HELP WYOMING SAVE ROOFTOP SOLAR Public Comment Needed to Kill Draft Bills on Net Metering

HELP WYOMING SAVE ROOFTOP SOLAR Public comment needed to kill draft bills on net metering

BACKGROUND Net metering is a policy that allows owners of small, on-site renewable energy systems (homes, schools, and businesses) to get credit for the extra power they supply to the electricity grid. For example, when a homeowner’s rooftop solar panels generate more power than what is needed on sunny days, the excess electricity is sent to the grid and can be used by neighbors. Net metering allows the owners of the solar array to get credit for this extra energy supplied to the grid, which they can use later in the year, covering the cost of future electricity needs. Currently, Wyoming law only allows small residential-sized systems — 25 kilowatts or less — to be eligible for net-metering credit.

The Wyoming State Legislature’s Interim Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Committee is considering two bills that would change our net-metering law to make rooftop solar and other distributed energy sources that could put energy back on the grid much less economically viable.1 One of these would lower the value of energy produced from residential net-metered facilities by more than half, charge citizens for the energy they self-generate and use on-site, and require costly new installations. The other bill would repeal our current net-metering law entirely. If either of these bills passed into law, they would kill business like rooftop solar companies in Wyoming by eliminating important financial incentives and adding considerable economic uncertainty for net-metered customers.

IS THERE A PROBLEM THAT NEEDS FIXING HERE? Recently, states and utilities — who misunderstand or dislike consumer preferences for small-scale renewable energy and don’t understand the value that this provides society and the grid — have started opposing these systems because of claims of cost shifting. “Cost shifting” is a term that appears to be solely used against small renewable systems; utilities claim that because on-site solar users buy less electricity from them, the companies get less money to cover their overall costs of transmission and grid maintenance.

This argument has two major fallacies. First, it runs counter to our national and state priorities for energy efficiency and savings. And upgrades for energy efficiency (a policy our own Wyoming Business Council has been supporting through grants and loans for decades) have been shown in a recent Department of Energy Report to have a much bigger impact to utility costs than net metering, accounting for a 14% decrease in sales. Secondly, energy produced from rooftop solar systems in Wyoming is so miniscule (less than 0.04%) that any cost impact is trivial, at best.

WHAT WYOMING STANDS TO LOSE These bills threaten to destroy an emerging industry at a time when Wyoming should be diversifying its economy and creating new employment opportunities in the energy sector. There are currently 10 small businesses in our state that provide solar installations, counting for approximately 140 jobs.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, solar jobs are the fastest growing occupation and solar energy is one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the country. Rooftop solar is an industry we must encourage — not destroy! Furthermore, these bills threaten the long-term investments made by nearly 900 net-metered customers across Wyoming already. Other states who have enacted similar laws have watched as the price to implement similar changes has soared for both customers and utilities.

1 Although these bills would impact all types of distributed energy generation they would mostly impact rooftop solar customers and companies. Solar energy makes up 83% of the total net-metered generation in Wyoming.

WYOMING OUTDOOR COUNCIL October 2019

Tell the committee to stop inventing problems with our current net-metering law and start focusing on the real job and growth opportunities of rooftop solar.

KEY TALKING POINTS ● It is premature for Wyoming to limit the growth of the fastest growing industry and job market in the United States. We need to diversify our economy, and support this private sector. We need policies that help grow jobs and keep Wyoming as a viable place to make a living, not ones that shut businesses down and send our jobs and young people to other states. ● Wyoming has room to grow the rooftop solar industry without harming other ratepayers. Wyoming ranks 43rd in the country for solar jobs per capita, yet has the 8th best solar resource in the nation. The Department of Energy, Association of Utility Commissioners, and others find that net metering does not affect other ratepayers until a 5–10% market impact. Wyoming is only at 0.04%! ● These bills unfairly target Wyoming’s small-scale solar customers as a source of “cost shifting.” Cost shifting is not unique to rooftop solar. It occurs with many electricity users and especially when residents, municipalities or businesses invest in energy-efficiency measures or when utilities service remote rural areas. (In both cases, costs are shifted either to customers using more energy or to customers living closer to where energy is generated.) ● What is in the best interest of big utilities might not be in the best interest of the general public. Utilities like Rocky Mountain Power are speeding up the retirement of Wyoming’s power plants, citing new cost-effective renewable energy sources they plan to use while also supporting these bills that will crush Wyoming’s small-scale solar businesses. ● These bills fail to recognize the true value of solar energy. Rooftop solar has health, social, and environmental benefits well beyond other forms of energy production. It also provides cost benefits to other ratepayers due to avoided energy needs, avoided distribution losses, and avoided costs for transmission, since the energy is produced in the same location where it is used. ● Enacting these laws will be expensive and technically challenging in ways that the committee has not seriously considered. Hundreds of people have made strategic, long-term financial investments into net-metering facilities across the state, and in order to comply with these proposed laws, they would need to make additional, costly installations. ● Is the legislature the best decision-making body to determine the rates utilities pay to net-metered customers? Shouldn’t a decision around utility rates be left in the hands of the Public Service Commission, who has a duty to provide reliable service to customers at just and reliable rates?

WHAT CAN YOU DO? The Corporations committee will meet in Cheyenne on November 18–19. Please contact these members and urge them to keep Wyoming’s net-metering law the way it is, and oppose both draft bills. In your comments, please be respectful and concise, and speak from your experience and values. If you have a solar installation on your property, please talk about the direct impact you will feel.

WYOMING OUTDOOR COUNCIL October 2019