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Over Thanksgiving, when you were enjoying some downtime with your family and friends, AEP pulled a fast one.
During a routine review of the administrative rules about rooftop solar, AEP filed a comment at 4:30 p.m. on the day before Thanksgiving asking the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio for new rules that would significantly raise costs for people with solar panels.
The way this would happen is through a process called net metering. Under net metering, AEP gives a customer credit when their solar panels put more electricity onto the grid than the customer is using.
But AEP only wants to pay this credit if the customer gets their grid electricity from AEP – even though Ohioans are encouraged to shop for electricity through the Apples to Apples Energy Choice Ohio program. In addition, many Ohioans are in local electric aggregation programs.
Tell PUCO: Keep Ohio’s current net metering rules in place
If PUCO does what AEP wants, many people who paid thousands of dollars for rooftop solar panels will not be able to recoup those costs. Almost no one can afford solar panels without the credits they get for producing energy through net metering – especially now that federal tax breaks are gone.
The fact is, solar panels make our grid more reliable by producing badly needed electricity – which AEP then sells to the next customer. It’s only fair for people whose solar panels produce energy to receive credit for the energy they produce.
Net metering allows people to become more energy independent and makes our grid more resilient through distributed power. At a time when Ohio needs more, not less, energy on the grid, PUCO should keep the current net metering rules in place so they can continue to work for Ohioans.
Tell PUCO: Keep Ohio’s current net metering rules in place
More rooftop solar means cleaner air, a more resilient grid, more affordable electricity, less climate change – and fewer excuses to frack our state parks and public lands.
