DENVER—Xcel Energy is standing by its proposal to cut rooftop solar incentives, saying the credit given to homes and businesses with solar panels that add kilowatt-hours to the grid is too high and burdens other customers.
Representatives from Vote Solar, a solar-energy advocacy group, accused Xcel of trying to block solar programs, and asked the Public Utilities Commission to intervene Tuesday. Xcel refused to withdraw the proposal.
A meeting that included the Colorado Energy Office, representatives of utilities, state government and the solar-energy industry failed to reach an agreement.
In a PUC filing, Xcel is asking for a cut in the credit, called a net-meter charge. The credit is equal to the price a residential customer pays, which is 10.5 cents a kilowatt-hour.
If the credit isn’t cut, Xcel wants to reduce new solar installations in its Solar Rewards program by 83 percent to 6 megawatts.
“Utilities are working to stop and slow down these innovative technologies,” said Rick Gilliam, Vote Solar’s director of research.
Edward Stern, executive director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group, said the outlook for an agreement is small. He said there is little room for compromise.
Challenges to Xcel’s plan must be filed with the PUC in two weeks.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
