In Wisconsin, WE Energies has proposed rate changes to the state's Public Service Commission (PSC) that will increase monthly facilities fees on all customers and add crushing tariffs to those who produce grid-tied renewable energy. Their latest attempt to gain support for their proposals was contained in a brochure that went out to all of their customers with this month's billing ("Learn about Our 2015-16 Rate Request"). In short, it contains information that is simply not true in order to demonize solar customers as unfair moochers. How do I know it's not true? We are having a grid-tied solar array installed this week, and I know exactly what it will cost us to use the grid. The truth needs to get out before the PSC hearings in Madison on September 24 and Milwaukee on October 8. Follow me below the jump and tell all of your friends in Wisconsin the truth!
I want to first focus on what we will pay even without the new increases, as this addresses WE Energies' claim that solar producers are currently not paying their "fair" share to use the grid. Each month, WE customers pay a $9 facilities charge, which, according to the above-mentioned brochure, "covers costs to serve customers - from meters to poles, from the person who answers a billing call to the person who restores service during a storm." (Note that it says "covers," not "almost covers." This will be an important distinction later on in this tome.)
The brochure states that customers with solar use the grid "essentially for free," and some sell excess power to WE "without paying to use the grid." Oh yeah?
When our solar array is connected next week, this is what we will pay: the $9/month facilities charge for our house, the same as other customers; the $9/month facilities charge for our outbuilding, the same as other customers with separately metered outbuildings; AND a $9/month facilities charge for a separate meter that WE Energies requires us to install to measure solar output. It will cost us $27/month or $324 a year just to use the grid, compared to a regular customer who pays $108 a year to use the grid. Last I looked, $324 is not free, "essentially" or otherwise. Even without the outbuilding, we would be paying twice as much to use the grid as regular customers do.
The truth is that solar customers already pay more than regular customers to use the grid. How did I arrive at this conclusion? Very high level math...
So what is "fair?" Said brochure: [solar customers] "still need to use the electric grid, yet pay less than their share for their use of the grid. This leaves more of the cost of the grid to be paid by customers who do not have or cannot afford their own systems."
Please note that there are no actual dollars and cents numbers given to support any of these statements. I think that paying $108 a year more than regular customers, in spite of the fact that we'll be supplying the grid with energy during peak use, is actually way more than fair, verging on unfair! I therefore went on a personal quest to find out exactly what solar customers are costing WE Energies when they send those little electrical particles zooming through the existing wires.
First, I called the guy at WE Energies I'd been dealing with about our application to connect to the grid (very nice guy, by the way; tough position to be in). Him: Well, we just have to be fair. Me: I want to be fair. How much will it cost you guys to run my solar energy through your system? Him: Well, that's hard to say: Me: Is it more than the $9/month that everyone else pays? Him: Well, that $9/month doesn't cover all of our costs. You have to also buy energy in the form of kilowatt hours...
...INTERLUDE: Doesn't cover ALL of their costs? Their own brochure says it "covers the fixed costs to provide services." It doesn't say "almost covers."...back to our regularly scheduled diary...
Me: How much energy does a customer have to buy to make up the difference? Him: That's hard to say.
Let me summarize: WE Energies couldn't tell me how much it will cost them to run my solar energy through their system.
Then, I called and spoke with the Distributive Energy staffer at the PSC. I shall paraphrase our conversation. I said that certainly WE Energies must have included in its proposal the actual amount that solar customers cost them. His response: No, they didn't. Me: You're kidding. Him: No. Me: Well, I do want to be fair. Do you know what it costs them to run solar energy back into their system? Him: It depends on who you talk to. There's no fixed number. Me: What do you mean "there's no fixed number? Him: Again, it depends on who you talk to.
Let me summarize: WE Energies did not include in their rate increase proposal a dollar amount for what solar customers cost them, and the Distributive Energy expert at the PSC doesn't know either.
So, WE Energies has issued an official publication, essentially blasting renewables customers for not paying their "fair" share to use the grid, but they have no actual real numbers to back up their claim. Why go so far as to demonize solar customers?
The answer is on the back of the brochure. Now that they have their regular customers believing that they are victims of a massive photovoltaic plot, they provide information about how to contact the PSC with comments. They encourage customers to visit their website at Wisconsin Public Service Commission to learn about the hearing schedule for, or leave comments about, docket #5-UR-107.
Having been to the PSC Public Comments section, I can tell you I haven't seen a single comment in favor of the rate hikes. My guess is that WE Energies is trying to change that. Oh, and the brochure says that you can also contact WE Energies for more information at WE Energies email.
Let's get to the rate hikes - and they're huge! To start, everyone would pay a $16/month facilities fee instead of $9. Okay...times 3, carry the one, times 12...we will now pay $192/year more than regular customers for that new solar meter to connect to the grid. Fair enough?
Obviously not, according to WE Energies. They also want to add $3.80/kW/month tariff for the generating capacity of the solar system. I had no clue what this meant until I actually sized our system with our installer. Now, our system is for our house and our barn. The barn uses a lot of energy in winter for various water heaters for animals. So we sized the system to cover last year's usage, 10,266kWhrs (cold, long winter), and cover replacement of our propane-fueled dryer and water heater with electric appliances: 9kW. Nine times $3.80 = about $34/month, or an extra $410/year!
Therefore, with the proposed rate hikes, a regular customer will pay $192/year to use the grid, and we will pay $602 more than that, or $794 a year to use the grid!
Okay, I'll just say it: THAT is not only unfair, but it is utterly punitive and discriminatory. WE Energies could not tell me or the PSC how much more I'm actually costing them to send little electrons through existing wire - it's not even stated in the rate request - but I seriously doubt that it's $602 a year!
Couple this with a decrease in what they will pay to buy any excess energy (down to 3-5 cents/kWhr) and it will nearly double the payoff time for our system, from about 15 years to 29 years!
Oh, and their concern for those customers who "cannot afford their own systems?" WE Energies wants the PSC to ban the practice of customers leasing or renting renewables equipment as an affordable option to purchasing the equipment. Since when does the government decide which things can be rented and which cannot?
And WE Energies says that this isn't a war on renewable energy. Really? I suppose that's true: it's more of a war against any business that wants to innovate and compete with them, and any customer who dares to cut into their huge profits.
At a time when switching to renewables is finally becoming somewhat affordable, you can see that WE Energies is doing everything in its power to make it less affordable. Less affordable means smaller systems and/or fewer systems. Smaller and fewer systems mean that the small innovative businesses that install renewables will have to lay off employees, move their business to another state, or go out of business altogether.
These proposals are clearly designed to put a huge dent in free market competition in Wisconsin and preserve WE Energies' for-profit monopoly. To what end? About 50% of WE's energy is still produced by burning coal, which is sold by some brothers, who founded a group called ALEC, which developed sample legislation/regulations to hurt the renewables industry...and gave an award to one of the three PSC commissioners when he was a Wisconsin legislator (Shepherd Express)...
But let's not get all cynical and conspiratorial here. No need to. Facts is facts. And the truth is that renewables customers DO currently pay MORE than their fair share to use the grid. I have the numbers to prove it - which is more than WE Energies can say. Please help get the truth out so that people know that this rate increase is nothing more than a smokescreen for WE Energies' war on renewables and the people who believe in them. Thank you!