The website Utility Dive reported November 2 that some utilities in the US are proposing to regulators the creation of separate rate classes for customers with their own solar or other generation. At this point, the utilities are proposing only the creation of the separate classes, not specific rates that would be different for such classes.
Utilities have typically included proposals to increase fixed charges and add demand charges related to distributed generation, the article says. “Now some seem to want to test regulators about the idea of a separate Distributed Generation (DG) customer class,” it quotes Autumn Proudlove at the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center, as saying. “Or it could be they want to set the stage for later rate design changes.”
The article says that regulators have tended to agree with solar advocates that demand and fixed charges for solar are not good ratemaking.
The full article, by Herman Trabisch is at utilitydive.com, November 2.