monopolies, you are violating free market principles. In Indiana, elected officials who are trying to take away incentives for solar apparently don’t mind giving incentives to big corporations. They just don’t want individuals to have them.”
There is an energy revolution going on, she said. “For years, conservatives have been brainwashed into believing solar is bad. In the states where I am active, we don’t hesitate to call out those politicians and now a different message is being delivered. I look forward to coming to Indiana and delivering this message.”
Indiana politicians may already be getting the message. “This bill is a long way from its final version and there will be many amendments,” Koch said. “I am still taking stakeholder input and working with the commission. I have a lot of contact with various groups making their feelings known on all sides of the issue.”
Darrell Boggess installed solar panels to supplement his electric consumption on his home east of Bloomington, Ind. last year. The new panels are on his roof and he has had a solar heated furnace for nearly 30 years, pictured at right, that supplements his homes heat during the winter months on Friday, January 16, 2015. Chris Howell | Herald-Times
With the sun on his shoulders and frosty grass crunching under his feet, Darrell Boggess walked to the back of his house Friday to take a look at his electrical meter. Just as he predicted, it was running backward. "I love that," he said.
Boggess participates in Duke Energy's net metering program. When the solar panels on the roof of his home generate more energy than he needs, the excess goes out onto the power grid for others to use.
"My electrons are going out to my neighbors, and they're using my solar energy," he said.
In return, Duke Energy credits him for the power he's generating. For Boggess, it's a great program, but Indiana's utility companies don't think it's fair. And there's a bill in the Indiana General Assembly this session they feel will address the issue. Some, however, say it will effectively end net metering.
Rep. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, authored House Bill 1320, which would amend Indiana Code concerning utilities. The bill has been referred to the utilities, energy and telecommunications committee, of which Koch is chairman.
"The purpose of the bill is to promote and grow net metering," Koch said.
Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, is a member of the committee that will review the legislation. He said from what he's seen of the bill, it appears to do the opposite.
"It’s a very complicated bill, but it seems it would effectively end net metering by lowering the credit so that it’s no longer a good economic investment," he said.
Right now, utility companies charge and credit net metering customers at the same rate. So a kilowatt hour of electricity generated by a utility company's power plant has the same value as a kilowatt hour generated by Boggess' solar panels. The utility companies say they're getting the short end of the stick on that deal because it doesn't account for the cost to maintain the lines, transformers and other equipment that makes up the power grid.
"Net metering forces other people to pay more for the cost of electrical grid upkeep," said Dave Arland, media contact with the Indiana Energy Association, which represents 14 member utilities.
Right now, only about 500 entities participate in the net metering program in the state, so it's not a huge issue in Indiana, but in states like California, the disparity has become so large it's a $1 billion problem, Arland said referring to a report from the California Public Utilities Commission.
"That's why we want to address it now," he said.
Critics, though, say utility companies aren't factoring in the benefits of distributed generation.
"They claim when people conserve or generate energy they’re avoiding paying their fair share of grid maintenance," said Brad Klein, senior attorney with the Environmental Law & Policy Center. "That makes sense in theory, but the utilities have not done studies."
But other states have, he said. What states like Nevada, Mississippi, Utah and Louisiana have found is that net metering does a good job of roughly compensating at a fair rate, Klein said, referring to studies conducted by public utility commission's in those states.
"If you look at cost versus benefits, there’s no real subsidy," he said, referring to language in the bill. "The bill just reached that conclusion. It skipped the study step."
Arland said no studies have been done in Indiana to his knowledge. Koch, however, said when utility companies petition the Indiana Regulatory Commission to adjust their rates, that essentially is a study. He said when one of Indiana's five investor-owned utilities petitions the Commission, it must present evidence to make its case. A group that doesn't agree with the utility's findings could then present its evidence at a public hearing. He said the commission then weighs the evidence and makes a decision.
"It's a much better way," he said.
Klein doesn't understand that argument.
"The Commission couldn't determine to keep the existing net metering model because the bill requires the Commission to use a different, much lower credit based on avoided costs that do not reflect the grid benefits of solar," he said.
If a study was conducted in Indiana, Klein thinks it would find, as studies in other states have, that the existing credit is more than fair to utility companies because of the benefits net metering customers provide to the power grid.
"It's high-value energy," he said. "It's generated with sun, so it adds energy during high-use times when people are using their air conditioning."
Pierce agreed, saying when energy is transported long distances, like from a power plant in southwestern Indiana to Indianapolis, there is resistance in the lines, so some power dissipates, resulting in something called line loss. When customers are closer to the source, less energy is lost.
In addition, when there are more power generators, the system is less susceptible to a terrorist attack or a natural disaster, he said. The prices of renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar, are also more stable than fossil fuels.
"The sun isn't going to call you up and raise the price of photons," he said. "Coal and other fossil fuels are down now, but they will go up."
Arland said Indiana utility companies are not against renewable sources of energy for all the reasons Pierce and Klein mentioned. Koch said that's why the bill includes provisions that allow net metering customers to lease renewable energy systems. Now they are required to purchase them, he said.
In addition, the bill will require consumer protections for those who lease systems and remove regulatory obstacles that would prevent people from installing those systems on buildings, with a few exceptions, Koch said.
"This is all designed to promote distributed generation," he said. "But as it grows, we have to protect other ratepayers."
The bill also allows people who are already net metering customers to be grandfathered in so they won't be affected, Arland said. The utilities just want to be able to account for the effects of a growing trend, he said.
"It's an issue of fairness," he said.
Klein isn't buying that argument, though. He thinks it's an attempt by utility companies to preserve their existing business model and stifle acceptance of new technologies.
"Utilities see a future where customers have more energy options and they’re afraid," he said. "They’re trying to prevent that."
Just a quick update to let everyone know that the agenda for the House Utilities Committee was announced from the floor of the Indiana House before they adjourned for the day and HB 1320 concerning distributed generation and net metering is NOT on the agenda for 1/21/15.
Synopsis:Broadband ready communities. Establishes the broadband ready communities development center (center) within the Indiana economic development corporation to facilitate certain communications projects. Provides that the center may designate a unit of local government as a broadband ready community if the unit establishes a procedure to review applications and issue permits for th ecommunications projects
Synopsis:Communications services and providers. Eliminates the requirement that a communications service provider allow a physical connection by other providers to its system. Establishes a uniform statewide procedure for applications for and issuance of permits for the construction and modification of structures and facilities for the provision of wireless communications service. Defines "utility" forpurposes of IC 14-18-10 (the law concerning utility easements) toinclude a communications service provider. Provides that the director of the department of natural resources may not impose a charge to issue a permit to erect or construct a utility line upon or across a public highway right-of-way that passes through state land.
It is still highly recommended that you watch the committee hearing on-line so you get a better idea of how this works, especially if you are interested in testifying and/or attending the hearing on HB 1320.
This photo shows Rep. Eric Koch (R-Bedford) presenting HB 1423 (2014) to the House Utilities Committee. The House Committee hearings are held in a group of meeting rooms in the basement of the State House. No fancy nor spacious meeting rooms.
Indiana House Bill 1320, introduced by Rep. Eric Koch (R-Bedford), would allow utilities to set fixed charges for solar electricity users, which opponents say would shift profits from homeowners to utility companies.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Clean-energy supporters and utilities are at odds over a new bill at the statehouse.
Electricity customers in Indiana who use solar power receive credits for selling excess power back to the grid, but HB 1320 would minimize those credits, and allow utilities to set fixed charges for solar users.
Brad Morton, owner of Morton Solar in Evansville, is among those speaking out against the legislation. Morton says it would increase the cost to install solar power, effectively killing it as an energy option in Indiana.
"It takes the incentive out of the homeowner's pocket and puts it right into the pocket of the utility company," he says. "That's what this bill is all about, shifting the profits from the homeowner to the utility company."
Supporters say HB 1320 would ensure fairness among all customers when it comes to paying for use of the electric grid. But Morton argues it would stop the wave of solar implementation in Indiana.
According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory database, the state's solar output jumped from less than 500 kilowatts in 2010 to more than 3,500 in 2012.
Debbie Dooley, the founder of Conservatives for Energy Freedom, works around the country advocating for policies that support solar power and says encouraging innovation will spur competition. But with solar pricing at an all-time low, she says utilities and fossil-fuel interests are simply concerned about their own bottom line.
"They see solar as a threat because it will give consumers some degree of energy independence and energy choice," says Dooley. "This is not just going on in Indiana. This is being played out in states across this nation."
Morton says it's not just the users of solar who will pay a price if the new legislation is approved, but the 1000 jobs the solar industry supports in Indiana. He says lawmakers need to stop building barriers to energy efficiency.
"It shouldn't be considered political at all," says Morton. "It's not something that because you're on one side or the other that you're for or against. Solar benefits everybody, and it's your only option besides the utility company."
Last year, state leaders approved legislation that ended the state's energy-efficiency savings goal and statewide efficiency programs.
HB 1320 was introduced by Rep. Eric Koch (R-Bedford) who chairs the House Utilities Committee. The other members of the committee with their email addresses are as follows:
Our Chairman, Barry Goldwater Jr.
