By Robert Moss, Eco-El Paso
An electric utility rate case of particular concern to solar advocates in the El Paso area appears to be successfully resolved. Parties to the dispute filed their unanimous settlement with the Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in July. Final approval from that body is expected.
The Rate Case
In August 2015, El Paso Electric (EPE) filed a proposal to create a new punitive rate class for solar residents, adding a new three-part rate structure with peak demand charges. Although an investor-owned utility, EPE maintains a monopoly in the El Paso area subsequent to Texas’ deregulation law passed in 1999 because that area is not located within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
EPE contended that homeowners with solar panels effectively raised the costs of service for other customers, even though most studies around the country have concluded otherwise.
EPE’s original filing was troublesome on several fronts. Rather than allowing residential solar customers to remain a part of the larger residential rate class, EPEC proposed to create a new class for them, called partial requirements customers. Solar residences would also have been subject to a 50 percent higher customer charge AND expensive power demand charges, a first for residential customers in Texas. The proposal would have significantly slowed the adoption of solar in El Paso and would have set an unfortunate precedent for similar actions by utilities serving other parts of Texas.
In response to EPE’s proposal, a contingent of interested parties quickly got involved. Local solar advocates, led by Eco-El Paso and joined by the Texas chapter of Public Citizen, the national solar trade organization SEIA, the attorneys of Sunrun, and the Energy Freedom Coalition of America, organized and motivated citizens to voice concerns.
They first urged the El Paso City Council, whose opinion carries weight with the PUC, and then the PUC itself, to reject various elements of the EPE proposal due to their complexity and the general lack of current metering technology to implement the billing. More crucially, advocates argued that the proposed rates were discriminatory and created a structure that would discourage the continuing growth of solar in the region.
The City Council voted to oppose EPE’s proposal for the separate rate class for solar residents, and subsequently the Office of Public Utility Counsel, an independent office of the PUC, collaborated in a very effective effort before the PUC to show that the new fees and demand charges were unfair and not justified before the courts.
At one point in spring 2016, EPE dropped the proposal for demand charges and replaced it with a solar surcharge of up to $11 per month. The PUC ruled that a new public notice was needed for the $11 solar fee proposal. This would have allowed new intervenors, months more delays and potentially a full hearing on the merits of the solar fee.
After many months of controversy and negotiations, EPE sought common ground for settlement, deciding to avoid taking the case to a full hearing. It dropped its effort to create a new solar rate class and peak-demand billing, and filed this settlement with the PUC in mid-July. These concessions were a big win for the Sun City, ensuring that rooftop solar energy will remain accessible and financially viable for the entire community in the near-term. The victory may only be temporary, unfortunately, because EPE has already announced plans for another rate case early next year that would resurrect similar solar issues.
Development of Rooftop Solar in El Paso
El Paso sits in a region of west Texas where the Sun shines brightly nearly 350 days a year. With a population of roughly 800,000, El Paso is fondly known as “The Sun City”. The current growth of solar means El Paso has been living up to that promise.
Merely five years ago the area had only 40 homes with rooftop solar PV. As of early 2010, EPE offered net energy metering but switched to reimbursing only 2.5 cents per kWh for excess generation exported to the grid. Opposition to this led El Paso’s State Senator, José Rodriguez, to propose a bill (SB 1910 of the 82nd Texas Legislature) that required EPE to offer net metering once again. The bill garnered overwhelming support in the Texas legislature in 2011 and passed.
Installations began to soar and accelerated even faster when solar panel prices dramatically declined. As a result, solar has now been installed atop almost 2,000 residences and thousands more military homes at Fort Bliss.
This growth has brought many new solar jobs to the region, with over 150 direct jobs alone as of the EPE filing in August 2015. Credit also goes to the leadership within the city for bringing residents affordable renewable energy options.
Looking Ahead
Eco-El Paso urges the utility to review the many studies that have looked into this subject and to abandon proposals to bill solar homeowners extra charges. Instead, EPE should work in cooperation with the communities it serves. We should be expanding access to solar energy, not restricting it through penalties and fees. Eco-El Paso proposes that both customer-owned rooftop solar and utility-owned Community Solar be aggressively promoted for Texas’s sunniest city, El Paso.
Special note from TXSES: In the almost year-long battle with EPE, Eco-El Paso incurred significant legal and other expenses. Donations (including one from TXSES) have allowed the organization to pay a majority of the bills, but they are still several thousand dollars short. Donations of any amount would be appreciated.
Robert Moss is the Assistant Vice President for the Environmental Health and Safety Office at The University of Texas at El Paso. He describes himself as a bit of an environmental energy geek, whose passion is net zero energy sustainability through engineering design. He designed and built two solar PV systems at his home that often feed energy back into the utility grid.