 By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
Hawaiian Electric Co., in a turnaround from previous years, has testified before the state Legislature in support of "net metering."
Kaua‘i Electric, the state’s only major power company not aligned with HECO, continues to oppose it.
Net metering allows home power generators — folks with windmills or large photovoltaic arrays — to sell power to utilities when they have more than they need. When such users produce excess power, their electric meters would run backward.
A bill before the Legislature, HB 1385, calls for a maximum of 1 percent of a utility’s power to come from this source. HECO wants that limited to 0.1 percent. The bill was approved by the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee with minor amendments and is before the Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee.
Art Seki, energy specialist with HECO, testified that the firm supports a system in which net metering applies to residential customers and small commercial wind and photovoltaic power generators with systems less than 10 kilowatts.
"Although net energy metering results in a subsidy of renewable energy producers by all of our customers, as an attempt to find ways to come together and support renewable energy we are willing to support a law which includes some reasonable parameters on the amount of energy sold through this arrangement to limit the potential subsidy," Seki said.
Kaua‘i Electric’s opposition is founded largely on the issue of whether customers not producing power should subsidize those who do.
When their meters are running backward, net metering customers are essentially being paid the same rate for power that the utility charges other customers. But that retail charge includes not only the cost of energy, but fuel adjustment charges, capacity charges, cost of transmission and distribution facilities, maintenance of these facilities and other costs, said Alton Miyamoto, manager of strategic planning for Kaua‘i Electric.
Independent power producers should be paid only the energy production cost the utility avoids when it uses someone else’s power, he said.
"We believe that a more equitable approach to encourage renewable energy is for the state to consider a tax incentive rather than amending the existing net energy metering law and burdening utility rate payers with increased cost," Miyamoto said.
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