REV has submitted comments to the Public Utility Commission opposing the Department of Public Service’s recommendations to further cut net metering compensation
For the first time ever, the Department recommended freezing the increase of the blended residential rate thus decreasing the compensation for the current 20,000+ net metering customers (click here to learn more about how net metering compensation works).
REV’s response to this unprecedented retroactive cut to net metering was, “Tens of thousands of Vermont net metering customers, lenders, investors, and developers have relied upon the expectation that the PUC will update the blended residential rates following the explicit procedure and timeline described in Rule 5.128. Failure to do so would be a profound breach of trust. While the Department’s proposal would reduce utility costs in the short-term, it does so at the expense of homeowners, businesses, non-profit offtakers, and system owners that made good faith investments in net-metering based on the terms codified by the Commission. By seeking to retroactively alter those terms for existing systems, the Department’s proposal is already injecting uncertainty into the renewable market, a risk that the Department does not seem to have considered or worked to moderate before issuing its recommendation.
REV noted, “Forgoing the scheduled update to the blended rates would have negative impacts that extend beyond the net metering program and would increase the cost of meeting Tier II of the Renewable Energy Standard. Breaking with the mandated blended rate update procedure now would raise questions about what other foundational renewable policies might be subject to retroactive changes and greatly diminish the state’s reputation with lenders, system owners, and developers. Forgoing the scheduled update would create a new risk premium for financing renewable energy projects. Even a relatively small increase in the risk premium lenders charge to Vermont projects would have an outsized impact on rates.
REV’s recommendations for the Commission to update the blended rate by 2.3 cents/kWh, consistent with past practice and set the siting adjustors for on site net metering at -2 cents/kWh to partially offset the loss of the federal residential tax credit in order to make net metering more affordable to more Vermonters.
Read REV’s full comments here