Seriously. I would like to hear your opinion on just why every energy provider always turns out to be run by shitheels. What is it about the sector that attracts those with the lowliest sense of community and service in a pure and vital service industry? They always act like the big kid who has failed 3rd grade twice and sees all of his fellow students as nothing more than targets for his own selfish interests. It really is getting tiresome. From our local Co-ops to major corporate providers. Nothing but stink, grift, and shit on your fellow countrymen...
Utility tries to block people from speaking at solar hearing in SC. Higher fees loom.
BY SAMMY FRETWELL
MARCH 12, 2021
Dominion Energy wants to stop nearly two dozen people from speaking about the company’s plan to impose extra costs on South Carolina residents who use solar power to save money.
In a letter to the state Public Service Commission this week, Dominion said 23 people who have signed up to speak at a March 23 solar cost hearing should be disqualified because the company can’t find evidence they are Dominion electricity customers.
Some of those people Dominion wants to keep from talking appear to be affiliated with solar energy companies, the company says. The solar hearing later this month is for Dominion customers only, utility attorney Matthew Gissendanner said in the March 10 letter.
“The company’s research of publicly available information indicates that many individuals with these same names are affiliated with the solar industry ... as CEOs, sales managers, sales specialists, and warehouse specialists, or with entities that profit or fundraise off of the solar industry,’’ the letter said.
Unless the 23 people in question are willing to swear under oath they get power from Dominion, they should not speak at the hearing, the company’s letter said. Gissendanner’s letter said Sunrun, a leading solar energy company, may have as many as four people scheduled to testify who do not have a Dominion account.
The Public Service Commission, or PSC, will hold a hearing March 22 to consider whether anyone should be barred from speaking at the March 23 public hearing, the commission said Friday.
If the PSC agrees with Dominion and bars the 23 from speaking, 59 other people who have requested to talk at the hearing would still be allowed to make comments. Also, others can still sign up before March 23, according to the PSC.
“It is important that this public hearing serves the purpose intended, and that is to give our customers an opportunity to be heard,’’ Dominion spokeswoman Rhonda O’Banion said in an email Friday. “Others with an interest in this matter had the opportunity to intervene during the regulatory process.’’
Dominion’s request is the latest in a closely watched case pending before the PSC over whether Dominion can impose additional costs on customers who use a combination of solar energy and traditional electricity.
Utility customers who also have solar panels on their roofs can lower their monthly power bills, but Dominion says non-solar customers are subsidizing solar energy users.
Solar companies say the subsidy is a minuscule cost for non-solar customers and Dominion’s arguments are a smokescreen by the company to chill sun power, seen by some as a threat to utilities in South Carolina. Adding costs will negate the savings solar customers now get, critics say. The plan applies mostly to future rooftop solar customers, although it could affect some existing customers later this decade.
In addition to lower costs for customers, solar panels provide a non-polluting way of making electricity, say sun power boosters. The state has been trying to expand the solar market after years of being one of the most unfriendly environments in the country for sun power.
Dominion’s effort to limit public comments didn’t go over well with some state legislators or people who would be banned from speaking. While some solar companies are involved in the case before the PSC, others were not part of the proceedings and did not speak.
“I don’t understand the harm that would be done by having more information and more perspective shared with the commissioners,’’ state Rep. Micah Caskey said.
Caskey, R-Lexington, said Dominion is a monopoly utility that needs scrutiny from the PSC and the public, particularly when it involves the use of new forms of energy that would supplant or supplement traditional energy sources. More voices on company energy plans aren’t a bad thing, he said.
“You should be very skeptical of anything that looks like an institutional effort to cement its legacy practices in the midst of a shift in the power generation paradigm — very, very skeptical,’’ said Caskey, a leading critic of SCE&G, the local utility Virginia-headquartered Dominion acquired after a failed nuclear project soaked customers for billions of dollars.
Like Caskey, state Sen. Nikki Setzler, D-Lexington, said he had not heard about Dominion’s request until informed by The State. But, Setzler said, “normally people would interpret a public hearing as a hearing where any member of the public can come in.’’
Sunrun’s Tyson Grinstead called Dominion’s effort to limit public speaking unfortunate. He said there has been no coordinated effort by Sunrun to have people speak at the hearing, but he doesn’t see the harm in providing information that could help the PSC make a decision. Solar businesses know in detail the flaws in Dominion’s plan, he said. Sunrun was not a participant in the solar case, he said.
“Anybody who has a vested interest in this ought to have a right to speak,’’ Grinstead said. “Those who sell solar are the ones who are going to know the impact the economics are to the customers they sell to, especially these companies that have been in business for a long time in South Carolina that have really been trying to work to grow the industry.’’
Among those is a solar company owned by Bruce Wood, a Greenville-area businessman who Dominion said should not speak at the hearing. Wood is considered one of the pioneers of solar energy in South Carolina. He first got started selling solar water heaters in the 1970s and now sells solar energy systems across the state.
Wood declined comment when reached by The State.
But Andrew Streit, who founded the S.C. Solar Business Alliance, had plenty to say.
Streit said the company’s request to the PSC is an attempt to “push people around.’’ He wants to speak at the hearing about how solar has become a viable source of energy, despite claims by utility supporters more than 15 years ago that sun power is not worthwhile.
“It’s ridiculous,’’ said Streit, who also would be blocked from speaking if the PSC sides with Dominion. “This is a hearing about solar. I wonder who did this? That is just cold. I’m really disappointed.’’
Streit said he has no stake in the fight over rooftop solar because he is a business developer for commercial-scale systems in the northeast. But he said he supports the expansion of rooftop solar for homeowners in South Carolina.
He also noted that “Dominion isn’t even a South Carolina corporation. Tell them we need their birth certificates.’’
The S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff declined to take a position on whether public comment should be limited to Dominion customers only. A key question is whether all who are seeking to speak have an interest in the matter, the agency said Friday.
Until the PSC considers whether only customers can speak, the commission still is taking requests to talk at the March 23 hearing. To sign up, send an email to COMMUNICATIONS@PSC.SC.GOV or call 803-896-5133.
https://www.thestate.com/news/local/...ainstage_card4
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