The Vermont House has advanced a bill that clarifies the state’s existing net metering law. With net metering, consumers get a credit on their electric bill when they send excess power back into the grid.
The legislation eases registration requirements for systems that produce up to 10 kilowatts.
Gabrielle Stebbins is executive director of Renewable Energy Vermont, a trade association that represents renewable energy companies.
She says utility customers benefit when the solar projects produce power. That’s because they produce the most electricity during the summer, when electricity demand is high and peak power is expensive to buy.
(Stebbins) "So overall if we reduce our peak load through well sited and well placed solar panels then we can reduce overall that peak load which reduces overall how much Vermonters as a whole have to pay into this regional transmission cost."
(Host) But there have been complaints that utility customers in general subsidize the cost of these residential solar projects. So the legislation also includes a study of the costs and the benefits of the state’s net metering program.