Rocky Mountain Power proposes replacing net metering program for Idaho customers

Rocky Mountain Power recently proposed closing its net metering program to new Idaho applicants and creating a successor program.

The company also requested that the Idaho Public Utilities Commission determine the value of excess energy provided to the company from customers who own their own generating facilities. Rocky Mountain Power also proposed a 10-year transition period for existing customers on Schedule 135, Net Metering Service, to move to the new tariff, Schedule 136, Net Billing Service.

“Rocky Mountain Power’s analysis demonstrates that the current treatment of net metering customers unfairly shifts costs to non-net metering customers,” Joelle Steward, vice president of Rocky Mountain Power, said. “The present retail rate design collects 89 percent of the fixed costs to serve customers through the kilowatt-hour or energy charge, resulting in a net metering program that fails to cover the true costs of providing the service. These costs include maintaining and operating the electric network, billing, and other customer service functions separate from the energy provided. As a result, those costs are shifted to other customers who have not chosen to generate their own power. Compensation at the retail rate for generation exported to the grid is significantly more expensive than other sources of power available for our customers.”

Rocky Mountain Power estimates that the total compensation for customer-generated energy under the current Net Metering program is 12.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. Under the proposed Net Billing program, the total compensation for generated energy for the typical residential customer generator would be 8.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The company proposed that the current program, Schedule 135, Net Metering Service, be closed to new applications after Dec. 31 and that the new program, Schedule 136, Net Billing Service, become effective Feb. 1, 2020.