Dive Summary:
- Net-metering, or paying for electricity passed back to the grid by owners of rooftop solar systems, undercuts utility profits. This, combined with the proliferation of distributed generation, continues to represent the "largest near-term threat” to utilities, argues the Edison Electric Institute, a D.C-based utility trade group.
- Despite this, Entergy Corp. in Louisiana and Idaho Power Co. recently lost their proposals to reduce the compensation they must pay to net-metering customers. The utilities say net-metering customers don’t pay their fair share of the cost of maintaining grid infrastructure and reliability.
- But the Idaho Public Utilities Commission said that reducing net-metering payments "will discourage investment in distributed generation,” which reduces the need to build more power plants.
From the article:
“Utilities in Arizona and California -- two of the largest U.S. solar markets -- are also mulling proposals to alter payments to solar-system owners.”