Wednesday, October 1, 2014

PERIODICAL: Rate increase would strike waste to solar

Wisconsin is positioned for a battle this fall that could possibly well determine the shape of its electric consumption profile and conservation plans for years to come.

We Energies ~ which serves Racine County essential of southeastern Wisconsin – is now seeking a 2 percent altogether electric rate increase approval for the state Public Service Commission. Chance increase request will fall a tad bit more heavily on residential customers weltgesundheitsorganisation could see increases of not quite 5 percent beginning in January if the PSC approves the utility's request.

Blah, blah, blah … now effort, this isn't just an echo of ancient electric rate hikes that you have listened to before. It's more than just the $ and cents that are being argued with regards to or what rate of roi the utility is entitled to.

Each fight this fall is over solar powered and the ability of consumers to use this kind of and it could well serve as a premium template for states across the nation.

Inside rate request, We Energies is now proposing a significant change in how this kind of charges for electricity. It would love a 75 percent increase in a fixed charges on residential customers' bills – going from $9 a month to $16 a month.

Followed by that, the utility is advising to drop the compensation rates it is well worth your time customers who install solar panels or sometimes farmers who use manure digesters that generate power for the utility's grid.

And finally, We Energies percentage rate request would deny customers the capacity to rent solar energy systems, an enhance that allows homeowners to install solar operating systems without having to pay upfront costs.

We Efforts is not acting alone. Rate recommendations from Wisconsin Public Service Corp. in Green Bay have asked over the PSC to let it increase its fixed charges by nigh on 2 1/2 times. Madison Gas pedal and Electric Co. asked for a nice fivefold increase in fixed charges before to dropping it down to $19 each month.

We Energies officials say the get rid of in charges is the right thing to do as customer-generation customers have to pay their great number for the use of the power grid – the opposite customers who do not have or are not in a position to their own power systems pay a nice disproportionate amount.

What the utility doesn't have say, of course , is that the change also are a disincentive to residential business to install or to lease solar operating systems to try to curb their energy droit and replace it with a more harmless source of power.

What the utility doesn't have say is that if it is successful with this effort it will be protecting its monopoly and its bottom line from future chafing of earnings if solar power displaces demand from coal and new gas-fired power sources.

Solar power renders less than 1 percent of Wisconsin's electric needs today. But the fight my fall will help determine what happens to the fact for years and years to come.

Instead of looking in its heels and trying to protect a unique traditional power supply profile to support the needs of Wisconsin consumers, we'd urge We Energies – together with state Public Service Commission that may charged with overseeing and regulatory the state's electric and the heating system suppliers – to embrace an forward-looking vision for Wisconsin's electric future.

There is a template for that rather approach. In Hawaii last week, Local Electric Companies put forth a plan to be triple the amount of rooftop solar of these state as part of an effort to make Beautiful hawaii the highest renewable energy-using state in the usa.

HECO, a consortium of 3 or more utility companies, proposed a package regarding initiatives that would help the state make 65 percent of its electricity with renewable energy and cut electric bills using 20 percent within the next 16 years.

HECO did not come to this renewable energy epiphany easily. The plan was put forward instantly an order by state electric regulators last April that described the state utilities to come up with a pitch to accommodate more renewable energy and better support the public interest within 120 period.

We have no illusions that process process would come easily here in Wisconsin. The infrastructure of the state's power accessory system would have to be remade so it would take years to accomplish. But , choice fighting that effort, we believe We each Energies would be better off in the long run whether it took the lead in formulating process plan, embracing renewable technology in addition developing it as a new revenue stockpile.

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