By CONNOR DERMODY
connor@cleanearthconsultants.com

For a bit over a month, there’s been a lull, a lapse to the enthusiasm and interest folks in Los Alamos County have with the service that I provide. I work as a residential photovoltaic (PV) consultant, and the majority of my client base is within the County. The reason for the inactivity or radio silence stems from last week’s motion by the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) at their May 15 meeting surrounding the changes to Interconnection Rule E-5, specifically the rate at which homes with rooftop solar (RTS) will be credited for energy sent out to the grid.

Formerly, the Department of Public Utility (DPU) respected any energy shared by PV customers to the grid at the retail rate. Last week’s motion by the Board adjusted the rate structure, and now energy sent to the grid will be valued at a lower wholesale rate.

This does not come as a shock to me – with DPU’s ongoing electric rate increases initiated in October 2023, it would be extremely unfavorable for them to continue to compensate this energy at the retail rate. Each time a home goes solar, they are at a loss of revenue from their customer base. Beyond that, they are following in the footsteps of other utilities that deplete, diminish, or make a worthy attempt to dwindle the appeal of RTS because that is in their best interest.

While I find it unfortunate that such a trend has arrived in Los Alamos County, like all change it is something we must accept, adapt to, investigate for the sake of gaining our own insight and  understanding.

In offering my own response to the Board’s vote last Wednesday, I only wish to note this:

I find that this motion is a jump, an overstep with regards to the ‘equity’ stance that seemed to be a main source for DPU’s justification(s) in the Q&A released at the end of April. Until a time-of-use rate structure goes into effect for all customers, this lowering to a wholesale rate for energy shared within the utility grid by homes with RTS results in the pendulum of posed inequity swinging to the other side of the room (for the time being – the Q&A expressed that customers can expect time-of-use rates somewhere in the realm of 2025 to 2026). Moving forward with an amendment to Interconnection Rule E-5 now, as opposed to when time-of-use goes into effect, seems unfair given the price per kilowatt-hour remains at a flat rate for all customers.

While some believe this portends or provides justification to shutting the door to the prospect of residential solar, I would encourage all to think otherwise. I do not think you should shelf the conversations surrounding RTS – that is exactly what the utility wants you to do, and it is not in your best interest. While such a rule change can so easily convince us to only see things as they seem, I hope to enlighten readers to perceive things as they actually are: Until you make the conscientious switch to residential solar, you remain a customer to the utility, essentially renting your power on a month-to-month basis. In choosing to only source your power from the local grid, you remain in a liability circumstance to the utility, stuck in a perpetual cycle of payment that adheres to the ever-increasing cost imposed by them.

In October 2023, electric rates increased 9.3%. Another electric rate increase will occur in July of an additional 9.4%. This is a fairly significant leap in the overall expense for energy supplied by DPU in less than a year. Any business that increases their customer’s costs so drastically should expect some criticism- given their control over your access to energy, however, that is not the case. If they are willing to enact such a steep increase now, what does this say with regards to future rate hikes?

Residential solar is a means for a homeowner to place their money towards an asset that produces power on site. While you are still grid-tied, there is a deviation from you as solely a consumer to the grid’s energy where you become both a producer as well as a consumer of energy. You are not sourcing all of your power from a monopoly (i.e. the utility), and instead reaping the benefits of alternative energy sources we have in our present day. Your choice to go solar now, from an investment standpoint, is hedging against rising costs from the utility that are inevitable in the future.

Currently, there are tax credits available for covering a significant portion of installation costs- 30% at the federal level, and an additional 10% from the state of New Mexico. That is one of the highest incentives in the United States, not to mention the sun exposure we experience on an annual basis. For the pricing I offer clients, the average ROI (with the rule change included in my analysis) shifted from 9.8 years to 11.8 years. For a bill that you are never going to cancel, why place the switch on your history of missed opportunities? Whether you were my client or not, I want to advise, encourage you to optimize your usage of electricity as an owner&operator of a rooftop solar system in Los Alamos County. The power produced by your system is of greatest value to you during the day when the system is actively producing. Do what you can to not have your electricity produced on-site sent out to the grid! Simply put: try your best to complete tasks that require higher and/or consistent electrical consumption during the daylight hours. Some examples include but are not limited to EV charging, heating/cooling of the home in the case of heat pumps and/or mini splits, lengthy use of an electrical oven, et cetera; think big-ticket items with regards to said tasks. This may also be a great time to run a personal energy audit of your home where you take a stroll about, asking yourself “Does that need to be plugged in at all hours?” It’s an instance where, if you are choosing your own power via rooftop solar, every kilowatt-hour counts.

This isn’t a push to return to the dark ages, nor is it a counter-cultural confrontation with DPU or municipalities involved with the ongoing changes – I want to be understanding to all parties involved. I do, however, wish to gleam a bit of light on the most practical application of a PV system (this information, in due time, will also resonate with those who do not have rooftop solar; once time-of-use goes into effect, this will be insightful with regards to peak/off-peak consumption). If we wish to inculcate an ethos of environmentalism for ourselves and future generations, implementation of energy-efficient practices in our day-to-day is of the utmost importance.

The recent change to Interconnection Rule E-5 has stopped many in their tracks who were pursuing residential solar. I remain hopeful that this is only a bump in the road to assisting as many homeowners as I can in Los Alamos County to understand that the acquisition of energy from alternative sources beyond the utility’s grid is the way of the future. I have no intention of ending my career in PV consultation, and I hope to be a resource to you soon.

All the best.