Nevada Energy Front Group Clouds Solar, Net Metering Debate

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This is a guest post by ClimateDenierRoundup originally published at EcoWatch.

In Nevada, the utility NV Energy is fighting against rooftop solar, specifically opposing theย net meteringย policy that gives rooftop solar users credit for the power their panels produce. Theyโ€™ve been releasing 30-second ads, withย the most recent allegingย that solar subsidies would send a billion Nevada tax dollars to out-of-state solarย companies.

So how did we get to this point, where outlandish claims are the subject ofย ads?

Last year, the stateโ€™s Public Utilities Commissionย slashed the net metering rates, cutting how much NV Energy paid to solar power producers by 75 percent. This led to an exodus of solar companies from the state and came as a major blow to rooftop solar customers. In response, solar advocates are pushing for a ballot initiative that would restore the rates, and in the process of the fight, NV Energy offers yet another shining example ofย how the dark art of propaganda worksย by co-opting language to hide its trueย intentions.

Like most utilities, NV Energy doesnโ€™t have a sunny outlook on the competition from distributed rooftop solar. After the solar industry and clean energy advocates started to push back on the rate change, last February, NV Energyย hired an attorney to create a PACย to lobby to prevent any rollbacks to the solar credit cuts. And like its counterpart in Florida named โ€œConsumers for Smart Solar,โ€ they chose a rosy name that conveys the opposite of what it really is:ย Citizens for Solar and Energy Fairness. Opposing policies that pay solar users for the power it produces hardly seemsย fair.

Their main contention is that non-solar customers shouldnโ€™t subsidize those with solar, which on its face does make sense. But when one factors in the benefits of solar power to the grid, public health and the planet, asย Solarcity and the NRDC did, a different picture comes to light. It turns out the clean energy these solar customers are delivering provides between $7-$14 million in net benefits, every single year. Even if you assume that such a figure is a little high, thatโ€™s still a huge return onย investment.ย 

Itโ€™s worth reiterating thatโ€™s a โ€œnetโ€ benefit, meaning the perks of net metering provide as much as $14 million in benefits above and beyond the increase in power bills that the site claims residents will pay (and it oddly contradicts itself on that, claiming itโ€™s both $10-12 million and $16 million,ย on the same pageโ€ฆ)

So net metering nets Nevada a net benefit, despite whatโ€™s said on the net by solarโ€™s shadyย oppon-nets.

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