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MADISON, WI (WSAU-WAOW) -Madison Gas and Electric (MGE) and Alliant Energy want to change how they compensate customers who generate electricity for the wider grid with rooftop solar panels.
The practice of allowing customers to reduce the cost of the electricity they consume at night with the power their solar panels generate during the day is called ‘net metering.’ Many people who install solar panels on their homes rely on net metering to help them offset the hefty upfront cost of solar panels over time.
The two utilities have proposed separate changes to their net metering practices that would affect only their customers who have yet to install solar panels. People who already have solar panels or are outside of the two utilities’ coverage areas would not be affected.
If approved, the new system would take effect on April 1, 2024. All MGE customers who installed solar panels before that date would be grandfathered into the old net metering system.
Alliant Energy’s changes would focus on when net metering is calculated. Currently, customers are paid for their excess electricity generation at the end of the month, and the amount is deducted from their bill.
Under the new proposal, net-metering would be calculated every hour with different prices paid for solar electricity depending on the time of day. Power generated in the evenings, when demand is highest, would be worth more. However, solar panels are most productive when they receive more sunlight around midday.
Alliant is also proposing a new credit that would increase compensation rates.
The specter of change makes local small businesses built around installing solar panels nervous.
“It may be that only the most economically wealthy homeowners can afford to add solar to their home,” Maria Drews, co-owner of Drews Solar, said. “And a lot of like kind of regular homeowners will find that it’s unattainable.”
People who want to add panels in the future might find that it’s harder to predict when their panels will pay for themselves through the cost they offset on electrical bills, she said.
But these proposed changes would impact more than just Drews Solar. Advocates for the renewable energy industry across Wisconsin are watching these cases very closely.
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