Turn on your television or surf the Web and you eventually will hear about “Going Green”. Compass Electric has joined the trend and we offer sound solutions when advising our customers in the area of energy efficient electricity. We offer both residential and commercial customers free consultations in order to customize a plan that will suit their specific needs. We’ll walk through the state and federal programs designed to reward you with grants when installing solar power.

Solar power is still new for a lot of people so let us change that for you and answer those questions and myths you may have heard about getting your power from the sun.

Investor-Owned Utility Net Metering Requirements – Rocky Mountain Power

Residential Customers On February 12, 2009 the Public Service Commission changed the net metering requirements for investor-owned utilities. The new standards state that the utility will "net" the customer’s electricity use and production over the monthly billing period. In essence, crediting the residential customer the retail price for the electricity they produce. If net metering results in excess customer-generated electricity over the billing period, the investor-owned utility will credit the customer for the electricity on a kilowatt-hour basis.

Large Commercial & Industrial Customers Customers with demand charges that generate excess generation will be given a choice between valuing excess generation at an avoided-cost-based rate or at an alternative rate by dividing Rocky Mountain Power’s Utah revenue per schedule by the schedule’s corresponding kilowatt-hour usage data from the previous year’s FERC Form No. 1.

Credit Details Both residential and large commercial or industrial customers may use the credit to offset purchases of electricity during future billing periods in the same energy year (April 1 – March 31). Any unused credits expire at the end of the energy year. Customer-generated electricity may be from solar, wind, small hydropower, co-generation or fuel cell systems of up to 25 kW in size for residential systems, and 2MW for commercial systems.

The net metering law caps total participation in the program at 20 percent of the cumulative generating capacity of the utility's peak demand during 2007. Investor-owned utilities are prohibited from imposing additional charges or fees on customers with net metering unless authorized by the Public Service Commission. If the net-metering customer is serviced by an investor-owned utility, all renewable energy credits (RECs) that are generated are owned by the customer or as otherwise designated by the customer.

Cooperative Utilities Cooperative utilities such as Garkane Energy are required to allow net metering on their service territory, but are not regulated by the public service commission.

Helpful Links

• Interstate Renewable Energy Council: Connecting to the Grid
• Rocky Mountain Power
• Murray City Power
• City of St. George
• Washington City
• Heber City - Heber Light and Power (pdf)

Renewable Energy Sales and Use Tax Exemption (20kW or greater).

Residential Resources & Links:

• Your Home: http://www.energy.gov/yourhome.htm
• http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/electricity/index.cfm/mytopic=11140


Utah State Appliance Rebate Program:
• http://www.energysavers.gov/financial/rebates/pdfs/rebate_summary_UT.pdf
• http://www.cashforappliancesutah.com/
• Tax Breaks: http://www.energy.gov/taxbreaks.htm

Commercial Resources & Links:

• Commercial Buildings: http://www.energy.gov/energyefficiency/buildings.htm
• Power Utilities: http://www.energy.gov/energyefficiency/powerutilities.htm
• Financing: http://www.energy.gov/energyefficiency/financing.htm