OKLAHOMA CITY — A bill that passed through the Legislature with little opposition is getting some after-the-fact attention since being signed by Gov. Mary Fallin on Monday.
Senate Bill 1456, by Sen. A.J. Griffin, R-Guthrie, sets up a mechanism for electric utilities to levy a tariff on customers with "distributed generation" — that is, electricity from on-site wind or solar generation.
The tariff would not apply to the 350 Oklahoma utility customers who already have such generation.
The bill says its intent is to assure that "customers with distributed generation" are not "subsidized by customers in the same class of service who do not have distributed generation."
The subsidy referred to is access to the power grid without paying the full cost of that access.
Some, though, think the bill is a pre-emptive strike by the utilities against a small but burgeoning alternative energy industry.
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MSNBC and others have dubbed the possible tariff a "sun tax" and a crude attack on alternative energy.
"It's meant to get ahead of those who want to have their own generation," said state Rep. Seneca Scott, D-Tulsa, one of only five House members to vote against SB 1456.
The bill passed the Senate 41-0.
"They talked about it being a parity issue," Scott said, "but (distributed generation) is such a small amount that even with exponential increases it would still be very small. It is really about control."
Fallin, in signing SB 1456, attached an executive order stating that executive agencies should implement the bill in such a way as to "support all forms of energy," including distributed generation. The executive order goes on to state that any decision by the Corporation Commission regarding a tariff for distributed generation should consider input from the "solar and distributed wind industries."
"Governor Fallin supports the use of all forms of energy, including wind power, and has outlined that support in the Oklahoma First Energy Plan," said Fallin spokesman Alex Weintz. "Senate Bill 1456 sets the stage for an appropriate regulatory framework for the smaller-scale projects that we expect to see more of in the future, as homes and businesses look to install equipment like solar panels and small wind turbines to reduce their energy costs."
Bob Gibson, vice president of education and outreach for the Solar Electric Power Association, said the problem is not solar and wind versus traditional power but how the growing use of distributed generation fits into the nation's electric grid.
"There is a disagreement over how much utilities might be losing and how to adjust," he said.
Utilities argue that customers with distributed generation should pay more per kilowatt hour because the utilities' fixed costs transmission and distribution lines, generation plants and other equipment remain the same regardless of how much power is used.
In addition, the utilities must pay customers for excess generation entering the power grid.
Gibson said distributed generation can create larger demand swings and troublesome load fluctuations. He said there are also disagreements about how much utilities should pay for excess generation.
The entire situation, said Gibson, "has caused a lot of bad feelings."
"Nobody denies the benefit of solar," he said. "Nobody denies the benefit of being on the grid. It's finding the balance that's difficult."
Randy Krehbiel 918-581-8365
