State lawmakers are once again considering a bill that would scale back how much homeowners with solar panels get reimbursed for putting energy back into the electrical grid, although the legislation has stalled for the time-being.
Electric utilities are required to give Kentucky households credits that can be used on future power bills if they generate excess energy. Currently those credits are equal to retail price of energy, but under House Bill 277, the credits would be reduced to the wholesale price of energy.
Jamie Clark, owner of solar company Synergy Home in Lexington, accused utility companies of supporting the bill in order to preserve their monopoly on energy generation.
“Let me be very clear, the utility is not anti-solar, they just don’t want customers having alternatives to buying power from them,”
There are about 1,000 households in Kentucky that have solar panels and participate in the net metering program.
The bill was heard during a committee meeting on Wednesday, but didn’t receive a vote…possibly signaling there weren’t enough votes to pass it.
