![]() Since the first decrease to rooftop solar rates took effect over a year ago, installation of rooftop solar in Utah has already dropped significantly. “When Rocky Mountain Power first proposed changes to rooftop solar rates, it was on the basis that rooftop solar in Utah was growing so rapidly that rates needed to change to stay ahead of the curve. Rocky Mountain Power’s assessment of what solar is worth doesn’t reflect any of these long-term or communitywide benefits,” she said.īowman pointed out that investment in rooftop solar has already dropped in Utah because of changes in compensation rates. Rooftop solar creates thousands of local jobs, improves energy resiliency in our communities and reduces risk from increases to fuel prices. “When we add more clean, locally produced energy to the grid, everybody wins. Kate Bowman, Utah Clean Energy’s renewable energy program manager, said Rocky Mountain Power failed to adequately assess the value of excess solar energy in its proposed rate change and instead applied an analysis extremely narrow in scope. That customer base could still lock in the 9.2 cent rate until 2032. ![]() The new rate would not affect existing rooftop customers, or those who invest in solar power generation systems this year before a cap has been reached of 170 megawatts. Rocky Mountain Power has set a placeholder date for Jan. If approved, the new compensation rate would affect only those customers who get rooftop solar after the Public Service Commission directs the change.Ī multiday hearing is scheduled before the commission in October, which could issue an order to make it effective then or sometime next year. The decreased rate does bump up on a differential scale depending what time of day excess generation takes place and what time of year, but it does not come close to the retail rate. The company’s Net Billing Program offers a fair and balanced approach to support energy choices.” “The company’s proposal also minimizes impacts to other customers by not paying customer generators for exported energy in excess of its value. “The company’s proposal will better provide customers more accurate price signals to inform a decision on whether to invest in private generation facilities,” wrote Joelle Steward, vice president of regulation for Rocky Mountain Power, in a filing last week before the Public Service Commission. That retail rate of 9.2 cents was never intended to stay in place, Rocky Mountain Power officials say, because it creates an “intraclass subsidy” and instills inequity for those without rooftop solar. SALT LAKE CITY - Rocky Mountain Power is proposing decreasing the compensation rate it pays to new rooftop solar customers for the excess energy they generate, dropping it from 9.2 cents per kilowatt hour to as low as 1.56 cents per kilowatt hour.
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