Green Grid Off | News

A popular green energy project called solar panels has been temporarily suspended as Summerland District Council reviews the scheme to ensure electricity buyers do not subsidise customers who have installed solar panels on their homes in the last five years.

After a lengthy 90-minute debate at Tuesday’s regular meeting, council voted unanimously to motion to temporarily suspend the program until a more detailed staff report can consider options related to applying for a potential reduction in the base electricity rate, possibly introducing a processing fee for solar customers, expanding the program to residential customers with 400-amp service (it is currently only offered to those with 200-amp or less service), potentially expanding the program to non-residential customers, and analyzing the successes and failures of similar programs in Alberta.

The Distribution Generation Program Review was introduced to Summerland residents in 2018 by a handful of test customers. Since then, the program has grown by about 15 percent a year, and now has nearly 120 customers, with another 10 applying, including six last week, said Utilities Director Jeremy Storvold.

The program aims to encourage Summerland residents to implement green energy initiatives, including installing wind turbines and solar panels, Storvold said.

The program currently covers only solar panels and has “achieved all of its original goals,” and staff felt it was time to begin discussions with council about possibly expanding, changing or discontinuing the program, he said.

Since the program began, Storvold said, there has not been a single application for a home installation above 30 kilowatts and it is only offered to homes with a service line of 200 amps or less.

Summerland is one of five municipalities in British Columbia that has its own power company, along with Penticton and Nelson.

The program allows homeowners to produce electricity with solar panels during the warmer months, helping them cover their electricity bills when the panels don’t generate as much energy in the fall and winter, he added.

Customers can “bank electricity” generated by their solar panels and use the extra electricity to cut costs when needed, he added.

“We don’t know what the solar system generates, we only know what it imports on a net basis and what it exports,” he said.

Although the extra energy generated by the solar panels is fed back into the power grid, the systems installed in the past five years are not large enough for the district to have to pay huge sums to solar customers, Storvold said.

“The systems they’re installing aren’t large enough for that to be an issue here,” he said.

He added that if steady growth were to continue, every Summerland resident would have solar panels installed by 2037.

“It’s going to take up more and more of the employees’ time soon,” Storvold said, noting that it currently takes employees almost four hours to process an application for solar panels for a new customer.

Any excess electricity generated by solar customers is bought back at a residential rate of 15 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is significantly higher than the wholesale rate of six cents charged to Fortis BC and Hydro BC customers, he added.

“We pay more than twice as much using retail banking, so we say this program is costing us ($31,000 per year),” he said.

Customers who have accumulated excess electricity over their consumption will receive compensation from the county at the end of the year, Storvold said.

Storvold predicts an additional loss of almost $80,000 to be made in compensation payments to solar customers who generated excess electricity for the grid.

Councillor Adrienne Betts said the provincial government has announced it will unveil new programs to encourage green energy and solar panel projects before the end of July, which will be a big deal for this program and Summerland as an electricity provider.

“I think anyone who has a utility is going to have to face that critical financial mass very quickly,” she said. “I think we may need a complete ideological shift in how we run our utility and how we pay for it.”

Councilman Richard Barkwill said his biggest concern is that non-green energy customers are now paying more than solar customers, and that’s just not fair.

“You can’t put too much of a burden on the rest of the consumers,” he said.

He suggested that staff recommend a method for the future that ensures solar customers cover their own costs without having other customers subsidize them.

“Solar power is great, but if you want to reduce your energy use and still have access to electricity, you have to pay for it.”

Councillor Janet Peake agreed.

“We need to change the way we deliver this program because the rest of the community should not have to bear the cost.”

Councilman Doug Patan said the program needs to undergo a major overhaul because if it continues under current policy, it will threaten the long-term viability of the Summerland power utility.

“We would give away more money than we would ever bring in,” he said. “We are up against Fortis and BC Hydro and we can’t compete.”

Councilman Marty Van Alphen said the idea behind the solar panel initiative to encourage green energy was excellent, but it became obvious changes were needed.

“With all these programs coming out, we’re just going to go bankrupt,” he said.

He added that it is also clear that electricity customers should no longer support those who use solar energy.

Mayor Doug Holmes said it was clear the council was no longer supporting “non-solar customers who are supporting solar customers.”

Many green energy customers are installing not only solar panels but also EV chargers and other services, but they need 400 amps of power. This means the program is not available to them at this time, Storvold said.

“These clients are saying, ‘hey, I have a normal home … why don’t I qualify for this program,'” he said.

He added that many green energy customers have spent significant money on retrofitting their homes with solar panels, expecting to see a return on their investment within a few years. Consideration should be given to introducing some kind of grandfathering clause for such customers.

“If changes are needed, it’s important to make them now because there are only 115 customers,” he said. “In a few years, there will be 1,000 customers, so now is the time to make changes.”

Staff said a detailed report aimed at changing the current system will be presented in late summer or early fall.