Speaking at the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) 2013 Energy Conference in Washington, D.C., Southern Company CEO, President and Chairman Tom Fanning suggested that rooftop solar could be "a potential game-changer," as long as utilities "get the rate structure right."
"The early adopters of distributed generation are likely to be affluent customers," he said. "We've got to [...] make sure we charge those customers fairly for their connection to the grid and their requirement to have back-up generation sources when the sun doesn't shine. Failing to do that will create a subsidy—less affluent people subsidizing early adopter affluent people. We've got to get the rate structure right. And if you do that—you build a business model that makes sense for our customers—this [will] be a very exciting innovation."
Fanning remained hopeful of turning rooftop solar into a reality for Southern's customers, but noted that he doesn't think we will see "penetration of distributed generation until probably the end of the decade."