Oklahoma Moves To Discourage Solar and Wind Power 504
Hugh Pickens DOT Com (2995471) writes "Paul Monies reports at NewsOK that Oklahoma's legislature has passed a bill that allows regulated utilities to apply to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to charge a higher base rate to customers who generate solar and wind energy and send their excess power back into the grid reversing a 1977 law that forbade utilities to charge extra to solar users. 'Renewable energy fed back into the grid is ultimately doing utility companies a service,' says John Aziz. 'Solar generates in the daytime, when demand for electricity is highest, thereby alleviating pressure during peak demand.'
The state's major electric utilities backed the bill but couldn't provide figures on how much customers already using distributed generation are getting subsidized by other customers. Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. and Public Service Co. of Oklahoma have about 1.3 million electric customers in the state. They have about 500 customers using distributed generation. Kathleen O'Shea, OG&E spokeswoman, said few distributed generation customers want to sever their ties to the grid. 'If there's something wrong with their panel or it's really cloudy, they need our electricity, and it's going to be there for them,' O'Shea said. 'We just want to make sure they're paying their fair amount of that maintenance cost.' The prospect of widespread adoption of rooftop solar worries many utilities. A report last year by the industry's research group, the Edison Electric Institute, warns of the risks posed by rooftop solar (PDF). 'When customers have the opportunity to reduce their use of a product or find another provider of such service, utility earnings growth is threatened," the report said. "As this threat to growth becomes more evident, investors will become less attracted to investments in the utility sector.''"
The state's major electric utilities backed the bill but couldn't provide figures on how much customers already using distributed generation are getting subsidized by other customers. Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. and Public Service Co. of Oklahoma have about 1.3 million electric customers in the state. They have about 500 customers using distributed generation. Kathleen O'Shea, OG&E spokeswoman, said few distributed generation customers want to sever their ties to the grid. 'If there's something wrong with their panel or it's really cloudy, they need our electricity, and it's going to be there for them,' O'Shea said. 'We just want to make sure they're paying their fair amount of that maintenance cost.' The prospect of widespread adoption of rooftop solar worries many utilities. A report last year by the industry's research group, the Edison Electric Institute, warns of the risks posed by rooftop solar (PDF). 'When customers have the opportunity to reduce their use of a product or find another provider of such service, utility earnings growth is threatened," the report said. "As this threat to growth becomes more evident, investors will become less attracted to investments in the utility sector.''"
Peak During the Day? (Score:4, Informative)
Obviously this varies from region to region, but I was always led to understand that in hot locales, peak was late afternoon, when houses began to cool down, and businesses were still cooling. ...part of the reason why large solar plants are moving to molten salt -- to keep providing power in the early evening when the sun isn't directly overhead.
Re:Suck It Up! (Score:3, Informative)
And I am sure that that some tax breaks or subsidies helped them get their grid up to begin with.
Re:Peak During the Day? (Score:5, Informative)
Afternoon is still considered 'day' by most people, if you're in an area where the sun hasn't set yet.
Of course, that assumes summer time -- if you're in an area where many people rely on electicity for heating, in the winter the peak may be closer to sunrise. (with a second peak in the evening, as people get home & heat their homes & start cooking).
Re:Something wrong at the foundation - (Score:4, Informative)
Because their profits are (kind of) regulated.
Electric Utilities are heavily regulated. I am not sure about Oklahoma, but in many states the rate that utilities can charge is tied back to the cost of electric production, Since electric production tends to be capital intensive, that means their cost of capital, and that ties back to the health of the utilities earnings, both in terms of growth and stability (i.e. risk).
Feeding electricity back into the grid is not a free lunch for the utilities – there are costs involved. (and I am sure that electric utilities will whine loudly in an exaggerated fashion as they fight a rearguard action.)
Koch Brothers (Score:5, Informative)
Lay off the Freedom Loving Punch (Score:5, Informative)
The last time I looked, the flip side to a regulated utility was a deregulated utility. Deregulated utilities end up as monopolies.
The other last time I looked, business interests of all kinds turn to governments to maintain their profits, and raise barriers to competition. And spare me the "The problem is bad regulation." That's not the problem.
Re:want to figure it out BEFORE most customers pay (Score:4, Informative)
Re:False dilemma (Score:5, Informative)
In fact it has to grow faster than the rate of inflation or I will be losing money.
BS. the normal, supposed way of gaining money is the dividident, which is being paid to shareholders as a yearly return on their invested money. But currently, people want more and more and more money from their investment, and a way to do that is artificially boosting the price of a share, by hollowing out a company.
Re:regulating in their favor, allergic to paying (Score:4, Informative)
> Most backed electricity is wasted because control systems designed to balance
>the grid cannot cope with thousands of variable intermittent sources
Nah, they've had software for this for years. You should google the IBM page on this they track clouds as they move by their effect on output on panels and they project that forward in real-time to forecast production over long periods.
> causes negative electricity prices where the power company pays users to waste excess electricity
Another tired old canard. The power company also makes money by selling power at a profit, and in every single example I have ever seen, the balance is *always* positive. And yes, I work in the industry.