An aggressively anti-competitive practice by Alabama Power has landed them in legal trouble this week. In order to discourage — or outright prevent — customers from installing solar panels, the major utility tacts on a punishing fee of nearly $5.50 per kilowatt to customers’ invoices. Over the span of a solar panel’s lifespan, this cost nearly doubles the cost of owning the panel, making it fiscally unsensible to install.
Intentionally, the burdensome fee sends a loud and imposing message to customers: don’t install solar or it will cost you. Because of its position and power, the utility company squashes competition and flexes its muscle at the cost of the customer. Alabama Power’s fee structure is characteristic of a similar narrative that monopoly utilities repeat over and over - block competition, maintain power and slow progress toward a cleaner and more affordable energy future. In Alabama, the reprisal of this story isn’t going down without a legal fight.
Read more about the pending lawsuit below or click here.
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”The fees imposed by the Alabama Power company on customers who generate their own electricity with rooftop or on-site solar panels are now the subject of a federal lawsuit against the state’s regulators.
Environmental groups argue that punishing fees are purposely discouraging the adoption of solar power in the sun-rich state.
Alabaman Teresa Thorne owns a solar power-powered home near Springville, Ala.
Alabama Power maintains that the fees are needed to maintain the infrastructure that provides backup power to customers when their solar panels don’t provide enough energy.
The Southern Environmental Law Center and Ragsdale LLC filed the lawsuit on Monday against the Alabama Public Service Commission on behalf of four Alabama Power customers who installed solar panels on their properties and the Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution, or GASP.
‘We’re asking the court to require the Commission to follow the law so that Alabama Power will stop unfairly taxing private solar investments,’ said Keith Johnston, director of SELC’s Alabama office.
‘Alabama is being left behind by other Southern states when it comes to solar generation, and the jobs, bill savings and other benefits that come with it,’ SELC’s statement said. ‘These charges are a significant roadblock to our state’s success.’”