RENEW Rips WPS’s Net Metering Proposal

For immediate release
May 23, 2012

More information
Michael Vickerman
608.255.4044, ext. 2  

Another example of company backsliding on renewables 

In documents filed in conjunction with its pending rate case, Green Bay-based Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPS) proposed several rollbacks to its net metering service that would, if approved, sharply restrict a customer’s ability to generate electricity from renewable energy resources and sell a portion of it back to the utility.

Net metering allows customers to sell the unused output from their solar electric or other renewable energy system back to the utility at the full retail rate from month to month, so long as the surplus electricity is less than or equal to the customers’ usage in a 12-month period.

Currently, WPS customers may install solar or wind energy systems on their premises up to 100 kilowatts (kW). Beginning in January 2013, WPS would roll back that capacity limit to 20 kW.

WPS has also proposed to cap the overall size of its net metering offering at one-half of one percent of 2011 summer peak. No other Wisconsin utility has ever sought to impose capacity-based limits to its net metering service.

“What WPS proposes would be a really bad deal for customers installing small renewable energy systems serving their homes or businesses,” said Michael Vickerman, program and policy director for RENEW Wisconsin, a nonprofit advocacy organization promoting renewable energy use in Wisconsin.

“These service changes are clearly intended to discourage its customers from investing in solar and small wind energy systems,” Vickerman said. “If WPS gets its way, the renewable energy marketplace in that part of Wisconsin will slow down significantly.”

“At a time when the customers and communities in WPS territory are looking to renewable energy to support new jobs and manage their energy costs, the company is doing its level best to take that option away from them,” Vickerman said.

As an intervenor in WPS’s rate case, RENEW Wisconsin will ask the Public Service Commission to:
• Reject WPS’s proposal to impose a system-wide cap on net metering service;
• Maintain the current maximum system size at 100 kW; and
• Base WPS’s calculation of net energy on annual usage instead of monthly usage.

“What we will ask for is a standard of service that is already offered by two Wisconsin utilities: Madison Gas & Electric (MGE) and Xcel Energy,” Vickerman said. “WPS’s proposal is a particularly egregious example of company backsliding.”

Vickerman noted that MGE, which also has a pending rate proceeding before the Public Service Commission, did not propose any changes to its net metering service for 2013 and 2014.

 “We urge the PSC to work toward a uniform net metering policy for the state using MGE’s and Xcel’s service as a template,” Vickerman said.

Vickerman added: “WPS, it should be remembered, was the driving force behind the “Outsource Renewable Energy to Canada Act,” which was signed into law in 2011. That law lets utilities apply the energy they purchase from large Canadian hydropower sources toward their renewable energy requirements, at the expense of in-state renewable energy providers. Within that context, WPS’s net metering proposal constitutes another slight to Wisconsin’s renewable energy marketplace.”

END 

RENEW Wisconsin is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) that leads and represents businesses and individuals who seek more clean, renewable energy in Wisconsin. More information on RENEW’s Web site at www.renewwisconsin.org.

Testimony in WPS Rate Case, asking for a docket to set uniform buy-back rates across utilities

Michael Vickerman submitted the following testimony (a question and answer format) in the WPS rate case (Docket No. 6690-UR-119) on behalf of RENEW Wisconsin:

Q. What is the purpose of your testimony?
A. . . . The purpose of my testimony is to show that differences in utility buyback rates for solar electricity are beginning to skew the Wisconsin marketplace, resulting in a concentration of installation activity in those territories that offer the most attractive rates. This asymmetry is a reason for convening a proceeding to set Advanced Renewable Tariffs for distributed renewable generation sources that are technology-specific and are uniform across service boundaries. . . .

Q. Which utilities offer a special solar electric buyback rate to customers?
A. We Energies (WE) instituted in January 2006 a 22.5 cent/per kWh buyback rate for solar electric installations. The next utility to offer a solar electric buyback rate was Madison Gas & Electric (MGE). Its 25 cent/kWh rate took effect January 2008. Both rates are fixed over a 10-year term. They are available to all residential, commercial and industrial customers of WE and MGE until a certain capacity threshold is reached. WE’s experimental solar tariff was initially capped at 500 kW. In 2007 WE raised the cap to 1 MW. MGE initially set a ceiling of 150 kW for its solar electric buyback rate, but has since raised it to 300 kW.

Wisconsin Power & Light has proposed a 25 cent/kWh rate as part of its pending rate case. If approved by the Public Serviced Commission, it would take effect January 2009.

In addition to its 22.5 cent/kWh solar rate, WE provides a significant up-front incentive to nonprofit customers that seek to install solar electric systems. Unlike the solar rates offered by WE and MGE, which are adjuncts of their voluntary renewable energy purchase programs, WE’s nonprofit incentive program is supported by all of its customers.

Q. Are the higher buyback rates for solar beginning to influence the marketplace?
A. We’re starting to see signs that they are. Focus on Energy keeps track of the flow of solar electric incentive checks by utility territory. From May through July 2008, Focus incentives supported the installation of 253.8 kW of customer-sited solar generating capacity. Of that total 116.2 kW were installed in WE territory, constituting about 46% of the statewide total. Slightly more than 24 kW of solar were installed in MGE territory during the same time. Taken together, about 55% of Focus on Energy-supported solar electric capacity was interconnected to WE’s and MGE’s distribution systems during that period. For comparison purposes, WE and MGE make up less than half of the state’s electricity sales.

I expect the solar buyback rates offered by WE and MGE will attract an even larger share of total installation volume as the year wears on. Bear in mind that MGE’s solar buyback rate has existed for less than nine months, and we are likely to see a surge of installations in the second half of 2009. Focus on Energy’s August results should be available before the technical hearings begin.

Q. During the same three-month period, how many kW of Focus on Energy-supported solar electric capacity were completed and interconnected to WPS?
A. According to Focus on Energy records, 13 kW of solar electric capacity were added to WPS’s system between May 1st and July 31st, 2008. That number is about 5% of the total solar electric capacity supported by Focus on Energy during that time. For comparison purposes, WPS accounts for about 15% of the state’s electricity sales.

Full testimony here.