Florida's Distributed Energy Industry Shut-Out as Utilities Plan Huge Windfall

[FayeforCure]

PRESS RELEASE
March 28th, 2011
For Immediate Release
Contact:
FARE Staff

888.501.3273
Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy



Florida's distributed energy industry faces risk of another shut-out as utilities plan for huge windfall.






The Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy calls for legislation that would create a free and competitive market for renewable energy production.

Tallahassee, FL -Entering into the 4th week of legislative session, the Florida Senate and House Energy Committees have released their Proposed Committee Bills (PCBs), which in their current form give unprecedented control and freedom to the investor owned utility (IOU) companies to build, own and operate renewable energy facilities at the ratepayers expense while simultaneously excluding small and mid scale independent producers of renewable energy from participating in the market.


The Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy (FARE) supports amending these Proposed Committee Bills to include a mechanism allowing for a free and competitive market for the production and sale of renewable energy - giving businesses, farmers and individuals in Florida the chance to develop renewable energy projects through a distributed generation model.

According to Mike Antheil, Executive Director of FARE: "By allowing small, mid, and even large scale producers of renewable energy to grow the private development market, Florida would take the first step towards catching up to at least 30 other states who have successfully developed a free and competitive market for electricity production. Solar, wind, biomass and biogas facilities, all developed through the private investment market and producing electricity, would take massive risk and burden off of the ratepayers who are charged with investing in renewable energy.

A distributed generation market in Florida would create thousands of local jobs, keep millions of dollars reinvested locally, and invite billions of dollars from the private investment market to the state. For the first time ever, Florida's family farms would be able to turn a current liability, namely their agricultural byproduct and waste, in to a current asset and revenue stream by converting that waste in to electricity and selling it at an economically viable rate."



FARE, as part of the Distributed Energy Coalition, also supports legislation intended to grow a distributed generation market by creating a mechanism for small and mid scale systems to be able to sell electricity to the grid or to 3rd parties & commercial tenants. House Bill 1349 introduced by Representative Rachel Burgin and co-sponsored by Representatives Ray Pilon, Larry Ahearn and Doug Holder, as well as Senate Bill 1724 introduced by Senator Thad Altman and co-sponsored by Senators Dennis Jones, Mike Bennett and Anitere Flores are set to be heard by the House and Senate Energy Committees, with no scheduled hearing date yet specified.



This week the Proposed Committee Bills are scheduled to be heard, and currently contain no provisions for independent production of renewable energy, FARE cannot support these bills until they are further amended. The Senate Committee on Communication, Energy & Public Utilities meets Monday at 1pm and the House Energy & Utilities Committee meets Tuesday at 8 am.




# # #



So much for that "free market competition" that Republicans mouth, but work hard to prevent!!

[FayeforCure]

Thursday, April 7, 2011
Florida Republicans Work Against the Free Market and Work to Increase Taxes on all Floridians

3:33 PM  Elise Not a day goes by where the Republicans here in Florida don't introduce some legislation that will limit the civil rights and voting rights of Floridians, increase the cost of homeowners, car, and health insurance for Floridians, pollute the beaches and State Parks which are key to tourism income, invade the privacy of everyone with a uterus, work to benefit big business while screwing over anyone who isn't a millionaire, giving themselves huge funds to funnel campaign money through, ignore the state Constitution, and more. It's as if these guys have never looked at the state's constitution. Oh, I forgot to mention that they've been diligently working to kill unions and reform the court system in a way that will allow Rick Scott to appoint 3 new ultra-wingnut justices so they can push through anything they want with no court challenge, but I digress.

The corruption of the Republican party here in Florida is really something to behold. I could literally fill this site with a new story hour after hour, day after day, and I still wouldn't be able to catch it all.

One of the latest items of surprise is that the Republicans here in Florida don't believe in the free market anymore - at least not when the free market threatens the monopoly and the profits of Florida Power & Light.

Florida's largest electric utilities will be allowed to raise customer rates by as much as $2 a month and control the solar energy market in the state â€" all without having to get approval from regulators under two bills that easily moved this week through House and Senate committees.
...

Since 2009, FPL and its affiliates have spent at least $4 million on campaign contributions to legislators and candidates for governor, according to campaign finance reports. It created Citizens for Clean Energy, a nonprofit renewable energy coalition to push the issue. It has hired 30 lobbyists, including the former head of the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation Mike Sole, at a salary and benefits package of more than $350,000, to work legislators and earn support.

Howard Troxler, a St. Pete Times reporter, points out that there are two ways to provide solar energy here in Florida - one benefits Florida Power & Light and their lobbyists who will be undoubtedly writing checks to Republicans in the legislature, and one benefits Floridians by allowing the free market to create competition and lower costs.

he first way:

Let a million flowers bloom. Dedicate ourselves to the goal that X percent of our energy has to come from solar and other alternative sources.

Pass aggressive laws to encourage solar. Create an open market that rewards the better mousetrap. Throw open the state to competition, innovation and jobs.

The second way:

Just put Florida's electric companies in charge.

Let the traditional electric monopolies build (or not build) centralized, larger-scale solar projects as they see fit.

Let them automatically bill their customers as they choose, outside normal regulation, putting hundreds of millions if not billions into their pockets in coming years.

The Republicans will undoubtedly pass this legislation - which will increase power costs for Floridians and limit competition in the market. The best part? We're paying for it! Not just the power, but for the lobbyists working to keep the monopoly of the few in place.



"You and I pay for those 30 lobbyists,'' said Bill Johnson, president of the Sarasota-based solar panel installer Brilliant Harvest. "We are paying for them to protect their turf and keep competition out."

Johnson and a coalition of companies that want to see the expansion of solar power in Florida, say that the refusal of the state's utility giants to allow for distributed generation â€" the ability of homeowners and commercial companies who produce excess electricity to sell it back to the electricity grid at a competitive price â€" is stifling competition.

This is just another example of Republican hypocrisy. They supported the free market before they were against it, they support small business except when they're regulating them out of business entirely in favor of big corporate monopolies, and they were elected to represent and work for the benefit of the people of Florida, but every single piece of legislation they've introduced is harmful to those they are supposed to help.

If you're in Florida, please call your State Representatives and Senator and tell them that you oppose a solar power monopoly and support the rights of small businesses and homeowners who deserve to be able to compete. Use their own free market talking points against them for a change and see what sort of excuses they give you for yet another corporate giveaway and a tax increase on all Floridians. [/color]

http://www.bluewavenews.com/2011/04/florida-republicans-work-against-free.html

[Dog Walker]

Germany, a country not noted for its abundant sunshine, produces more solar electric power than Florida, the Sunshine State.

By law, utilities in Germany, and in several other European countries, are REQUIRED to buy power from anyone who is producing energy from solar, wind or biogas generators.  As a result, every roof in Germany down to the chicken coops are covered with solar panels.

This system is called a "feed-in-tariff" and has been wildly successful at harnessing private capital to expand new energy sources.

The first utility in the United States to follow this model was Gainesville Regional Utilities right down the road from us.  They now have a two or three year backlog of applications for tie-in agreements from people and businesses putting solar panels on their roofs.

Florida Power and JEA (which is not investor owned) are united in trying to stop such a system from being instituted in Florida.  JEA would rather make us pay NOW for a portion of a nuclear power plant that won't come on line for fifteen or twenty years.

I'm not quite sure how it all works, but suspect it has something to do with the issuance of bonds for new power plants from which everybody gets to scrape off a fat profit.

At least JEA has instituted a system of credits for independently produced power so that I am not GIVING away my excess power to them anymore.  My JEA bill for power for my home last month was $1.60.  The month before that was $5.80.  Love my solar panels!

[Dog Walker]

Faye,  Do you think that ANYBODY believes the Republicans "free market" rhetoric anymore?

[wsansewjs]

Germany, a country not noted for its abundant sunshine, produces more solar electric power than Florida, the Sunshine State.

By law, utilities in Germany, and in several other European countries, are REQUIRED to buy power from anyone who is producing energy from solar, wind or biogas generators.  As a result, every roof in Germany down to the chicken coops are covered with solar panels.

This system is called a "feed-in-tariff" and has been wildly successful at harnessing private capital to expand new energy sources.

The first utility in the United States to follow this model was Gainesville Regional Utilities right down the road from us.  They now have a two or three year backlog of applications for tie-in agreements from people and businesses putting solar panels on their roofs.

Florida Power and JEA (which is not investor owned) are united in trying to stop such a system from being instituted in Florida.  JEA would rather make us pay NOW for a portion of a nuclear power plant that won't come on line for fifteen or twenty years.

I'm not quite sure how it all works, but suspect it has something to do with the issuance of bonds for new power plants from which everybody gets to scrape off a fat profit.

At least JEA has instituted a system of credits for independently produced power so that I am not GIVING away my excess power to them anymore.  My JEA bill for power for my home last month was $1.60.  The month before that was $5.80.  Love my solar panels!

Dogwalker,

Could you be kind to give us the breakdown of how much you paid vs. earned, consumed the kilowatts vs. generated kilowatt from solar panel, and the cost of the solar panel setup / meeting the regulations?

-Josh

[Dog Walker]

Good point!  But mostly what I hear from them is lower taxes, lower taxes.  Wonder what it would take to convince them that there is no such thing as a "free" market, only an unregulated one.  And it certainly doesn't apply to natural monopolies like electric utilities.

Personally I would like to see JEA turned into a huge storage battery whose only purpose is to return power to us that we have sent it during the daylight hours.  Maybe that's what they and Florida Power are afraid of.

[Dog Walker]

Josh, glad to:

First, I have a solar water heater.  $2100, five years ago.  JEA rebate was $800.  Rebate is still in place and prices have come down a bit since then for an open loop system.  A solar water heater gives you about a 25-30% reduction in your power bill right there.  Payback period is 3-7 years depending on your hot water usage.  We have clothes washer, dish washer, dogs to wash and a love of hot showers.  I'm sure that is paid off by now.

Five years ago my 5kw solar array with grid-tied inverter was $41,000 installed.  The State of Florida rebated me $20,000 of that price.  That rebate is now gone, but solar panels have dropped about 40% in price since then.  Mine were a bit more expensive anyway since I insisted on USA made panels, not Chinese ones.  My cost was also a bit higher since I have a flat roof and custom brackets had to be made to support the panels at the correct angle.  They were also made so that I could unpin parts of the bracket and secure the panels flat to the roof in case of a hurricane.  More expense.

The following figures are estimates since I was to cheap to pay the extra $1500 dollars to be able to monitor my inverted by computer.  The panels are producing about $115 worth of power every month.  About $50 dollars per month of that shows up as credit on my JEA bill i.e. that's the amount that goes to JEA in excess of what I use at any one time.  We do try to schedule our heavy electric use, dishwasher & clothes dryer, during the daylight hours when we are producing about 4000 watts per hour.  These months when we use neither heating or air-conditioning, we are producing as much power as we use (almost).  We pay JEA about $60 per month in the summer for A/C and about $80 per month in the winter for heat and hot water.

So $21,000 investment, $1380 per year gain gives me about a 15 year breakeven on the cost at CURRENT JEA rates.  If the rates go up my payback is shorter.  It's sort of an insurance policy.

If I had put that $21,000 into a CD at current interest rates of 1% my return would not have been as high so I figured it as a good investment.

And the amount of smug I get out of taking a hot shower when my electric water heater has been turned off for months and when I look at my JEA bill is priceless.

[Dog Walker]

Forgot to mention:  Panel and inverter carry a 25 year warranty, but the panels are estimated to actually last much longer.  So after my payback period I am still guaranteed at least ten years of return on the investment.

At my age it is highly unlikely that I will see the end of the warranty period but I'm going to try!

[ChriswUfGator]

If JEA paid their billing rate for user-generated power the rate of return on these things wouldn't be so low. They pay a reduced rate from what they charge you. Seems unfair. Changing that would guarantee more people would install these systems, and the cost would be mostly offset by the resukting reduction in power purchased from other operators in peak times. But of course JEA isn't interested in anything rational.

[Dog Walker]

You're right!  And JEA very carefully will not pay businesses for power or even give them credit for their power generated.  They have only extended the carry-forward credit to residential customers because if they would do it for business customers, every "big-box" store in the area would be covered with solar panels and reducing JEA's cash flow.

I've got about 40,000 sq/ft of commercial roof that I would cover in a minute if JEA would go to a feed-in-tariff model.  Tony Sleiman would be even happier!  All those strip mall roofs!

[Ralph W]

This is our taxpayer owned utility company that says "No" to their owners.  Should/could the city council introduce legislation that would require JEA to allow and to pay an appropriate fee for both residential and business generated power?

[BridgeTroll]

Agreed.  The keyword is "appropriate".  At first glance they should compensate at the same rate they are charging.  Are there other factors to be added or subtracted from that amount?

[Dog Walker]

They pay me at the wholesale rate, i.e. the same rate they pay to anyone they buy power from which includes their own generating stations.  I still have to pay them at the retail rate.

Last month, I used 333 kwh of their power at their retail rates.  I generated a surplus of 375 kwh, which did not cancel my whole bill even though I generated more power than I used.  Therefore my total bill of $1.60, most of which was franchise fee, gross receipts tax (?), and City of Jax Franchise fee.  (Total $0.87).

This is why we try to do our heavy power usage tasks in the middle of the day when we are using more of our own "cheaper" power.

Because JEA is not an investor owned utility like FPL, they are not bound by the decisions and policies of the Florida Public Service Commission which are more favorable to self-generated power than JEA's policies are.

I don't know exactly how, but suspect that somehow much of JEA's decision making is tied to the issuance of tax free utility/municipal bonds.  Wish I knew how to "follow the money."

[BridgeTroll]

They pay me at the wholesale rate, i.e. the same rate they pay to anyone they buy power from

Of course as a consumer we would prefer to sell our power at the retail rate... but again... at first blush it seems fair that they are paying you the same rate as other power generators that they buy from.

[ChriswUfGator]

They pay me at the wholesale rate, i.e. the same rate they pay to anyone they buy power from which includes their own generating stations.  I still have to pay them at the retail rate.

Last month, I used 333 kwh of their power at their retail rates.  I generated a surplus of 375 kwh, which did not cancel my whole bill even though I generated more power than I used.  Therefore my total bill of $1.60, most of which was franchise fee, gross receipts tax (?), and City of Jax Franchise fee.  (Total $0.87).

This is why we try to do our heavy power usage tasks in the middle of the day when we are using more of our own "cheaper" power.

Because JEA is not an investor owned utility like FPL, they are not bound by the decisions and policies of the Florida Public Service Commission which are more favorable to self-generated power than JEA's policies are.

I don't know exactly how, but suspect that somehow much of JEA's decision making is tied to the issuance of tax free utility/municipal bonds.  Wish I knew how to "follow the money."

That's exactly what I was getting at, the unfairness of JEA continuing to bill you out the ass when you are actually using less power than you gave them. It's an outrage.