In a recent filing before the Public Service Commission, Montana Dakota Utilities proposed a 21% rate increase for their customers. On top of the double-digit rate hike, the utility wants to penalize homeowners who generate their own solar power by adding a new surcharge for net metering customers.
MDU hasn’t disclosed how much the solar surcharge will impact an average solar customer, but there’s no question that the fee will make it more difficult for homeowners to control their own power bills with a rooftop solar array. MDU is taking energy choices away from their customers.
All of this is especially alarming given that a legislative committee has just begun a study of net metering that MDU’s lobbyist supported in the Legislature. By taking their proposal for new solar fees straight to the PSC, MDU is circumventing the legislative process.
MDU has fewer than 10 solar customers, making this fee all the more arbitrary and discriminatory. It’s clear that MDU is trying to stop solar development before it’s even had a chance to get started in their eastern Montana service territory.
ACT NOW to stop this unprecedented attack on energy choice and economic opportunity.
1. Email MDU’s Director of Regulatory Affairs, Tamie Aberle, at tamie.aberle@mdu.com and ask MDU to drop the proposed net metering demand charge.
2. Email the Public Service Commission and ask the Commission to reject the MDU net metering demand charge. Send your email to: PSC_UtilityComment@mt.gov. In your comments to the PSC, be sure to reference Docket No. D2015.6.51.
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Learn more:
Coverage of the MDU solar surcharge by the Billings Gazette
Link to the full MDU rate case, Docket No. D2015.6.51
Questions?
Contact Ben Brouwer, Policy Director for MREA, at (406) 465-8920 or bbrouwer@montanarenewables.org.
