Utility regulators will allow about 1,200 more customers in northern Nevada to install rooftop solar systems and get older, more favorable rates when they sell back excess electricity.
The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada voted unanimously Thursday to allow 6 megawatts of new net metering capacity in Sierra Pacific Power Company's territory over the next three years.
The discussion comes a year after regulators raised rates for rooftop solar customers, prompting widespread layoffs in the fast-growing industry. An estimated 32,000 customers with the systems were grandfathered into the better rates this fall, although future customers weren't eligible.
Regulators say allowing new rooftop solar installations at the attractive rates will support the state's goal of diversifying its energy portfolio, and will reduce residential customers' average bills by 1 cent a month. (AP)
In response, Jon Wellinghoff, former Consumer Advocate for the State of Nevada and current SolarCity Chief Policy Officer, issued the following statement:
“I commend the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada for bringing full retail net metering back to Northern Nevada, and affirming that whether solar customers are providing clean solar energy for their own homes, or supplying it to their neighbors, the benefits of that local generation outweigh the costs.
In the draft order Chairman Reynolds wrote:
‘Abraham Lincoln once said that “[b]ad promises are better broken than kept.” The PUCN’s prior decisions on NEM [Net Energy Metering], in several respects, may be best viewed as a promise better left unkept. The PUCN is free to apply a new approach.’
We look forward to pursuing that new approach together with all Nevadans.”
Andy Maggi, executive director, Nevada Conservation League -
The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada has taken some important steps in articulating that rooftop solar provides value for all customers and providing a limited pathway for its potential development in the short term for Northern Nevada. The PUC should be applauded for starting a conversation that moves us away from the devastating consequences of its past actions. The Commissioners are also correct that the Legislature must pick up this conversation now and create the long-term policies that put rooftop solar and clean energy on a path to grow Nevada’s economy and create the jobs of the future right here. This order won't bring back the jobs lost in the last year, but it artfully frames the problems with previous PUC actions, the current discussion, and the need for legislative action.
