By Lisa Rosen Thursday, October 18, 2018 2:00pm ET / 11:00am PT New utility rate structures like time of use (TOU) rates and net metering variations like California’s NEM 2.0 are becoming the new norm in many markets. To remain competitive, solar contractors need to understand how to maximize their customers’ savings under nontraditional rate…
By Kelsey Misbrener The Arizona Corporation Commission rejected a request today by two Arizona utilities to subject new solar customers to large monthly fixed charges that would undermine the economics of rooftop solar. As part of their recent rate cases, Tucson Electric Power Company (TEP) and UNS Electric sought to stifle the growth of rooftop…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Duke Energy is asking the South Carolina Public Services Commission to reinstate retail net metering until a compromise can be reached on raising the current 2% cap, an issue that has roiled the South Carolina solar industry over the past 12 months. The utility has joined a…
By Kelsey Misbrener Duke Energy Carolinas (DEC) hit its 2% net metering cap for the year in early July. Now, the utility has requested that the SC Public Service Commission revive net metering in DEC territory until a permanent solution can be worked out. Below is a press release from Ryan Mosier at Duke Energy:…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Could the Utah solar market be cratering just one year before Solar Power International heads to Salt Lake City. No. The answer is no. Despite breathless reporting over the weekend that implied that Utah’s market has hit the skids, most observers believe the market is simply correcting…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What’s happening in Nevada right now is frankly amazing. If you had told most observers that Nevada would ever hit net metering caps after its Public Utilities Commission ended the program without warning at the end of 2015, they would have told you that you were crazy….
By Kelsey Misbrener The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) commented on the Massachusetts Legislature’s passage of a bill that requires the state’s largest electricity utility to refile its plan to charge extra fees to solar adopters and raises the state’s renewable energy goal. The bill addresses a decision by the Massachusetts’ Department of Public Utilities…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent “In like a lion, out like a lamb.” That’s how Massachusetts solar advocate Sean Garren characterized on Twitter the whimper of a clean-energy bill that made its way through the Massachusetts legislature on its final day. The Senate voted 36-0 to pass the legislation, while the House…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent With five days left in the legislative session, Massachusetts is running out of time to solidify and expand its burgeoning solar industry, and activists in the state are ramping up the pressure in an attempt to try to get something done before the end of the month….
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Last week during Intersolar North America, Duke Carolinas announced it had hit its 2% net metering cap in South Carolina for residential solar installations, meaning anyone that installs after August 1 will be compensated under less generous net metering rules. And low and behold, a week later,…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent DTE Energy has a love-hate relationship with renewable energy. On the one hand, they’ve pledged to be coal-free by 2040, at least in part through investments in wind and solar. On the other hand, they’ve suggested a replacement for retail net metering that has solar advocates screaming…
By [email protected] As solar companies feared, South Carolina’s rooftop solar market is slowing down as utilities in the state begin to hit their net metering caps. Last week, Duke Energy Carolinas (DEC) announced that it has reached its 2 percent cap for net-metered solar systems in upstate South Carolina. The utility says more than 5,000…
By Kelly Pickerel More than 5,000 of Duke Energy’s South Carolina customers have installed solar panels on their homes and businesses through a net metering incentive. Customers can still install solar – and sell the electricity they produce to Duke Energy at the same price the utility pays for electricity generated by large solar power…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent The utilities showed their muscle again in South Carolina, “persuading” legislators to remove two pro-solar provisions from the state’s budget bill and scuttling the chances of fomenting solar growth during this legislative session. Removing the state’st net metering caps and encouraging more purchases of solar electricity from…
By Kelsey Misbrener SEIA expressed disappointment over the lack of action on solar policy in the Palmetto State. Going forward, SEIA calls on the 2019 South Carolina Legislature to pass legislation that eliminates the state’s net metering cap and encourages utilities to buy more low-cost solar power from independent producers. Lawmakers left those provisions out…