Solar advocates, long critical of how Rocky Mountain Power makes its decisions on compensating rooftop solar customers who provide energy to the grid, have another reason to be unhappy after a court ruling issued this week.
“We are incredibly disappointed about the court’s decision not to address important issues in this case. Families and businesses in Utah are eager to use distributed solar to improve their energy independence and be a part of the clean energy economy, but this decision perpetuates a status quo where utilities have outsized influence to limit their customers’ electricity choices,” said Kate Bowman, the Interior West Regulatory director for Vote Solar.
Customers with rooftop solar generate energy that counts against their monthly bill. An abundance of energy can bring that monthly utility bill down dramatically. If the generation is more than the customer uses, it goes onto the grid to be used by others. Since the program’s inception, controversy has dogged what the rate of compensation should be for rooftop customers.
Vote Solar challenged an order issued by the Public Service Commission that allows an annual expiration of unused solar credits and does not calculate anything other than the utility’s actual “avoided costs” net metering provides, such as deferring new infrastructure investment. Advocates wanted public health and climate included in the calculation for solar reimbursement.
But in a decision by the Utah Supreme Court on Thursday, justices said there is sufficient evidence to back the Public Service Commission’s order that grants the utility company its ability to invoke an annual expiration date on solar credits. The court agreed with the Public Service Commission’s decision to also allow the utility company the ability to annually review its export credit rate.
“The commission also noted that if Customer Generators wanted a fixed long-term rate in exchange for solar power, they could become a commercial generator under Schedule 37, an option that is not available to customers who do not sell energy to Rocky Mountain Power,” the court said. “Moreover, multiple experts testified that updating the export credit rate annually could ensure costs would not be shifted onto non-power-generating residential Rocky Mountain Power customers.”
Vote Solar rejected the argument by Rocky Mountain Power over its reasoning behind mandating that solar credits expire each year.
According to the rationale, allowing the credits to roll over would lead to “customer generators purchasing generating systems far beyond their needs in hopes of not just offsetting their own electric use but also making money selling power to Rocky Mountain Power,” the court said.
The opinion largely centered on whether the order by the Public Service Commission should be considered intermediate or final — which would mean a final decision is subject to judicial review.
In its ruling, the justices said the commission had made final its decision on expiration of credits and export credit rates undergoing an annual review, but its analysis on what costs play a role in compensation to rooftop solar customers were not not part of the official appeal.
“This means we lack jurisdiction to consider Vote Solar’s challenges centered on whether the Public Service Commission analyzed the costs and benefits of net metering before creating the export credit rate,” it said.
The commission had said factors like carbon emissions, public health and other environmental considerations were outside its purview at this time.
Utah Clean Energy also expressed its disappointment in the ruling.
“Rooftop solar is a tool that our utilities and policymakers should leverage to improve the diversity, flexibility, and resiliency of the electric grid, especially in the face of more extreme weather,” said the organization’s climate scientist, Logan Mitchell. “While many Utahns continue to go solar and increase their energy independence, the fact remains that we are not utilizing the full potential of locally sourced solar power.”