“There are lies, damned lies and statistics.” — Mark Twain
My buddy Dave is a good golfer. Over the years, he has entered many local tournaments and has won prize money. Well — not money, actually. He’s won credit in the golf course pro shop. It’s not his first choice, but he has managed to keep his family and friends well stocked with golf shirts for Christmas every year.
I am not a good golfer, but I have had the experience of wanting to return something that I bought from a store, to be told I could get only store credit, no refund. I’m pretty sure most people reading this have had similar experiences, and no one would confuse receiving store credit with a refund.
Some people however, do get confused. One of them is Evelyn Everton, local mouthpiece for the pro-fossil fuels, and anti-solar energy Koch brothers. On August 27, Evelyn had an op-ed published in the Tribune, “Should you be forced to subsidize your neighbor’s solar panels?” In it she stated: “Rocky Mountain Power, Utah’s electric utility company, pays three times more for energy generated by residential solar panels than it pays for energy generated by commercial solar farms.”
Evelyn’s wrong, but she’s not the only one confused. Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) is also confused. A recent Tribune article titled, “Rocky Mountain Power customers may see rising fees under solar-power settlement,” the Tribune quotes RMP:
“RMP argues it could buy solar power on the open market for just 3 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh) — but … solar customers who have signed up for RMP’s net metering program before Nov. 15, 2017, will [receive] credits on their bills worth about 10 cents per kwh of surplus power their rooftop panels generate. Those who sign up after that deadline, will receive a credit worth a little over 9 cents per kwh of surplus power for the next three years.”
RMP is very specific here. They pay 3 cents for solar power, but solar customers receive “credits” of 9-10 cents, for excess power they generate. Solar customers receive no money. Still, RMP insists that “to recoup those added costs from paying above market rates for electricity, RMP would be allowed to charge additional fees to all its Utah customers.” Except they’re not paying anything. This is all a Mark Twain manipulation of numbers.
And what about that 9-10 cents? Where does that number come from as a credit that solar customers receive? The answer is found on RMP‘s website in their explanation of their rates “that encourage energy efficiency - During Utah’s warm summer months, your electric bill will work this way: The energy charge for usage up to 400 kilowatt-hours per month will be about 8.8 cents per kwh. The next additional kwh (sic) are about 11.5 cents per kwh, and any additional kwh over 1,000 is about 14.5 cents per kwh.”
Therefore, 8.8 cents per kwh is the minimum price that residential customers (including solar) can buy from RMP. Doesn’t it make sense that if instead of buying power, solar customers are giving power to RMP, that they get credited about the same amount as what their minimum cost would be?
This is not a subsidy. It is simply an exchange. Instead of buying for 9-10 cents, solar customers are given a credit of 9-10 cents.
But RMP would argue, what about the cost of maintaining the grid? Well, once you open the door to other variables, then we should honestly talk about all the other variables, including transmission costs of buying power from remote customers. We should also talk about environmental cost benefits of having local solar customers. Those are not cheap. We have only begun to add up the costs of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and the Western United States being on fire.
We must remember above all, that RMP is not a private company like Apple or Disney. It is a public utility, whose primary purpose is to serve the public. So let them serve.
Michael A. Kalm is a physician in Utah with over 40 years of experience of evaluating numbers in scientific studies for their credibility or lack thereof.