This one-to-one exchange helps solar panels pay for themselves and reduce overall costs for customers over time in the form of lower energy bills. territories have mandatory net metering policies, allowing rooftop solar customers to get credit for electrons they add to the grid at retail rates. “Settling for a net metering rate that’s negative to the consumer with no study feels improper to us.” A national campaign against net metering “The law said, ‘do the study,’ but they never did it,” said Bob Kingery, co-owner of Southern Energy Management, one of the oldest rooftop solar companies in the state. They point out the same 2017 law requires an investigation of the benefits and costs of rooftop solar, and that analysis should come first. Plus, a 2017 law requires the Utilities Commission to produce a new net metering regime within five years.īut the rooftop companies - together with Durham nonprofit NC WARN, an outspoken Duke foe, and dozens of other activist groups - believe that, at best, it’s too early for compromise. All say Duke’s plan is imperfect but still good for home-owned solar, and far preferable to the bruising conflicts seen in other states. Aligned with Duke are some of the groups who oppose the Florida bill, as well as the nonprofit association whose members include the unhappy rooftop installers. The Florida legislature, for instance, just passed a utility-backed measure that clean energy advocates say will throttle or even kill the customer-owned solar market.īut the battle lines over the crediting scheme, called net metering, are drawn differently in North Carolina. Similar fights over how rooftop solar owners get credit for the electrons they create are raging across the country, with for-profit utilities squaring off against rooftop installers and climate activists. Simmering discontent among North Carolina rooftop solar companies reached a boil last week, with more than a dozen calling on the state’s governor and utility regulators to put the brakes on a Duke Energy proposal they believe will cut the value of home solar panels by more than a third.
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