Missourians wanting to power their own homes are finding it difficult

Jan 3 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Karen Dillon The Kansas City Star, Mo.

That solar panel you were planning to install? The one that would let you power your own home and then sell the leftover electricity?

You might want to put a hold on that.

Two problems have popped up with a new Missouri law that was supposed to make it easy for homeowners to put in their own wind turbines or solar panels and send any excess power back to utilities:

--The Missouri Public Service Commission, which oversees utilities, is requiring homeowners to buy insurance before they can begin feeding electricity to the grid.

--It appears no insurance companies in Missouri sell that insurance.

"You can't get it," said Henry Robertson, an attorney for St. Louis-based Great Rivers Environmental Law Center. "I contacted some of the renewable energy installers that I know in this state, and they say it is unavailable."

The new rule requires homeowners who produce 10 kilowatts or less of energy to carry $100,000 worth of liability insurance. Homeowners who generate more than 10 kilowatts of electricity must carry a $1 million liability insurance policy.

Robertson said he thinks the rule violates the Net Metering and Easy Connection Act, which the General Assembly passed in 2007. The law clearly states that homeowners do not have to purchase insurance if they generate less than 10 kilowatts of electricity, and the law does not address homeowners who produce more, he said.

Last month, Robertson's firm filed a lawsuit against PSC on behalf of Renew Missouri, which lobbied for the law.

But Jeff Davis, the PSC chairman, said the commission felt the law was ambiguous.

It "poses a physical threat to those linemen who are out there working on it," Davis said. "It poses a physical threat to your neighbors' property, who are also connected to you on those same power lines, where the power could back up onto you and your neighbors' house and destroy property."

Davis acknowledged the risk for linemen to be electrocuted and property destroyed is slight.

"There aren't very many recorded instances of an accident like that ever occurring," he said. "But if someone does get electrocuted, that is going to be a very serious accident for that person and his family."

"Net metering," as the program is known in many states, has been around for many years. It allows customers to install renewable energy sources such as wind and solar generators and an inverter that converts the direct current coming into the house to an alternating current. The inverter is near the meter. When the inverter detects excess electricity, it allows the meter to run backward.

More than 42 states, including New York and California, and the District of Columbia now allow customers to receive a credit for feeding excess energy back into the power grid.

Kansas has a type of net metering called parallel generation, said Ray Hammarlund, director of the Kansas Corporation Commission's energy program division. The law does not require liability insurance.

A Web site funded by the U.S. Department of Energy that summarizes net metering in more than 30 states shows that Indiana and several towns in Florida and Utah require liability insurance.

At least 10 states waived liability insurance. The others did not address it.

Davis said he didn't understand why Renew Missouri and Great Rivers were complaining.

He said he did not believe the insurance would cost more than $30 a year, while at the same time, homeowners will spend several thousands of dollars setting up their wind turbines and solar panels.

Davis suggested American Family Insurance or almost any insurance agency could provide the coverage.

"In some cases, homeowner insurance may already cover it," he said.

But an American Family spokesman was puzzled when asked about insurance for net metering.

"You got me with a new one here," Ken Muth said.

"It is nothing I have heard of," said Mark Schussel, a spokesman for Chubb Group of Insurance Companies.

And an insurance expert said homeowners' insurance policies probably won't cover it.

Brent Butler, government affairs director for the Missouri Insurance Coalition, a nonprofit watchdog group, cautioned that he was not choosing sides.

But he said: "I certainly see the legal point that Renew Missouri is making. ... The more I'm learning about this, the more I'm seeing that it is very strange."

But he said that if the judge rules in favor of PSC, someone will offer the insurance.

"The market will figure out how to get this coverage available," he said.

P.J. Wilson with Renew Missouri said that when the bill was being drafted, he tried to ensure the safety of the public.

"If you have yahoos who go out and buy a solar panel off the Internet and try to install it, there could be a dangerous element associated with that," Wilson said.

That's why the law requires a professional electrician or engineer to approve the installation.

"That measure makes me feel OK," Wilson said. "This is not new technology. Many states have already gone through this. The technology is rock solid because they were so careful in those states."

To reach Karen Dillon, call 816-234-4430 or send e-mail to kdillon@kctar.com.