ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando Utilities Commission is looking to revise their net metering plan, that means it will cost customers more to have solar.
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It is getting pushback from solar companies and the public, including from a city commissioner.
Commissioner Patty Sheehan’s rooftop solar panels do the trick to provide electricity to her home, it cuts her power bill to nearly nothing.
However, now she is fighting the Orlando Utilities Commission for their rate redesign.
The plan wouldn’t even affect her bill for two decades but will affect those who are just getting on the solar train.
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Sheehan told Channel 9 that her concern is that instead of the 10% rate, we are going to get the 4% rate for the power that we generate.
Sheehan said about 6% of OUC’s customers use solar, but the plan is deeper than that because the city touted itself as a leader in the fight against climate change and embracing solar.
Utilities nationwide have bought customers’ surplus solar electricity at the same price they sell electricity to customers.
That practice is called net metering. The problem is that many utilities who say customers with solar panels are canceling out their own monthly power bills but contributing little to the upkeep of utility infrastructure.
In 2024, the cost to OUC for net metering is about $9 million, meaning each non-rooftop solar customer now pays about $35 each year to customers with rooftop solar.
In a statement, an OUC spokesperson said for the last 16 years, OUC has paid rooftop solar owners for excess electricity they generate and send back to the grid using a method called “net metering.” This incentive was meant to support rooftop solar installations when the price for a rooftop solar system was nearly twice as much, writing, “paying at this rate no longer aligns with the reality of today’s grid.”
Under the proposal, folks like Sheehan would be grandfathered in for 20 years, but it would affect any new customers.
“They are trying to find all of these ways to disincentivize solar. I don’t understand it,” she said.
OUC is planning to meet on Tuesday to discuss the plan.
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