Wyoming legislation to repeal net metering unanimously moves out of committee

The Wyoming legislature is considering a bill that, if enacted, would change the net metering rules in the state, essentially repealing the current net metering bill that has been in place for 20 years.

The bill, which recently passed out of the Senate Corporations Elections, & Political Subdivisions Committee, would take away any requirement by utilities to purchase excess home-produced wind or solar power (under 25 kilowatts) on July 1, 2021.

The legislation, Senate File 16, would ask the Wyoming Public Service Commission (PSC) to create a new net metering structure in the state. The original bill had changed the net metering system in Wyoming, but the committee decided to instead leave the decision to the PSC. The bill was introduced by Rep. Danny Eyre (R-Lyman), a former utility executive.

“Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, no electric utility shall be obligated under this article to compensate any customer‑generator for any electricity produced on a net metering system that is first operational on or after July 1, 2021,” according to the bill. “The public service commission shall conduct public hearings and establish an appropriate system to regulate the rates, terms and conditions of customer‑generators by all electric utilities for electricity produced from net metering systems first operational on or after July 1, 2021.”

The bill also states that the new system approved by the PSC will “prevent subsidization of customer‑generators compared to other customers of the electric utility.”

The PSC has until April 1, 2022 to create the new system, and July 1, 2022 to launch the new system.

Chris Petrie, chief counsel with the Wyoming Public Service Commission, testified that fixed costs are not always recovered by the utility.

“This bill is a continuation of discussion that has been had previously in front of this committee,” he said. “Some concerns have arisen about net metering installations and the way that those are currently handled in utility rates. The basic concern is that there is a subsidy flowing from customers who do not have a net metering installation to those who do.”

Rocky Mountain Power, which covers areas of Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho, is in support of a new or repealed net metering ruling by the PSC.

“Rocky Mountain Power is supportive of measures that would minimize unfair cost shifting to other customers,” said Tiffany Erickson, a media relations official with Rocky Mountain Power. “We do not believe that nonparticipating customers should subsidize those customers with on-site generation and feel this is a step in the right direction to a more balanced approach.”

The issue has been one that has been seen across the country in recent years, with utilities and advocates arguing that all ratepayers are shouldering the burden of the payments to homeowners. Advocates for low-income communities are especially concerned that ratepayers who cannot afford their own self-generation systems will be responsible for those who can. Advocates on the other side state that taking away net metering payments also removes some incentive for homeowners to install the small-scale systems.

Wyoming is an important case to watch because of the state’s usage of different types of energy. The Powder River Basin, partially located in Wyoming, is a large producer of coal; the oil and gas industry has a large presence in the state; and wind and solar have become important in recent years because of the climate in the area. Public testimony from a similar bill introduced previously included opinions from both sides, including small solar and wind owners, solar and wind employees, low-income advocates, and utility representatives.

The chairman of the committee, Ogden Driskill, said he received more than 1,000 emails on the topic.

“I’m pleased with the bill, it makes a lot of sense for a couple of reasons,” Bryce Freeman, administrator at Wyoming Office of Consumer Advocate, testified at the hearing. “There is a growing understanding around the country that what we do in Wyoming, which was what was done in the beginning pretty much everywhere, many states have abandoned that already and made adjustments because it just frankly wasn’t sustainable. It makes sense to have that sort of determination made in a forum where you can have experts putting on expert evidence before an expert panel to come up with something that is well vetted that we can be sure is fair to all parties, the customer generation owners as well as the remaining body of ratepayers.”

After a two hour discussion, Senate File 16 passed the committee 5-0.