Solar power advocates urge veto of legislation

Governor considering legislation that would curtail net metering

By Scott L. Miley CNHI Statehouse Reporter • Indianapolis

Solar energy supporters toted a solar panel into Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office Monday to encourage him to veto controversial legislation that would eliminate net metering by 2022.

Net metering pays solar panel owners credits for sending some of the electric power they generate back to utility grids.

Legislation that passed the Indiana General Assembly and awaits the governor’s signature would reduce the buy-back rate from about 10 cents a kilowatt hour to about 3 cents a kilowatt hour.

 Under the bill, by 2022, all investor-owned utilities would be prohibited from offering net metering to new customers unless they install systems before the end of 2017.

Current customers, for the most part, would continue to receive the net metering rate until 2047.

After passing through security at the Indiana Statehouse, the solar energy supporters carried the 50-pound panel to the governor’s office. The panel, measuring about 6 feet by 31/2 feet, was signed by 350 Hoosiers, mostly solar entrepreneurs who oppose Senate Bill 309. The governor was not at the presentation.

Holcomb has not said whether he intends to sign the legislation to end net metering. The deadline for signing the legislation is today.

“It seems fitting for the solar entrepreneurs to present it (the panel) because they’re the ones whose businesses are at stake,” said Jesse Kharbanda, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council.

The legislation was opposed by solar energy supporters during a rally outside the Statehouse and through hundreds of phone calls, emails and letters to the governor’s office.

Last week, 16 CEOs and founders of Indiana tech firms signed a letter asking for a veto. The executives included Chris Baggott, co-founder of Exact Target, and Don Brown, founder of Interactive Intelligence.

An estimated 2,700 jobs among 80 companies in Indiana are related to solar energy, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Presenters of the solar panel on Monday said the law would diminish financial incentives for customer-owned solar panels. It would also harm the solar panel industry in Indiana, they said.

“If the governor is committed to Indiana being a jobs magnet, he must veto SB 309,” said Reggie Henderson, vice president and general manager of Carmel-based Telamon.

Phil Teague, co-founder of Rectify Solar, said the bill sends the wrong message to “homegrown entrepreneurs” who have solar panels on their rooftops.

“SB 309 is against the spirit of innovation that the governor is trying to foster,” Teague said.