Renewable Energy Fees Proposed By MDU -- July 20, 2015

Back on July 16, 20215, I posted this short note, a link sent to me by a reader:

MDU to impose fee on customers who install solar/wind with intent to sell electricity back to utility.

Now, an update:

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A proposed fee for some Montana-Dakota Utilities customers who use their own wind or solar power has drawn opposition from renewable energy backers who say the company is trying to stifle small-scale electricity generation.

The Public Service Commission said the fee is unprecedented for customers who use "net-metering," which allows homeowners or businesses to sell excess power they generate back to the grid in exchange for credit on their bills.

It's built into a 21-percent rate increase that's proposed for about 26,000 eastern Montana customers. The Bismarck, North Dakota-based utility says it needs additional revenue to cover its increasing costs, including $400 million in pollution controls at coal plants in Montana and South Dakota.

The fee would apply to only a few current customers, according to the company, but critics said its impact would grow as more people seek to lower their electricity bills with investments in small-scale renewables.

Cost/fee?

MDU customer Jean Dahlman, whose family ranches near Forsyth, said she's considering solar power to offset a rate increase that would cost her and her husband about $29 a month, or $343 a year.

Say what you want, regardless of what side of the fence you stand, that $400 million for pollution controls at coal plants in Montana and South Dakota got my attention.

That 21-percent utility rate increase is very similar to the health care premium increases expected in 2016 under ObamaCare. I'm starting to see a trend. 

With regard to the $29/month, I would have to see more data. Might the current monthly bill for an "average" Montana ranch be about $350? I don't know. But my monthly electric bill for a one-room apartment in Texas runs about $100 in the summer.

It seems to me there must be some cost to tracking, billing, and managing the grid connected with net-metering. Even an overdraft (a "bounced check") fee now runs about $25.