Utilities that operate in Orange County—Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc., and Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp.—have partnered with other utilities and major solar companies to resolve concerns around incorporating alternative energy sources into the grid.
The Solar Progress Partnership works through the state’s Reforming the Energy Vision initiative that operates out of the Public Service Commission. The Partnership has been asked to reexamine the utility industry in the state, according to John Maserjian, spokesman for Central Hudson, “to help bring about more distributive generation, more customer participation, and improve most of the electric distribution system.”
Utilities have become increasingly concerned with net metering and how it affects customers who do not use alternative energy sources. He said the state wants utilities to encourage “renewable energy without impacting negatively other customers.”
The Partnership sent a letter to New York Public Service Commission Secretary Kathleen Burgess on April 18 to propose ways to “encourage more solar development across the state, while ensuring that adequate funding is available to maintain a reliable and resilient grid,” according to a statement released by Maserjian for Central Hudson.
$37 Million to $262 Million
Many electricity customers, for a variety of reasons, do not use alternative energy sources. They depend on the electric grid which is managed by the state’s utilities. Maserjian said these nonusers subsidize alternative energy metering in their utility bills.
Net metering subsidies presently cost ratepayers about $37 million a year. This is expected to rise precipitously as more and more individuals, groups, and companies line up to build alternative energy facilities. “When the systems that are currently in queue are all built, that subsidy will swell from $37 million to $262 million,” Maserjian said.
The Partnership has proposed a transition from the current way alternative energy sources are paid through net metering that supports alternative sources to more of a cost-sharing approach with ratepayers, Maserjian said.
Net metering with meters in the home pays solar providers at retail rates for excess energy they send to the grid and reduces their overall utility bills. This includes providers who join with others in what Maserjian calls “community solar” or “remote net metering” arrangements.
