DENVER — Solar panels used to power homes in Colorado are emissions free, and having access to traditional fossil-fuel generated backup electrical power is also free, for now.
Xcel Energy is seeking to change that by proposing a rate increase for solar customers that the state’s largest power supplier said pays for providing electricity in case those homes need it.
Xcel is proposing a 2.6 cents per kilowatt hour fee based on the generating capacity of a home’s solar panels.
The proposed fee would be in addition to actual electricity used and a $7 to $8 service fee now charged to cover meter reading and billing. Current solar customers would be exempt.
The Public Utilities Commission will hold a hearing on Xcel’s proposed fee on Aug. 5.
Members of the solar panel industry oppose the fee, saying homeowners installing solar panels allow Xcel to add carbon-free energy while using existing infrastructure, saving the company money on construction and transmission lines.
They say installing panels also helps Xcel meet a state mandate that the company generate 20 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020.
“It’s going to have a tremendously negative effect on the solar industry in Colorado if Xcel’s proposal is approved,” Blake Jones, president of Namaste Solar in Boulder, told the Daily Camera. “Solar-system owners are actually providing a benefit to the utility, to the grid and to other rate payers.”
Solar customers are net-metered, which means they receive credit for excess electricity produced by the solar panels that flows into Xcel’s power grid.
Jones said Xcel could become the first utility to charge net-metered solar customers a fee for having access to electricity in the grid.
