Testifying in Favor of Commercial Net Metering

Jennifer Gunby, PE, LEED AP

Jennifer Gunby, an engineer in GBA’s Wind Energy group, testified in favor of Senate Bill No. 383 on Monday February 13. She was not alone in this endeavor. Jennifer, along with Michael Wenger, Chief of Energy Operations with the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC); Kurt Bookout, Director of Public Utilities with the City of El Dorado; and Brad Estes with BTI Wind Energy in Greensburg.  Jennifer Jenkins, Executive Director of Distributed Wind Energy Association (DWEA) and Phillip Dickinson, Director of Sales & Marketing Nordic Windpower also submitted written testimony in favor of the Bill.

Senate Bill No. 383 would amend the current net metering policy, increasing the net metered project cap from 200 kW to 3 MW for commercial, industrial, school, local government, state government, federal government, agricultural and intuitional customers.  

Michael Wenger opened the proponents testimony stating, “When the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) issued its 2011 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard it was disheartening to learn that Kansas was ranked 48 out of 51.  The Commission Staff was asked ‘What can Kansas do to improve this ranking?’ A simple change would be to increase the net metering limit for commercial and industrial customers from 200kW to 3MW.”

Not everyone is in favor of Bill No. 383. Mark Schreiber with Westar Energy, who was also representing KCP&L and Empire District Electric, testified against the bill while David Springe with Citizens’ Utility Ratepayer Board (CURB) submitted written testimony against it. They are opposed to the Bill because it increases the cap to 15 times the limit they agreed to three years ago.  They feel that integrating a 3MW wind turbine into their distribution system would be a challenge and would also be expensive.  They also feel that this creates a greater cross-subsidization of net-metered power.

The proponents of SB 383 pointed out in their testimony that distributed renewable energy (i.e., behind-the-meter installations) generates local economic activity, increases tax revenues, improves fuel diversity, promotes energy independence, lowers consumer energy costs, reduces the need for expensive long-distance transmission projects and visibly demonstrates a commitment to environmental conservation.  To counter Westar’s concern, since net metered customers would size their generation to their expected load, it was stated that a utility could handle 3 MW moving across their lines as they are able to provide a customer with 3 MW of energy coming into the facility.

If you would like more information regarding Senate Bill No. 383, please contact Jennifer Gunby at jgunby@gbateam.com.