Sunfinity Solar: Solar Customers Shouldn’t Pay More for Electricity

By Anca Gagiuc

Sunfinity Solar issued a statement in support of House Bill 199, which would prevent Texas electric utilities from charging a higher rate or special fee for residential customers with solar systems.

House Bill 199 details

The bill was introduced on the first day of the Texas Legislature’s special session by Representative Joe Pickett (D-El Paso). According to the El Paso Times, El Paso Electric has a pending rate-increase application that would levy an average increase of almost 23 percent ($14.09 more per month) for electricity to homes with solar panels. For non-solar customers, the utility is proposing an average 9.1 percent increase ($8.25 per month). The company wants to place solar customers in a separate class and make them pay what the utility officials claim are their true costs for electric service.

“Solar panels on houses should not generate punitive additional charges, and in fact, we need to encourage solar,” Billingsley said in a prepared statement. “Solar energy is one of the most important sources of renewable energy currently available. That is especially true in Texas, which has the largest solar potential in the country.”

“Solar energy is a free resource, and the economics of solar always work for our power grid, our customers and for Texas,” Billingsley added.

Image courtesy of Sunfinity Solar