Local solar company concerned about potential net metering policy change

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) — A local solar company is sounding the alarm about a a request from Appalachian Power that it said would devastate the local solar energy market and turn people away from using solar energy.

On May 20, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) will hold a hearing on a request from APCo for a 70% reduction in net metering for solar customers. Net metering is a policy that requires utility companies to compensate solar customers for the energy they send back to the grid with reductions in their power bills.

“When you push energy back to the grid with net metering, you get a credit for that energy against later consumption, whether that consumption is later in the day, that night, or next month. So it’s a billing system to give you compensation for the energy you’re generating and pushing back to the grid,” said Patrick Feucht, the owner of Baseline Solar in Christiansburg.

The current net metering rate being paid to customers for power generated is $0.16 per kilowatt hour. If APCo’s proposal is approved, the rate would drop to $0.04 per kilowatt hour. Patrick Feucht said under this system, people with solar panels on their homes can save anywhere from $500 to $3,000 a year in energy costs.

“All of our customers who choose renewable energy are counting on that net metering being there, and a 70% drop in that would really hurt the choice about renewable energy, the choice to save some money on utility bills,” said Feucht. “If this goes through as requested then it will drastically reduce the amount of solar that is installed on the grid. That’s bad because it’s reducing the choice of where people are getting their energy from and controlling energy costs.”

Baseline Solar serves both residential and industrial customers.

“We work at a lot of homes, a lot of businesses, churches, solar goes into schools and hospitals. Everybody who uses electricity can use solar, and the net metering is a key piece of that. Take that away or reduce it a lot and it’s going to threaten that choice, people won’t be able to do it as easily,” said Feucht.

In its petition to the SCC back in August, APCo argued that because of the current net metering rate, solar customers aren’t paying their fair share and are, therefore, passing costs onto other customers. Baseline Solar and other solar companies argue this is not the case.

“Solar has its benefits that add into the grid to more than offset this paying less to the utility company,” said Feucht.

Under APCo’s request, existing solar users would be grandfathered in under the old net metering rate, but all new users would be subject to the new rates. Feucht said this would be devastating to solar energy companies.

“For our company specifically, we probably will end up with less work. Which means instead of the 17 people that I employ and the jobs that we have here, I probably will have to cut that a lot and that’s not something I’m looking forward to,” said Feucht.

People can call into the SCC hearing on net metering on May 20 and can also leave comments on the issue on the SCC website through May 13. The SCC will have until the end of August to make a final decision.

WDBJ7 did reach out to Appalachian Power for comment on this situation, but it had not provided a response as of the publication of this story.

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