This commentary is by Linda Gray, a Norwich energy committee member; Catherine Crawley, the former Stowe energy committee chair; Jeff Forward, a former Richmond climate action committee member; Jim Hand, a Dorset energy committee member; and Allison Pouliot, a Bristol energy committee member.
As long-standing current and former members of Vermont’s active and dispersed network of town energy committees, we have worked hard to advance solutions in our communities, and for our friends and neighbors in those communities, to reduce energy costs, cut planet-warming pollution and become more energy independent. Solar, which is strong, reliable and powerful, has been helping to do that job.
For years, rooftop and community solar have been important mechanisms to help Vermonters save money and stabilize energy prices through the state’s net metering program. Net metering allows electricity customers to receive a credit back from their utility for the solar electricity that they generate. It has been a key tool in making solar energy deployment possible for families and communities in Vermont, and a real benefit to the Vermonters who’ve invested their own money in solar. It has also helped build a more resilient and reliable clean energy grid.
That is why we are so disappointed by the recent decision of the Public Utility Commission (PUC) to make it more expensive, and therefore harder, to get more net metered solar installed in our state. The decision raises both the cost and the bar for solar investment, at precisely the moment we should be lowering them.
Solar energy is now among the cheapest sources of power on the planet. Vermont should be making it simpler, more affordable and more predictable, not more difficult, expensive and uncertain, for Vermonters to invest in solar. The PUC’s recent decision doesn’t meet that mark.
We have worked closely with local officials, people in our communities and in partnership with the state’s network of more than 100 town energy committees in Vermont to deploy cost-saving solar. Over 1,000 Vermonters submitted public comments asking for the PUC to support solar. The PUC’s shortsighted decision goes against public opinion and comes directly on the heels of the Trump administration’s rollback of long-standing tax incentives that made it affordable for Vermonters to go solar — a key cost-saving solution to our soaring energy costs.
Built environment solar, like residential net metered solar, is the easiest to permit and the fastest to build, and it reduces the amount of solar that we need to build in fields and forests. It helps Vermonters to electrify while controlling their energy costs. Paired with storage, it also helps residents ride out power outages as extreme weather events increase in frequency and reduces the amount Vermont utilities spend on transmission charges. The PUC’s decision to cut the compensation for new customers is penny-wise and pound-foolish. It will mean fewer opportunities for Vermonters to control their energy costs and there will be less rooftop solar.
Net metering has made it possible for many families and businesses to invest in solar. We know that many more people want to invest in price-stable energy sources, but they are hesitant or unable to do so because there are no longer any state or federal incentives to help them.
The net metering program has played a crucial role in promoting renewable energy adoption in Vermont. However, the PUC’s actions threaten the future of small-scale solar projects in our state, precisely at a time when we as a state should be doing everything we can to create a glide path to renewables.
