At a hearing of the South Carolina Public Service Commission in late February, Dominion Energy South Carolina requested approval of new solar choice metering tariffs on customers, including a subscription fee for solar energy customers as well as a change in the netting period of energy consumption.
The new tariffs come at the directive from the South Carolina Energy Freedom Act, signed by Governor McMaster in May 2019. The act requires the state’s utilities to file net-metering successor plans that avoid cost shifts and provide long-term stability for solar customers. Dominion’s filing, however, seeks to impose grid access charges, a monthly subscription cost for solar customers, and a low export rate for net metering customers that would unnecessarily inflate solar costs and devalue these investments.
Local business owners believe that the proposal by Dominion Energy misses the goal of the Energy Freedom Act and will do more harm than good to the solar industry in South Carolina.
Frank Knapp is one of the individuals concerned with the proposed tariffs. He is the President and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce and also owns two commercial buildings that use solar energy.
"It needs to be done but it needs to be done in a fair way that will continue to promote the use of solar panels on rooftops to save energy and to stop carbon pollution that people and businesses can take," Knapp tells News 19. "But if it's so draconian, the new tariffs that Dominion is offering, that no one will want to do it, well we've basically said goodbye to the solar industry in South Carolina."
The biggest concerns with the new fees include a subscription fee for solar energy customers as well as a change in the netting period of energy consumption.
A virtual public hearing for the proposed new fees is scheduled for Tuesday, March 23rd with the Public Service Commission. The PUC’s video archive of hearings and other public meetings is here.
Read the full story at the website of WLTX News 19.