In January, the Public Service Department released its “Act 179 Report,” which outlined a series of recommendations that threatened to undermine the deployment of renewable energy in Vermont. While many of these recommendations were incorporated into S.110 and H.289, in a win for rooftop and backyard solar, one recommendation was notably omitted: neither bill proposes further decreases to net metering compensation.
The report included a recommendation to “reform” net metering compensation, calling for excess generation to be compensated at avoided cost, which is significantly lower than current compensation. It would have put solar out of reach for even more Vermonters and potentially applied retroactively to the roughly 20,000 Vermont families and businesses that currently net meter. Read more about the impacts of this recommendation here.
REV and our environmental allies helped galvanize public comments on the draft Ac1 179 report, resulting in 174 unique public comments from 100 towns. Of these 174 comments, 159 specifically opposed cuts to the net metering program, and no member of the public weighed in to support cutting net metering. Separately, 350VT also submitted a petition with 263 signatures opposing any cuts to net metering. It is clear that this outreach from hundreds of ordinary Vermonters made a difference. While every other recommendation in the Act 179 report made it into S.110 and H.289, net metering reform did not.
While this is a big victory for the future of rooftop and backyard solar, it is not the end of the fight. In 2023, the Public Utility Commission stated its intention to open a new proceeding to examine net metering compensation, which PSD cited in its report. Legislative action will likely be required to finally put this idea to rest.