Bill Allowing Utilities To Charge Alternative Energy Customers A Fee Moves To The House

Indiana utility companies say customers who use alternative energy sources, such as solar panels, aren’t paying their fair share for using the state’s energy infrastructure.  A bill approved Wednesday in a House committee would allow utilities to charge future alternative energy customers a fee.

Hoosier residents and businesses who use solar panels, for example and generate more energy than they use in a month can sell that surplus to utility companies.  Bedford Republican Rep. Eric Koch’s bill would allow utilities to buy that energy for less. It also allows utilities to charge those customers for what are called fixed costs. As Indiana Energy Association’s Mark Maassel, who represents utilities, puts it, fixed costs are used to upkeep the state’s energy grid. And he notes, even alternative energy customers need that infrastructure.

“And the expectation would be that you should pay for the grid that you need to use, not asking your neighbors to pay that particular cost,” Maassel said.

But energy consumer advocates and solar energy business owners say the bill allows utilities to pad their bottom lines, while inhibiting growth in the alternative energy industry. The legislation does not apply to current alternative energy consumers. 

The bill passed 9-4, along party lines. It now heads to the full House.