Your Thoughts on Net Metering

News, Energy Conservation, Energy Supply, Regulatory

Mar 01, 2011  2

We've had lots of questions over the years about when Yukon was going to develop a net meter policy. Net metering would allow homeowners and businesses that produce their own energy to offset their electrical bills by feeding any surplus power back to the grid.

Yukon Energy has been working with the Yukon government and the Yukon Electrical Company Limited to develop a draft policy.  The draft is now ready for public review. Give it a read and let us know what you think. You have until April 29th to provide your comments.

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by Peter Becker

Net Metering Policy Draft a Framework for Solar Panel Hobbyists

The net metering policy draft devalues its stated goal of assisting individuals to connect renewable energy sources to the grid. Nothing works without energy, a framework for solar panel hobbyists is not good enough.

What is left out of the draft is more significant than what we can read which are provisions outdated by 20 years or so when compared to more progressive, more cost conscious jurisdictions.

It is unacceptable that green power investments by the citizens is disincentivized. The citizens are not respected when in a variety of ways they not allowed democratic participation in the grid.

The cap on project size is wrong as it does not allow to dimension solar power projects (like wind power or photovoltaics) large enough for reasonable amortization periods. With that goes access to financing.

It is plain wrong that the power corporation simply takes or steals the KWhs that the citizens or businesses grid feed beyond balancing of what they have consumed from the grid.

The cap on program size is wrong. Do we want green power and improved energy security or do we not want it? Do we prefer clean, green energy over diesel and natural gas plants, ecologically problematic new hydro developments or not? Do we prioritize cost effective wind power over expensive fossil fuel fired power or not?

The full burdening of the citizen with interconnection costs and even substation/transformer upgrade costs has been identified as counterproductive and unfair in a variety of large and small jurisdictions that excel in green energy development. This is not collaboration, if it was allowed to happen it would be robbery. A lot of it are already necessary upgrades of smart grid development items and load balancing capacities that are so important in our small insular grid for Yukon Energy to make good on their published wind power promises.

The citizen investors are cheated and the ratepayer is left holding the bag with longterm high KWh expenses. There is a disregard to a growing potential for a lack of energy security with regard to volatile fossil fuel markets as well as to midrange and long range increasingly unpredictable river flow volumes and a diminishing ecology.

These are a few of the serious problems in the draft policy; more later.

At this point clean, reliable, cost effective energy prospects in Yukon Energy’s strategic planning appear to be not substantiated. Hopefully that will change.

03.04.2011

by Yukon Energy

Peter, I encourage you to pass your concerns on to the Yukon government. Thank you for taking the time to give your comments.

03.04.2011