This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Rocky Mountain Power is proposing a fee for customers generating power via solar and wind who are attached to the grid to "pay their fair share" of fixed grid costs, which are mostly built into the kWh price of electricity currently. This fee is wrong, and it raises important questions. Should fixed grid costs be taken out of the kWh price of electricity and charged as fees? Should those generating clean electricity have to pay an equal share of grid maintenance?
I believe the fixed costs should be built into the cost of the product (electricity), like with most other industries. Net-metering customers are generating clean energy and transferring excess to Rocky Mountain Power (during peak energy hours in the case of solar).
They are providing RMP a service, and RMP is providing them a service, so both benefit already. Each year, RMP zeros out excess energy generated, and it cannot go toward paying fees, so customers have "donated" it to the RMP. There are many incentives in place to encourage clean energy generation. A permanent, monthly fee for all net-metering users would seriously undermine those efforts and discourage clean energy generation. This proposal needs to be stopped.
Nate Woodward
West Jordan