Leave us alone': Solar advocates fight FirstEnergy net metering plan

By: Mike Tony, The State Journal

The resource curse doesn’t have to ensnare the sun.

That was the message passionately delivered by the founder and CEO of an outfit with Jefferson County roots that bills itself as “Appalachia’s solar company” during a rally at the West Virginia Capitol last weekend.

“We’ll build the next great American industry,” Dan Conant, of solar energy company Solar Holler, told a crowd of some 130 supporters Jan. 27. “And we’ll own it this time.”

But Conant said that would happen only after defeating a pending proposal from FirstEnergy utilities serving West Virginia that he and other advocates say would cut off growth of a solar industry sorely underdeveloped in West Virginia relative to the rest of the country.

Conant urged his audience to “tell FirstEnergy to leave us alone.”

The rally highlighted opposition to a plan by FirstEnergy utilities Mon Power and Potomac Edison to adjust a solar energy crediting mechanism called net metering. Solar advocates say the companies’ proposal pending before the Public Service Commission would discourage customer investment in solar.

Mon Power and Potomac Edison want to change the mechanism so that customer-produced solar energy would no longer be valued at the same rate charged for energy provided by the companies. Instead, Mon Power and Potomac Edison want to credit a customer’s account at a wholesale market price approved annually in fuel cost rate proceedings.

Through the mechanism, called net metering, a residential customer owns or leases and operates a renewable energy resource connected on their side of the utility meter. If the customer supplies more energy to Mon Power and Potomac Edison than they get in a billing period, the remainder has been banked by the companies and credited to the customers in future billing cycles when they produce less energy than needed from the utilities.

FirstEnergy has said the proposal filed in May is appropriate to keep other customers from subsidizing net metering customers.

But Conant sounded a note of alarm about the proposal to the PSC at an evidentiary hearing last week, saying his company had to shut down sales in FirstEnergy territory at the beginning of November amid uncertainty over the future of net metering.

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Charleston Gazette-Mail: Dozens at PSC hearing oppose FirstEnergy solar credit plan

By: Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail

Dozens of Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers and solar advocates from throughout West Virginia spoke out against the utilities’ plan to change how future customers are credited for the electricity they generate from solar power during a public hearing Monday.

Speakers at the West Virginia Public Service Commission’s public comment hearing Monday evening had to comment without seeing the contents of a proposed but not yet filed settlement in the case, PSC Chairman Charlotte Lane reported at the start of the hearing.

Lane said the proposed settlement would resolve all issues in the case — except the controversial solar energy crediting mechanism — and result in an increase of $9.94 per month to the average residential customer bill for 1,000 kilowatt-hours, from $123.50 to $133.44.

Filed Tuesday, the proposed settlement would result in a 6.4% hike over existing rates and an overall increase of $105 million for the FirstEnergy-controlled utilities, which originally proposed a $207 million, 13% rate increase for their 550,000 customers across 40 West Virginia counties.

Agreeing to the proposed settlement with the utilities were:

• PSC staff.

• The PSC’s Consumer Advocate Division, representing residential ratepayers.

• The West Virginia Energy Users Group, representing large industrial users.

• Longview Power LLC.

• West Virginia Citizen Action Group, Solar United Neighbors and Energy Efficient West Virginia (together as one party).

Most of Monday evening’s speakers blasted the solar energy crediting mechanism, known as net metering, arguing it would discourage customer investment in solar that lowers electricity costs, diversifies the state’s energy mix and benefits the environment.

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WV residents pay too much for a losing strategy

By Robert Maslowski, The Herald-Dispatch

Electric rates are going up for West Virginians. Our utilities are doing nothing to stop it. Instead, they’re doubling down on the same choices that got us into this. They’re taking away opportunities for West Virginians to avoid these rate increases. And they’re asking for yet another increase out of the pockets of hardworking families.

Out-of-state utility FirstEnergy runs Mon Power and Potomac Edison. FirstEnergy is asking the West Virginia Public Service Commission to increase its rates — again. Statewide, electric rates have more than doubled in the last 18 years. West Virginians have faced higher rate increases than any other state in the country.

That would be bad on its own, but FirstEnergy isn’t stopping there. They have also asked the Public Service Commission to reduce the value of solar energy. Solar is one of the only ways West Virginians can avoid these rate increases and take control of their own power costs. They want to make sure West Virginians can’t go solar anymore.

What’s going on here? FirstEnergy, like AEP, the other out-of-state utility that operates in West Virginia, is investing in a losing strategy. While utilities across the country have invested in multiple sources of energy, FirstEnergy and AEP have put all of their eggs in one basket. West Virginia gets 91% of its electricity from coal-fired power plants. These coal plants are getting older. Many of them are nearing retirement age. That makes them more expensive to maintain and run. But FirstEnergy and AEP don’t care, because they can pass the costs on to their customers — all of us.

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WV utilities propose slashing energy credit in half for customers with solar panels

By: Public News Service

Major utilities in West Virginia, Mon Power and Potomac Edison, want to reduce the credit their solar customers get for producing power the utilities use. Critics countered the move would dampen the market for solar in the state.

Net metering is a billing mechanism giving credits to residential and small business owners for excess energy produced by their solar panels, which flows back into the grid. Customers are only billed for the difference between what they use and what they generate, and earned credits can be used to lower monthly costs.

Emmett Pepper, policy director for the nonprofit Energy Efficient West Virginia, said current solar customers would not be affected, but the change would affect people who want to take control of their energy bills.

"The reason that most people want to have solar panels is to save money and this will make it harder to do that," Pepper contended.

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Under utilities’ proposed changes, solar panels could become unaffordable for many West Virginians

By: Mountain State Spotlight

Mike Hedrick never thought he would own solar panels — not because of a lack of interest, but rather the high cost associated with installing the panels on his Pocahontas County home. But when his daughter didn’t use her entire college fund, he saw the opportunity to invest. 

“I just kind of went ahead and done it and just thought that it would help me with my electricity bill because I was planning on retiring,” said Hedrick, 63, who has since then retired from his job at the Green Bank Observatory. 

“So, I just figured I’ll try to do a little bit for the planet — not that I got that type of money to do that — but also help myself,” he added.    

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The Dominion Post: A message to utilities: We aren’t made of money

By: Opinion, The Dominion Post

We understand that under the laws governing power monopolies — sorry, utilities — companies are entitled to recoup their expenses and make a little extra for the shareholders. But the rate hike requests are getting out of hand.

It all kicked off last winter when Mon Power/Potomac Edison/First Energy requested a rate increase because it lost money, ostensibly because it failed to keep enough fuel supply on hand and had to pay extra to get more. The Public Service Commission approved an $11.05 per month rate increase (which we’re paying now). However, it also suggested Mon Power purchase the Pleasants Power Plant.  That, in turn, kicked off a whole firestorm in which Mon Power wanted to charge ratepayers $36 million to keep the plant idle while the company evaluated its options.

Fortunately, a third party purchased Pleasants. Unfortunately, Mon Power incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in “authorized” costs during the process, which Mon Power customers will eventually be expected to pay.

Mon Power is also seeking a $207 million base rate increase (about $18 per month for residential customers). Mind you, the base rate is not the same as operating expenses. Operating expenses cover the costs of fuel to produce energy, moving energy, buying energy from other sources and environmental compliance. The base rate is comprised of personnel, taxes, debt, property (and depreciation) and other assets. And it’s the base rate that utilities get to make their profit from.

On top of that increase, there’s an expended net energy costs (ENEC) rate hike, to the tune of $167.5 million. That one would increase residential bills by $10.08 per month starting in March. Plus, there’s a 14-cent charge to all Mon Power customers for the solar beds Mon Power will be building.

If all three rate hikes are approved, Mon Power customers are looking at a nearly $30 jump on their bills.

Then there’s Hope Gas, which has asked for a $66.5 million rate increase as part of its Pipeline Replacement and Expansion Program (about $6.45 a month, which could be offset by the newly filed Purchased Gas Application). Though Hope hasn’t filed yet, we bet it will ask to recover the $37 million purchase price for People’s Gas.

Altogether, ratepayers are looking at nearly a $40 increase in their utility bills. That’s an extra $480 per year. And it’s ridiculous.

West Virginians are not made of money. We understand utilities are entitled, by law, to recuperate their costs and make some profit, but that profit cannot come at the expense of harming ratepayers. Not when temperature extremes mean greater reliance on AC in summer and heat in winter. Not when drastic rate increases may force people to choose between power and food or medicine or other essential bills.

The utility companies are asking for too much, too fast. The Public Service Commission must rein them in.

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