By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent
DTE Energy has a love-hate relationship with renewable energy.
On the one hand, they’ve pledged to be coal-free by 2040, at least in part through investments in wind and solar. On the other hand, they’ve suggested a replacement for retail net metering that has solar advocates screaming “Foul!” from the rooftops.
Midwest Energy News reports that DTE Energy has suggested a new reimbursement scheme that would compensate its solar customers at the lower – often significantly lower – wholesale rate of power. In addition, they have discussed imposing fixed fees on solar customers to fulfill the mandate that every utility has to toss up the fake “cost-shift” subterfuge to maintain their membership in the Utility Club.
(The Utility Club is not a real thing. But this lie, this ridiculous slander, about the cost shift, is unfortunately all too real.)
For those of you who have not heard me rail against this before, here it goes:
The argument goes like this: Retail-rate net metering, a program under which solar customers are reimbursed for the excess electricity they produce, pushes extra costs on to non-solar customers because solar customers aren’t paying for grid upkeep.
What the utilities don’t want you to notice, of course, is that solar customers also relieve congestion on the grid during peak production times, which saves strain on the transmission and distribution lines. So while they may not be paying for upkeep directly, solar production saves wear and tear, which ultimately saves the utility money in the form of repair costs.
You’re welcome.
I should note here that while there is a minor cost-shift, a study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory indicates the shift only happens when a state passes the 10% mark for solar-electricity generation. And I should also note that even at more than 10%, the shift is so small you’d need the Berkeley Lab’s $27 million electron microscope to see it.
My good friend Becky Stanfield, senior director of western states with Vote Solar, summed it up pretty succinctly for Midwest Energy News, saying:
DTE Energy is clearly using the distributed generation tariff to try to discourage people from going solar. It’s pretty outrageous.
Yes it is, Becky. Yes. It Is.
More:
Advocates call Michigan utility’s net metering replacement ‘outrageous’