By Brian Maffly | The Salt Lake Tribune
The future of Utah’s rooftop solar industry, already reeling after an incentive program ended two years ago, rests in the hands of the Utah Public Service Commission as it weighs how much Rocky Mountain Power must pay its solar-equipped customers for the excess power they pump back into the grid.
The monopoly utility, Utah’s largest, sells that power to neighboring homes for about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, yet it now proposes setting the rate it pays solar-equipped customers for this juice at about 1.5 cents.
Clean energy and solar industry advocates are crying foul, insisting the rate should be much higher given the environmental and climate benefits associated with renewable energy.
Solar system designer Scott Jones, of the Salt Lake City firm Creative Energies, derided Rocky Mountain Power’s proposal as “nefarious.”
“It would have a dire impact on the entire rooftop solar industry,” Jones said. “RMP is unfairly preventing people from realizing a fair compensation.”
Lowballing the value of rooftop solar would discourage Utah homeowners from installing photovoltaics which helps reduce the need for coal-fired electricity and the stress on the state’s electrical grid, advocates argue.
