The Kentucky House Natural Resources Committee has advanced a controversial bill that would scale back Kentucky’s solar net metering program, an effort to compensate households with solar panels for putting energy back on the power grid.
State law requires power companies to compensate those households with credits that can be used on future power bills.
But under House Bill 227, the value of those credits would be reduced from the retail price of power to the wholesale price—a reduction of about two-thirds.
Rep. Kelly Flood, a Democrat from Lexington, said the bill would make it less affordable for people to install solar panels on their houses.
“We’re bringing a sledgehammer to this diversifying economy at a time to when this state is proud of having an economy that is based on energy,”
The legislation is supported by utility companies, who say they are losing money by compensating solar households with the retail price of power.
There are about 1,000 net metering households in Kentucky.
