OUC tables solar pricing discussion, following strong pushback – Central Florida Public Media (previously WMFE)

A planned discussion about the Orlando Utilities Commission’s proposed solar pricing changes won’t happen at the utility’s budget workshop Tuesday, following strong community pushback that recently arose to OUC’s proposed PeakSHIFT initiative.

After “thoughtful consideration,” OUC decided to table Tuesday’s discussion and extend the approval timeline for PeakSHIFT so it can evaluate the feedback it’s received, a spokesperson confirmed to Central Florida Public Media. While the program’s review is paused, the utility plans to engage more with customers and stakeholders, according to OUC.

PeakSHIFT would roll out four new programs over the next several years in an effort to make Orlando residents’ share of the city’s energy burden more equitable, according to presentation materials for a public workshop OUC held June 13.

The initiative would create a new, fixed “distribution charge” for residential and small business customers to pay: $5, $10, or $15 a month, based on each customer’s use of the grid. That new charge would replace OUC’s current, variable pricing structure, where solar prices fluctuate based on things like seasonality and market conditions.

PeakSHIFT would also relaunch the community solar program OUC paused in September 2022, and roll out time-of-day pricing plans to help solar customers gauge their energy usage and save money, by using less energy during peak demand times.

Additionally, PeakSHIFT would create a new, net billing system for rooftop solar owners, shifting away from OUC’s current net metering system. Net metering allows solar power producers to be compensated for sending extra power back into the electric grid; since 2008, Florida law requires utilities to make it available for customers.

A shift to net billing would address “demand cost inequalities created by net metering,” according to OUC. Between 2017 and 2023, residential customers without rooftop solar paid $18.6 million on behalf of rooftop solar customers, according to the utility’s June presentation.

But net metering actually helps expand — not limit — energy equity, according to Heaven Campbell, Florida Program Director for Solar United Neighbors/SUN, which she said is “very strongly against” OUC’s proposed changes.

And net metering is required under Florida law for all utilities in the state: from investor- to municipal-owned utilities, Campbell said.

“It’s very clear, across the Florida Statute … net metering is the law of the land,” Campbell said. “We believe net metering applies equality to all of the utilities in Florida.”

Recently, Florida received a $156 million federal grant from Solar For All, part of the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, to expand solar power for low-income and disadvantaged communities. Campbell spearheaded the grant application on behalf of SUN, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and Florida’s Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF), she said.

The grant has the potential to make an “earth-shattering” impact when it comes to reducing energy burden inequities across the state, Campbell said: including in Orlando, one of Florida’s most energy-burdened regions, where West and Southwest Orlando residents face disproportionately high energy burdens, according to a 2023 report commissioned by the Sierra Club.

“What we can expect to see is people being able to age in place, people being able to stay in their home … when the pressure of gentrification is so extreme,” Campbell said. “We’ve heard for so many years, people saying: ‘I have to choose between my utility bill and my medications.’ We’re solving the issue.”

But if it moves forward as currently designed, OUC’s proposed pricing overhaul could jeopardize the grant’s potential impact, Campbell said.

“If you have something like net metering being ended, or new charges and fees that undermine the … personal investment made on the consumer side, then that makes it hard to meet those [Environmental Protection Agency] regulations that the grant has to meet,” Campbell said.

The federal funds are supposed to go to low-income families, a requirement that OUC’s proposed changes would “completely disrupt,” Campbell said.

“They’ve made a lot of wrong moves here,” Campbell said of OUC. “And we hold them to a high standard, because they are one of the best utilities in Florida.”

OUC looks forward to working with the community for “a brighter future,” a utility spokesperson wrote via email. Meanwhile, OUC will use this webpage to share updates about the proposed PeakSHIFT initiative, including a revised timeline for its approval.

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