Montana Bill would expand renewable-power systems

Jan 19 - Mike Dennison The Montana Standard, Butte

For firms installing solar-power systems on homes and businesses in Montana, the market is limited -- but a coalition of odd political bedfellows at the 2015 Legislature wants to expand it.

Several of the Legislature's more conservative Republicans and a Democrat are sponsoring bills to broaden the market for renewable-power systems, by expanding what's known as "net metering."

A net-metered electric system, installed for a business, home or group of consumers, allows the customers to sell back to the utility any power generated by the system but not used by the consumer. Without it, most individual solar- or wind-power systems are un-economic for the average homeowner or business.

Sen. Mike Phillips, a Bozeman Democrat, says expansion of net-metering is a bipartisan issue because it appeals to Montanans' independent, self-sufficient nature.

"At its core, it's about Montanans seeking self-sufficiency," he says. "I think Montanans pride themselves on recognizing the idea of self-sufficiency. ... It really is a question of freedom: 'Why shouldn't I be able to do this?'"

But bills from Phillips and several Republicans will face staunch opposition from the state's electric utilities and rural electric co-ops, who say net-metered systems impose costs on the system that are picked up by other customers.

"The only reason they are even remotely viable is that they are supported by a system of subsidies and cost-shifts that burden other (electric) ratepayers and taxpayers," says John Fitzpatrick, director of governmental affairs for NorthWestern Energy, the state's largest electric utility.

Under current law in Montana, a net-metered system cannot exceed 50 kilowatts in size, limiting them to individual homes and smaller businesses.

Rep. Art Wittich, R-Bozeman, is sponsoring House Bill 192, which would increase that cap by 20 times, to one megawatt. The larger cap would allow much larger businesses to install solar-power systems.

Ben Reed, the owner of Winpower West in Billings, a business that installs mostly solar-power systems, says the higher cap will open up a whole new, larger market for him and others like him.

Big box stores like Wal-Mart are leading installers of solar-power systems, but they're not doing it in Montana, because of the 50-kilowatt cap on net-metered systems, he said.

A net-metered system helps a solar-power system pay for itself much faster, Reed said, after which the power essentially is free for the consumer.

The bills will boost business for installers and suppliers of renewable-power systems, who employ about 200 people at some 60 small businesses in the state, supporters say.

Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, is sponsoring Senate Bill 134, which would allow a customer with several meters to net-meter all of them from one power system.

"It just opens up more opportunities for individuals to have self-sufficient energy systems on their property," she says, such as farms or other rural property owners.

Fielder says a utility lobbyist told her the company has "zero tolerance" against any new net-metering.

"I don't think they like the competition," she says.

Phillips plans to sponsor a bill that would allow a single, solar-powered system to serve multiple homes or businesses in a neighborhood. Rep. Randy Pinocci, a Republican from Sun River, said Friday he'll introduce a bill to allow larger net-metered systems for customers served by rural electric co-ops.

Fitzpatrick and Doug Hardy, a lobbyist for the co-ops, said Friday that net-metered customers do not pay what other customers pay to cover the fixed costs of maintaining the electric system.

Fitzpatrick went so far as to suggest they are a cancer on the system.

"There is no such thing as a small piece of melanoma," he said. "It is not a big problem in Montana right now, but it's become an enormous problem in other states that have been much more liberal on their net-metering policies."

Supporters argue that any costs imposed on the system by net-metering now is minimal -- and that if those costs are significant, the utility can ask for rate adjustments and state utility regulators have the power to grant them.

"I think (utilities) haven't done it because there is no rate impact," Wittich says. "So, to me, their argument rings rather hollow."

mtstandard.com

http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=34936841&