STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Tuesday urged local officials to encourage the construction of new solar energy projects, despite the fact that the cap on the amount of solar power that can be sold back to the grid has already been hit in nearly half the state’s communities.
Baker, who last month filed legislation that would lift the cap on what’s known as net metering, said during a meeting of the Local Government Advisory Commission that installing solar generators can still be financially worthwhile even without the ability to sell the extra electricity to the grid at retail rates.
“A cap does not mean that there is no benefit financially to a community, to a household, to a commercial property owner going ahead and doing a solar project,” Baker said. “All a cap means is that you get reimbursed on the net meter at a wholesale price rather than retail.”
In March, the net metering cap was hit for the 171 cities and towns served by National Grid. A part of Baker’s bill, filed in the House, would raise the caps on net metering by 2 percent for both public and private entities.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Massachusetts Municipal Association Vice President Lisa Hall Blackmer asked Baker to work with Senate and House leaders to fast-track the bill, which she said shows he understands what communities need.
In the meantime, Baker said, municipal leaders should not let developers shy away from solar projects out of fear they won’t be profitable. He said there are still benefits with the cap, just smaller ones.
“I get the fact that if you can have a double scoop of ice cream instead of a single scoop, you’d want the double one,” Baker said.
He called on officials to not let the cap serve as a deterrent to new solar projects, noting that in some cases the difference between wholesale and retail reimbursement rates could mean a developer breaks even in five years rather than four.
Baker also told the council’s members that they should move quickly on solar projects regardless of whether the cap is lifted, citing a federal solar tax credit set to expire at the end of next year.
“It’s important that we make sure communities, families, commercial developers, landlords, everybody here in Massachusetts who has the opportunity to pursue solar project, pursues it while that tax credit is still available, because there’s a lot of debate about whether or not it will be reauthorized,” the governor said.
Governor Baker seems to be using Fuzzy math. The wholesale rate of approx. $.03/kWh compared to the retail rate of approx. $.18/kWh will cause considerable harm to the solar market. He also does not realize that it is illegal for a utility company to pay $.03/kWh and charge $.18 for that power to consumers. De-regulation requires utility companies to pass along what they pay for power to the consumer. If they only credit a solar generator $.03/kWh for solar power fed to the grid and charge users of that power $.18/kWh they are violating the terms of the electricity de-regulation law from 1997.
People need to wake up and see what is happening here – Republicans as a rule support big businesses like utility companies and don’t believe in climate change and don’t support renewable energy. Governor Baker and Speaker Dileo are supporting the big utility companies. Does anyone really think the utility companies are concerned about the price the rate payers pay for power? Their bottom line is effected by solar so they are pushing back hard, and now they have a friend in Baker.
The reference to ice cream is ludicrous and offensive. Ice cream is a luxury we can live without. Clean renewable energy is essential for us to reduce our carbon emissions and slow climate disruption. Net metering credits are crucial to continue making progress in meeting our carbon emission reduction targets established by law.