fl. eyes on the roof solar clampdown

The Florida legislature is considering a plan to crack down on rooftop solar credits in one of the largest battlefield states.

The bill has a chance of approval given the backing of Florida Power & Light Co., the state’s largest electric utility, which is creating a dynamic that could change the trajectory of the solar industry in the state.

A state Senate committee passed the bill yesterday, despite opposition from local solar companies, homeowners and clean energy advocates. If passed, it would cool the adoption of rooftop solar and lead to job losses at homegrown companies, they argued. Solar customers could see lower returns for excess solar and potentially new fixed charges under the plan.

The measure is the latest salvo between Florida’s politically powerful electric companies and renewable energy proponents, who have been at odds with customer-owned solar for years. It’s about how much Floridians are credited for the solar electricity they add to the grid, an amount that can encourage people to put panels on their homes or discourage them from doing so.

This bill is a small business matter, said Michael Vergona, president and co-founder of Urban Solar. If you add extra costs to the cost of solar energy, you take that off the table for many homeowners.”

Based in South Florida, Urban Solar was one of the local solar companies that said changes to grid metering policies would remove the opportunity for many homeowners to consider rooftop solar. Supporters of Bill have argued that non-solar users are subsidizing people who choose to install panels under the current system.

Rooftop solar credits remain a hot topic from California to Georgia. What’s unique about it? SB 1024 in Florida, however, is the buzz it generated last week when FPL launched a website who targeted a newspaper article about the bill, which was introduced last year.

FPL, owned by the world’s largest renewable energy developer, Florida-based NextEra Energy Inc., started Truth Matters, calling the story incredibly one-sided and misleading about an issue of real concern to 18 million Floridians. The utility also criticized the Miami Herald for running what the company called a heavily edited version of a response to the story.

the December story, written in collaboration with the nonprofit news organization Floodlight, used several documents to demonstrate NextEra and FPL’s influence on the bill and its sponsor, Republican Senator Jennifer Bradley.

Internal emails showed an FPL lobbyist corresponding with Bradleys staff about the bill text. NextEra also donated $10,000 to Bradley’s campaign. The companies said the two are not linked.

However, it is not common for lobbyists to hold the pen of bills in their hands. FPL is also one of the most politically powerful companies in the state.

Not a word was said about that drama during the Senate Committee on Regulated Industries meeting yesterday. The committee passed the bill 6-2 after hearing about 30 speakers and holding some debate. The measure must clear two more committees before it goes to the state Senate floor for a full vote. A version of the proposal would also have to pass through the Florida House to reach the governor’s office.

other states

Electric utilities and solar proponents have waged wars across the country over rooftop solar, using state legislators or utility regulators as their battleground.

In California, the governor and members of the state congressional delegation have criticized a proposal that would lower homeowners’ bills and increase monthly costs (energy wire, 22 Dec 2021). For today, the pleadings are on the agenda.

State-owned regulators in some states, such as Arizona and Louisiana, have agreed to end grid metering, while regulators in others, such as South Carolina, have eased restrictions on rooftop policies, allowing solar to expand. In Alabama, environmental activists have filed a lawsuit in federal court (energy wire, July 14, 2021).

Fights may arise elsewhere. Mississippi regulators plan to update net meter metering rules enacted years ago as part of a settlement between Mississippi Power and the Sierra Club (energy wire, August 5, 2014.)

And in Georgia, a pilot grid metering program has reached capacity, but the program may be revised this year as Georgia Power will present its long-term energy plans and subsequent rate changes to the state utilities commission.

Florida bill

The proposal in the Florida law instructs the state’s Public Services Commission to update a netting policy from 15 years ago. Under the bylaws, rooftop solar customers can be credited at a retail rate if they supply excess power to the grid.

However, with 90,000 rooftop solar customers, Bradley’s sponsor argued that the solar industry is mature and current policies are regressive. She used a common argument from the utility industry saying that rooftop solar owners pay less for electricity, forcing non-solar owners to pay more.

The cost shift to non-solar customers is significant, Bradley said.

The war between Florida electric companies, especially FPL and clean energy groups, dates back more than a decade. The most notable battle has been dueling constitutional amendments, which began in early 2015 and ended in failure for the state’s electric utilities and associated trade groups in November 2016.

Backed by the political wing of the Southern Clean Energy Alliance, a wide range of conservative and clean energy groups launched a vote in 2015 to get residents and small businesses into long-term solar panel financing schemes, easing expensive upfront costs (energy wire, January 14, 2015). The measure cleared several legal hurdles but failed to get the necessary signatures to be put on the ballot.

The electric companies fought back and funded a separate umbrella group to eventually launch what became Amendment 1 (energy wire, July 16, 2015).

The utility companies capitalized on the popularity of solar energy by assuring customers that they could buy or lease roof panels for their home or business. The change could also have paved the way for regulators to impose new flat rates on residents who want to put panels on their homes.

The measure backfired in November 2016, inflicting a multi-billion dollar blow to the state’s electric utilities.