EPE wants to lower REC incentive
December 16, 2009
Dear Friend of Renewable Energy,
As many of you know, El Paso Electric has proposed to lower the REC incentive for customer installed photovoltaic systems smaller than 10 kW (i.e. almost all residential systems) from $0.13 to $0.10/kWh, even though the incentive has only been available since March 2009. I intervened in the PRC case and as is stands now, the hearing examiner has recommended to the commission that it be lowered to $0.11/kWh. This is still unacceptable.
Please call or email the PRC, asking them to include the Exceptions of Intervenor Westbrock in their Final Order. My four exceptions:
1. Keep the REC incentive for small systems at $0.13/kWh.
2. Include language in the REC contract that allows a homeowner to expand their existing PV system while remaining under the terms of their original REC contract.
3. Include language in the REC contract that allows the purchaser of a property with a PV system installed to opt in under the terms of the REC contract already in place for that property. In other words, if you install a PV system on your home and sign a REC contract of $0.13/kWh for 12 years and then sell your home in 5 years, the new homeowner can opt in to that contract to receive $0.13/kWh for the remaining 7 years.
4. Remove the illogical cap on system size for the new Medium System REC Program (for systems 10-100 kW). EPE included an arbitrary cap of the building’s previous average demand, which could limit business owners to installing systems that are too small to cover 100% of their energy use. This is a more technical point than the previous three.
For more details, please see my attached Proposed Findings and Conclusions, and Exceptions to the Recommended Decision.
If you want to hit the commissioners with one or all of these, that would be great. The most important Commissioner to contact is our Commissioner for Las Cruces, Chairman Sandy Jones, but it would be good for all of them to hear from citizens that support strong renewable energy incentives. Emphasize that the solar industry in Las Cruces is just now getting on its feet and that lowering the incentive so quickly will be a blow that will eliminate jobs.
Contact info for PRC Chairman Sandy Jones
505-827-8020
sandy.jones@state.nm.us
You can get contact info for the rest of the Commission at http://www.nmprc.state.nm.us/commissioners.htm
This could go to a vote as soon as this Thursday December 17, so please act as soon as possible. Agendas for the meetings are only available 24 hours prior, so we won’t know that it is coming until the last minute.
Thanks for helping to support solar in southern New Mexico!
Mark Westbrock
NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer
NM ER-1J Journeyman Electrician
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