What is happening
Boone REMC is no longer providing fair credit to solar owners for all the electricity they generate. Utility leadership recently decided to end its long standing net metering policy. Net metering, which allows you earn full retail rate credit on your electric bill for the electricity you produce and send to your neighbors instead of using right away, ensures solar owners earn fair credit for the electricity they generate.
The replacement reduces the credits that those member-owners receive for electricity they share with their neighbors. In some cases, this change doubled solar owners’ electric bills.
The utility made this significant change with only one month’s notice to existing solar owners. Boone REMC made no notice to and took no input from the broader cooperative membership. These changes will harm customers who invested in rooftop solar while net metering was available. They discourage other member-owners from installing solar panels in the future.
All member-owners, whether they own solar panels or not, should have a say in these important decisions made by their cooperative. It’s important to let the cooperative’s leadership know that Boone REMC member-owners support fair solar policies that benefit everyone.
Net metering benefits everyone
We all benefit when more people power their homes and businesses with solar energy. That’s why solar owners deserve fair credit for the electricity they generate.
More rooftop solar makes our electric system more affordable. When solar energy is generated close to where it’s needed, electric service is more efficient and reliable. Local solar offers a reliable and cheaper alternative to expensive grid upgrades that might otherwise be needed. For many potential solar owners, net metering is an important factor in their ability to afford “going solar.”
By ending net metering, Boone REMC is keeping its member owners from the benefits more customer-owned solar can provide.
How net metering works
With net metering, solar owners earn a one-to-one kilowatt-hour (kWh) credit on their bill. This credit comes from the electricity they produce but don’t use right away. The credit is based on how much electricity they generate but don’t use themselves over a full billing cycle. This is the electricity they share with their neighbors. That’s an even swap for the clean electricity produced by local solar and shared with other Boone REMC member-owners. This credit offsets some of the cost that the solar owner pays for electricity from the utility.
