The utility industry is open about its opposition to residential PV solar—preaching endlessly that homeowners with PV panels enjoy what amounts to a free ride due to state net metering rules that require utilities to buy the electricity from these distributed resources without being able to charge those customers for their continued use of other grid services.
At the Edison Electric Institute’s annual Wall Street presentation in February, for example, David Owens, the association’s executive vice president, told the analysts that it is “critical and fair that all electricity customers who use the electric power grid continue to share equitably in the costs of maintaining it and keeping it operating reliably at all times. Rooftop solar customers still rely on the grid and its services around the clock. Even at peak output, rooftop solar systems need the support of the grid to start large motors like air conditioners and refrigerators. And, net metering as a policy does not even exist without a grid connection. So, at the end of the day, as long as we are connected to the grid, we still use it and we all should continue to pay for it.”
Similarly, San Francisco-based PG&E, which touts itself as having the most residential PV customers of any U.S. utility—with some 100,000 customers having some amount of solar installed—is also quick to criticize the existing California net metering program, saying it has shifted costs unfairly from solar customers to other ratepayers not using PV or another distributed generation resource.
The extent of this cost shifting is much in debate, with utilities on one side and solar industry officials on the other. But the reality is, the debate has nothing to do with cost shifting—it is market share that is the real concern.
Continue reading ‘Trust Us,’ Utilities Argue:
PV Cost Shifting Is Bad,
EV Cost Shifts Are Good
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