Last night, we also showed you the difference of opinion between the PUC's Director of Tariff Compliance and the Chairman of BEL's Board of Directors.
BEL has expressed an interest in rolling out rooftop solar as soon as the regulatory environment can be established. But, the PUC says that this area first needs extensive consultation to get public buy-in.
Several weeks ago, we asked energy expert Dr. Devon Gardner about the models for billing rooftop solar to get value to customers who would become citizen solar suppliers. Here's what he had to say about its complexities:
Dr. Devon Gardner, Policy Expert/Head of Energy Unit
"There are a lot of case examples from around the caribean and around the world in terms of how you would go about developing the financial models for our customer sale of electricity from their rooftop system to the grid. While it's a bit premature to determine the exact price in structure, what I can say is that what usually works as a mechanism is what we call net billing. Net billing is already being applied accross a number of countries in the caribean and in the world. We have seen the applications of net metering as it works out well in most countries where it's being utilized. There is a difference with net biling and net metering. Net metering is the one you spoke about which says that whatever you put in you get paid for, at the same rate for which you're buying from the grid. There are not many examples of that being successful because at the end of the day the operation of the grid comes at a cost. The convenience of being able to use it is something that customer will have to pay for otherwise it means that those who are not benefiting from the sale will end up having to spend more to pay for the maintenance of the grid than those who are making money from it. So, the net biling arraignment is one which allows electric utility to actually sell at a different rate from which is purchases from the customer and in that case the regulator ensures that it is fair to both sides. The system benefits of customer connection with rooftop solar can be derived."
