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State Rejects Fee For NorthWestern Solar Energy Customers For Now

Jack Haskell
/
Flickr
On Monday, the elected body that regulates utilities in Montana temporarily rejected a controversial fee as part of a rate increase from the state’s largest utility. ";

On Monday, the elected body that regulates utilities in Montana temporarily rejected a controversial fee as part of a rate increase from the state’s largest utility.

 
NorthWestern Energy’s rate case includes a $6.5 million rate increase, which the Public Service Commission approved late last month.

Monday afternoon, the PSC considered the next part of the rate case, which included what’s called a ‘demand charge.’

A demand charge is an extra fee based on a building’s peak energy usage. It affects future NorthWestern customers who generate more energy than they use and use net metering.

Excess energy generation is also the concept behind net metering, but one that advocates say could save money for those who invest in solar energy units.

 
Net metering takes extra energy from rooftop solar and feeds it back into the electric grid. That energy then returns to the homeowner later in the form of credits.

 
Environmental advocates say a demand charge hurts net metering and therefore the use of clean energy. Northwestern Energy has said in the past that the demand charge better reflects the cost of service.
 

At Monday’s meeting, Commissioner Tony O'Donnell proposed a motion to push the vote on net metering to a future date when and if the utility can provide them more information. The motion carried unanimously.

 
Also at the meeting, the PSC considered NorthWestern Energy’s request to charge ratepayers almost $24 million-dollars extra to cover costs the company incurred when it bought electricity on the open market in 2018 while Colstrip Unit 4 was shut down due to air pollution violations.

 
The PSC voted to follow staff recommendations and investigate the case separately, and to initiate that investigation at a later date.

Kayla writes about energy policy, the oil and gas industry and new electricity developments.