IndianaDG and Indiana Chamber Oppose Amended HB 1414

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   February 01, 2020  /   Posted in 2020 Indiana General Assembly, Uncategorized  /   No Comments

Indiana Chamber Legislative Report

Both IndianaDG and Indiana Chamber of Commerce Oppose Amended HB 1414

IndianaDG Note: Watch soon for a comprehensive list of groups opposing HB 1414 as amended. HB 1414 is on the House third reading calendar on Monday, February 3rd which is the deadline for final passage of House Bills in the House.

Bill Dealing With Shutdown of Electric Generation Significantly Amended

HB 1414 – Retirement of Electric Generation Facilities
Authored by Rep. Ed Soliday (R-Valparaiso)

This amended bill that passed out of committee on January 22 provided that a public utility may not retire, sell, transfer or terminate a lease with respect to an electric generation facility unless the public utility first obtains from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) a determination that the public convenience and necessity require the retirement, sale, transfer or lease termination. It also allowed a utility to earn an additional return on investment if it hit certain metrics.

Chamber position: Oppose

The latest: Four amendments to the bill were offered on the House floor on January 30. One of those was determined not to be eligible for a vote. One from Rep. Ryan Dvorak (D-South Bend), which offered to protect whale oil as a “legacy” source of lighting, failed. Meanwhile, Rep. Alan Morrison (R-Brazil) offered an amendment that would award high value workforce ready credit-bearing grants through the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, in conjunction with the Department of Workforce Development, to an applicant who is a dislocated coal mine employee if the applicant is otherwise eligible for a grant.  This amendment passed by a vote of 94-0.

Lastly, Rep. Soliday offered an amendment to his bill which removed the additional return on investment language.  It also requires a public utility to notify the IURC of its intent to retire, sell or transfer a reliable capacity resource with a capacity exceeding eighty (80) megawatts. It would require the IURC to conduct a public hearing and receive information concerning the reasonableness of the planned retirement, sale or transfer. Moreover, the IURC shall issue findings and conclusions concerning the reasonableness of the planned retirement, sale or transfer based on the information received.  This amendment passed by a voice vote. The bill is now eligible for further action – a final third reading floor vote – next week in the House.

Indiana Chamber action/commentary: Make no mistake, the amended bill is much better than the bill that passed out of committee. However, the bill still has the potential to interfere with the utilities’ ability to make business decisions and result in increased legal fees for the utility, the IURC and the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor –all ultimately paid for by customers.  We still believe that the prudent action should be to wait until the results of the Chamber’s energy study and the recommendations of the 21st Century Energy Task Force come out.

Resource: Greg Ellis at (317) 264-6881 or email: gellis@indianachamber.com

To read the amended bill see: http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2020/bills/house/1414

IndianaDG is a member of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

 

Clean energy groups sue Wisconsin PSC over We Energies solar rates

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   January 22, 2020  /   Posted in Uncategorized  /   No Comments

Clean energy groups sue Wisconsin regulators over We Energies solar rates

Environmental and clean energy advocates have sued Wisconsin utility regulators over a We Energies solar program they say discriminates against individuals and businesses.

In a case filed last week in Dane County Circuit Court, the Sierra Club, Renew Wisconsin, the Environmental Law & Policy Center and Vote Solar claim the rate structure approved last year violates federal law by placing a higher value on electricity generated with utility-owned panels on customer property than on electricity from customer-owned equipment.

Renew Wisconsin executive director Tyler Huebner said the groups are seeking a level playing field that doesn’t discourage private development.

Tyler Huebner (copy)
Huebner, RENEW WISCONSIN

“The sun shines and the wind blows the same for everyone,” said Elizabeth Ward, director of Sierra Club’s Wisconsin chapter. ”It doesn’t favor monopoly utilities over the hardworking Wisconsinites who invest their own money in solar and wind.”

The groups are asking the court to overturn the Public Service Commission’s December vote approving the utility’s buyback rates for independent generators.

Federal law requires utilities to purchase electricity from qualifying non-utility generators, such as a solar farm or manure digester. The clean energy groups argue Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rules prohibit utilities from setting prices that discriminate against non-utility generation.

We Energies has established a pair of programs through which customers can invest in or host utility-owned solar panels and receive payments for the energy they generate. Those rates account for the value of the energy as well as capacity, or the ability to deliver energy. Independent solar producers aren’t compensated for capacity.

Accounting for those independent producers’ capacity costs would essentially double the rate they’re paid, according to the complaint.

Brad Klein, ELPC
Klein

Brad Klein, a senior attorney for the Environmental Law & Policy Center, called it “a simple case of self-dealing.”

“We Energies put their shareholders ahead of Wisconsin homes and businesses,” Klein wrote in a prepared statement. “The way they went about it is complex and technical, but this case itself is simple: A large company is illegally trying to squeeze out competition.”

Utility spokesman Brendan Conway did not address the specifics of the complaint but defended the rate structures.

“We pay customers the market rate for their excess generation,” Conway said. “The Commission supported that decision because it is fair to all customers.”

Brendan Conway (copy)
Conway, WEC ENERGY GROUP

The commission approved the rates on a 2-1 vote. PSC Chair Rebecca Valcq dissented, saying the commission should open an investigation into avoided capacity costs.

PSC spokesman Matt Sweeney declined to comment, citing agency policy on pending litigation.

This is not the first legal case spawned by We Energies’ solar policies.

Eagle Point Solar last year sued the PSC over the commission’s refusal to rule on whether state law allows private companies to lease solar panels to customers without being treated as regulated utilities.

The case was filed after We Energies blocked a deal in which Eagle Point was contracted to lease 1.1 megawatts of solar panels to the city of Milwaukee and instead urged the city to consider participating in the utility’s program.

Eagle Point asked the court to prevent We Energies from interfering with its city contract and to declare that the contract does not make Eagle Point a public utility subject to state regulation.

A judge dismissed the case in November, ruling that Eagle Point needed to first exhaust all its appeals before the PSC.

Eagle Point has appealed and asked the state Supreme Court to hear the case.

HB 1414 coal bailout bill hearing 1/22/2020 @ 1:30 pm

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   January 21, 2020  /   Posted in 2020 Indiana General Assembly, Uncategorized  /   No Comments

Please urge your state legislators to oppose HB 1414.

See these articles for details:

Watch http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2020/committees/utilities_and_energy_2000 

House Utilities agenda 1-22-2020

Members of House Utilities

Rep. Ed Soliday (R-Valpariso), CHAIR, HD 4, h4@iga.in.gov

Rep. Ethan Manning (R-Denver), Vice Chair, HD 23, h23@iga.in.gov

Rep. Dale DeVon (R-Granger), HD 5, h5@iga.in.gov

Rep. Bob Behning (R-Indianapolis), HD 91, h91@iga.in.gov

Rep. Dollyne Sherman (R-Indianapolis), HD 93, h93@iga.in.gov

Rep. Randy Frye (R-Greensburg), HD 67, h67@iga.in.gov

Rep. Alan Morrison (R-Terre Haute), HD 42, h42@iga.in.gov

Rep. Jim Pressel (R-Rolling Prairie), HD 20, h20@iga.in.gov

Rep. Mike Speedy (R-Indianapolis), HD 90, h90@iga.in.gov

Rep. Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington) RMM, HD 61, h61@iga.in.gov

Rep. Ryan Hatfield (D-Evansville), HD 77, h77@iga.in.gov

Rep. Karlee Macer (D-Indianapolis), HD 92, h92@iga.in.gov

Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon (D-Munster), HD 12, h12@iga.in.gov

IURC 2019 Q3 Net Metering Quarterly Reporting Summary

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   January 08, 2020  /   Posted in Indiana Michigan Electric Power (I&M), Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), Uncategorized  /   No Comments

IURC 2019 Q3 Net Metering

Quarterly Reporting Summary

Indiana’s net metering rules became effective in March 2005 and established a minimum standard for the net metering offering required of utilities.  It also set out the program participation requirements for eligible customers and utilities.

At the direction of the Indiana General Assembly, the Commission revised its rules in 2011 and raised the minimum standard offering by expanding the eligibility to more facilities and to all customer classes.  At a minimum, as defined in 170 IAC 4‐4.2, a net metering customer is a customer in good standing who owns and operates an eligible net metering energy resource (1) on their premises with a nameplate capacity (2) of less than or equal to 1 MW.  This capacity must be used primarily to offset all or part of the customer’s annual electricity requirements.

Senate Enrolled Act 309 of 2017 directed the Commission to revise its rules to increase the availability of net metering to an aggregate amount of nameplate capacity of 1.5% of a utility’s summer peak load (3, 4).  Further, of this amount of available capacity 40% is to be reserved for residential customers and 15% for organic waste biomass facilities (5) .  After these capacity reservations, an amount equivalent to 0.675% of summer peak load is available for non‐ biomass commercial, industrial, and school customers (6).

In light of increasing net metering participation the Commission held an Informational Collaborative meeting with stakeholders which led to the approval of General Administrative Order 2019‐2 (7) .  One directive from that Order called for investor‐owned utilities (IOUs) to provide quarterly updates on their net metering participation.

This report summarizes the net metering quarterly reports filed by each of the IOUs to reflect the participation as of September 30, 2019.

 

(1) Eligible net metering energy resources include wind, solar, hydro, fuel cells, hydrogen, organic waste biomass and dedicated crops powered generation [170 IAC 4‐4.2‐1(d) and IC 8‐1‐37‐4(a)(1)‐(8)].

(2) Nameplate capacity is the full‐load continuous rating of a generator as designated by the manufacturer.

(3) IC 8‐1‐40‐10 and IC 8‐1‐40‐12(a)(1).

(4) The previous Commission rules required availability to an aggregate amount of nameplate capacity of 1% of a utility’s summer peak load.

(5) IC 8‐1‐40‐12(a)(2).

(6) In this report we refer to this available capacity as the Non‐reserved Nameplate Capacity.

(7) The Informational Collaborative Meeting was held on April 10, 2019, and GAO 2019‐2 was adopted on August 29, 2019.

 

Net metering 3Q 2019 Table 1

Net Metering 3Q 2019 Table 2

Net Metering 3Q 2019 Tale 3

Net metering 3Q 2019 Table 4

Copyright 2013 IndianaDG