Duke Energy, ALEC Plot Attack on North Carolina’s Solar Revolution

[eridani]

http://www.nationofchange.org/duke-energy-alec-plot-attack-north-carolinas-solar-revolution-1390486770

The new hot spot for solar energy in the US is North Carolina. The state was second in the nation in solar growth in 2013, behind only California. In fact, if US states were considered as countries, North Carolina would have been among the top 10 countries in the world for solar growth last year.

All of that solar growth, driven by policies like the state’s renewable energy portfolio law, has been great for the NC economy, generating $1.7 billion in revenue for the state. At the end of 2012, 137 solar companies employed 1,400 people in NC – a number that increased during solar’s record 2013 year.

But while North Carolina’s solar sector shines brighter, a cloud is approaching on the horizon that places all of the benefits of solar power at risk of disappearing: Duke Energy, the state’s monopoly utility and the largest power company in the country, is about to launch a major attack on solar energy.

<snip>

Duke isn’t the first utility in the country to attack net metering; utilities in California, Arizona and Colorado began similar campaigns in 2013, and others are forming battle plans now.

In December, The Guardian newspaper revealed that these power companies have been coordinating their efforts under the guise of the American Legislative Exchange Council, (ALEC), a group that lets corporations like Duke ghostwrite laws for right-wing state legislators.

Many utilities are ALEC members, and they have made it ALEC’s top priority to attack net metering laws around the country. Forty percent of NC state lawmakers are ALEC members, and Duke will rely on them to do their bidding.

[kristopher]

1. California regulator fires parting shot at utilities

California regulator fires parting shot at utilities
By Davide Savenije Jan. 22, 2014


Dive Brief:
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Commissioner Mark Ferron announced last week his abrupt retirement due to a battle with prostate cancer.

Before leaving, Ferron gave his frank assessment of the utility industry in a final report read aloud at a CPUC meeting. "We are fortunate to have utilities in California that are orders of magnitude more enlightened than their brethren in the coal-loving states, although I suspect that they would still dearly like to strangle rooftop solar if they could," he said. "Their strategy is often: 'we will give the Commission only what they explicitly order us to give them.' This is cat and mouse, not partnership, so we have to be one smart and aggressive cat."

"Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, with the passage of AB 327, the thorny issue of Net Energy Metering and rate design has been given over to the CPUC," Ferron said. "You – my fellow Commissioners – all must be bold and forthright in defending and strengthening our state’s commitment to clean and distributed energy generation."


Dive Insight:

California is an interesting case. The Golden State's leadership on energy policy is watched ....

http://www.utilitydive.com/news/california-regulator-fires-parting-shot-at-utilities/218286/

[hunter]

2. Atacking one's best and most vocal customers isn't a reasonable thing to do.

I guess Duke will have to learn the hard way. How are they going to keep their system together if customers simply disconnect?

Or maybe big business and the politicians they own have surmised the situation correctly, that even as they squeeze "consumers" harder and harder, these consumers don't leave the game.

I don't have cable or satellite television anymore. I got tired of paying for crap I didn't want. My life is much better for that. If ever I feel my electric company is being unfair, I'll disconnect from them too.

Things worth fighting for, pitchforks and torches, are justice, freedom of speech and association, safe food and shelter, appropriate medical care, universal literacy, and restoration of the natural environment.

If giant corporations are not supporting those things they can just rot.

[kristopher]

3. How ALEC plans to reshape U.S. energy policy in 2014

How ALEC plans to reshape U.S. energy policy in 2014
By Ethan Howland
JANUARY 10, 2014

Who is ALEC?

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a corporate-funded conservative group that drafts model bills and policies for its legislative members to take back to their home states.

ALEC boasts nearly 2,000 state lawmakers as members, according to the group. Typically, ALEC lawmaker members introduce the group's model legislation and resolutions in their home legislatures. Identical ALEC bills sometimes pop up in different states around the country.

ALEC has turned its attention to electric utility issues in recent years. “The ever-increasing governmental control over energy supply, distribution, and use is threatening not only the nation’s prosperity but also individual liberty,” according to ALEC's 2014 Natural Resource Reserve, which lays out the group's model policies on energy, the environment and agriculture for this year....

More at: http://www.utilitydive.com/news/how-alec-plans-to-reshape-us-energy-policy-in-2014/213358/



ALEC documents linked in article:
Model policies on energy, environment, and agriculture
http://s3.amazonaws.com/dive_static/diveimages/ALEC_Natural-Resource-Reserve.pdf

2014 Proposed Model Bills
http://s3.amazonaws.com/dive_static/diveimages/ALEC_EEA_2013_SNPS_35_Day.pdf