Idaho Energy has filed a brand new utility with the Idaho Public Utilities Fee (PUC) to considerably lower the compensation rooftop photo voltaic house owners obtain for the surplus electrical energy they ship to the grid. Generally known as Export Credit score Charges (ECRs), these funds are the monetary spine of dwelling photo voltaic investments. Beneath the proposed modifications, ECRs may drop by greater than 60% — making photo voltaic far much less viable simply as utility charges proceed to rise.
Idaho Energy’s newest proposal to the Public Utilities Fee would drop compensation for photo voltaic exports from 6.18¢/kWh — a fee that solely took impact in January 2024 — to a mean of two.46¢/kWh yearly. That’s a 72% discount from the earlier customary fee of 8.8¢/kWh, which had been in place for over a decade.
If authorized, these new charges would take impact June 1, proper as Idaho enters peak photo voltaic season. From October by way of Could, Idaho Energy needs to pay photo voltaic house owners lower than 1¢/kWh — an 80% lower — even because it fees prospects no less than 8¢/kWh for the exact same electrical energy.
That is all a part of the utility’s new “Web Billing” program, which the PUC authorized in December 2023. This system permits ECRs to be recalculated yearly, leaving potential photo voltaic prospects at nighttime about their return on funding. That monetary uncertainty is a serious barrier to adoption.
Idaho Energy is basing its calculations by itself inside 2022 “Worth of Distributed Power Assets Research.” The Idaho Conservation League (ICL) and different organizations employed an impartial professional to overview this examine and located that Idaho Energy is considerably undervaluing rooftop photo voltaic by cherry-picking information and utilizing flawed methodologies.
As Idaho Energy tries to pay photo voltaic house owners much less, it’s additionally rising fastened fees on all prospects. As of January 2025, Idahoans can pay a $15 month-to-month flat price — triple what it was just some years in the past. These fastened charges disproportionately hurt lower-income households and take away incentives to avoid wasting vitality.
Proper now, the Idaho Public Utilities Fee is accepting public comments on this proposal (reference case #IPC-E-25-15). The Fee is anticipated to decide by Could.
Information merchandise from the Idaho Conservation League
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