EPEC Drops Solar Charge

 The best story that I've seen about the PUC settlement between El Paso Electric and a coalition from the solar community and environmentalists was written by Naveena Sadasivam for the Texas Observer this past Friday. Do read El Paso Electric Agrees to Kill Solar Fee for Customers. Do note that EPEC is not giving up its cause against rooftop solar. They'll go after the solar surcharge in the future according to Eddie Gutierrez, an El Paso Electric vice president. 

Tom Mays Underpass, Solar Energy, New Council and Glass Recycling

Rather than doing several posts, I decided to just bring you up to date about several items.

Photo by Rick Bonart

At long last the work has begun to construct a hike/bike/animal corridor underneath Transmountain to connect the FMSP land to the south to the FMSP’s Tom Mays Unit to the north. I had been made aware of this several weeks ago from a friend of mine and also a friend of TxDOT Regional Engineer Bob Bielek. Now the buzz has begun via email as some have passed by the construction site.

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On the solar front, a potential settlement on EPEC's rate case before the PUC may happen tomorrow. Some are saying that it is the best proposal, which means that nobody will be happy. Who may be the unhappiest: (1) all the folks who will lose their jobs when EPEC kills the solar industry in El Paso, (2) all current solar users and (3) all El Pasoans who will lose a chance to have a clean, sustainable energy future.

Take a look at what France is doing. Imagine roads of solar panels that you can drive on. 

Check out the Bloomberg Business Report Who Owns the Sun. Be sure to watch the video.

Also read New Report Reveals Electric Utility Industry's Influence at Universities. (Note that NMSU is part of the cabal.) It is clear that the fossil fuel and electric utility companies are "out to get" the distributed solar energy industry. 

Read Senator José Rodríguez's op-ed piece in yesterday's El Paso Times as well as his piece in the Rio Grande Guardian. HERE is what he wrote to the PUC. 

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Good news from last week's regular City Council meeting. An ordinance establishing a Regional Renewable Energy Advisory Council passed. Many thanks go to Rep. Peter Svarzbein for being proactive on Council rather than playing politics and being reactive.

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Finally, it seems like glass recycling in El Paso is off to a good start. Marshall Carter-Tripp reports: "I went to the Northwest Collection Center today.  As promised, no water bill was required.  What they had was four recycle bins along a wall.  They had different color tops.  You put the glass in the bins yourself.  Unfortunately the bin with the blue top had been pretty much filled with brown bottles, so I put my blue bottle in with the green bottle and hoped for the best.   The clear glass went in a bin with a grey top. Hope they will refine it a bit but it went well."

For the glass recycling pilot program to succeed, we not only should recycle bottles but use the end products for mulch and more.

Cards Stacked Against Solar

Very bad news. The Director of the Tariff and Rate Analysis for the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) filed his office's report with the PUCT yesterday. Here is the report's summary:

"EPE's requested establishment of a Partial Requirements rate class with a three-part rate design that includes a demand charge is a reasonable move towards more just and reasonable rates, is not unreasonably discriminatory or prejudicial towards distributed generation owners, and should be approved. The recommendations of parties opposed to this proposal should be rejected."

Jim Schwarzbach posted on the Facebook page Citizens Against El Paso Electric's Attack on Solar: "Goes to show how badly the deck is stacked against solar."

Indeed it is because Texas ought to change its name to "BigOilandia". (Check out how the University of Texas profits from their land holdings and the air pollution and spills for which that powerful institution is responsible for.) The petroleum industry, which brings you all the free methane that you will ever want along with destruction of ecosystems, earthquakes and water pollution with fracking, does not want any energy competitors. Ditto for power utilities. The result is a concerted effort all across the country to destroy the solar industry. 

You know who owns the Texas Railroad Commission and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality not to mention the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and most of the Legislature. If you don't know, just start looking at campaign contributions.

If you want to read El Paso Electric's playbook on solar just read the position paper on net metering by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, "the primary political advocacy group" (Wikipedia) of the Koch Boys. David is currently chairman.

Ask the Public Utility Commission to Say NO to El Paso Electric

The El Paso Electric Company wants to destroy the rooftop solar industry in El Paso. Instead, EPEC and our city should encourage the growth of this industry. However it seems as if those who advise the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) are going to recommend a lower raise in rates (but a raise nevertheless) while, at the same time, going along with EPEC's creating a new rate class for those who have rooftop solar and punishing them with much higher rates. (See my earlier post.) If you use solar now or want to do so in the future and you want to encourage the growth of this energy source, then write the Public Utility Commission and tell them to say NO to El Paso Electric. Jim Schwarzbach has made it easy for you to do this.

Visit El Paso Clean Energy, a web site created by Schwarzbach. He encourages us to write our own letter on our own stationery with our own ink signature. He provides this address:

Reference Case: 44941
Public Utility Commission of Texas
Attn: Filing Clerk
1701 N Congress Avenue

Austin TX 78711-3326

However, if you just want to send a letter with a few key strokes, then he has created sample letters that you can fill out. Just follow the instructions.

Please know that you can make a difference but you really do have to act. His FAQ page reveals that, as of yesterday (12/28/2015) El Paso Electric has filed 223 documents in the rate case, yet only 15 protest letters have been filed.

El Paso Electric is terrified that they will lose total control of our energy options. In the blog associated with the El Paso Clean Energy site, Jim writes:

". . .EPEC is scared of their shareholders losing profits when customers use clean solar power.  They want everybody to continue using the power they generate instead of allowing the homeowner to generate some, and they want to do this by segregating solar customers out from all the other customers and discriminating against them in a punitive manner.  Imagine if your grocery store decided to charge you more for meat and bread if you decided to start growing your own vegetables."

Is EPEC's Strategy To Be Bought Out?

El Paso Electric Company looks toward the Public Utility Commission of Texas to save their rate hike proposal in El Paso which includes putting rooftop solar customers into a special rate class while raising their rates by nearly 25%.  On December 8th, the El Paso City Council voted unanimously against the proposed rate increases and the “attack” on solar homeowners.

The El Paso Sierra Group has supported Eco El Paso financially in its effort to intervene against El Paso Electric both at City Council and now, most probably, in front of the PUCT.

Jefferies, a stock analysis group, predicted that EPEC’s game plan all along has been to take the matter before the Utility Commission. Jefferies reported: “[T]he company will take the long road to Austin for a litigated decision.” 
However, EPEC’s longer-range game plan may be more contemptible. In an interview with outgoing EPEC CEO, Tom Shockley, the El Paso Times revealed that he had been an officer of a company in the 1990’s which tried to take over El Paso Electric. Although that attempt failed, the EP Times reports that “Shockley said El Paso Electric may be courted by larger utility companies in the future.”

The implications of his statement are shocking. It seems that El Paso (and New Mexico) ratepayers are footing the bill for large infrastructure projects and exorbitant rates attractive to shareholders in order to make EPEC a more viable and lucrative takeover target.

The PUCT hearing is set for early next year.

Visit www.ecoelpaso.org to help the fight against EPEC.

Houston Solar Industry Isn't So Sunny

To be an electric consumer in Houston can be daunting. Just take a look at this chart comparing electric companies in the Space City. The good news is that, because of the deregulated market in Houston, rates are less than other Texas cities. The bad news is that there is no incentive for solar and so solar energy in Houston is more expensive than other Texas cities.

Austin and San Antonio have publicly owned utilities and can, therefore, set goals for solar energy. In Houston solar power lags far behind other Texas cities, Ryan Holeywell writes: "Austin Energy, for example, offers a solar rebate program that pays customers $1,250 per kilowatt of solar capacity they install. It also has a financing program that can offer loans for solar infrastructure of up to $20,000, according to the report. CPS Energy in San Antonio has a solar rebate program too, with extra funding for customers who use local solar installers."

In the long run, photovoltaic solar energy will be the most cost effective alternative for consumers. You pay for the equipment but, from that point onward, you don't pay for the electricity. You also shouldn't have to pay a utility for increasingly antiquated power stations run by natural gas produced by hydrofracking, a process which consumes billions of gallons of water, threatens ground-water supplies, and creates environmental havoc above ground. Those same power plants use billions of gallons of water both for running the turbines and then for keeping the plant cool. 

It is unfortunate that El Paso Electric Company has chosen to try to crush the solar industry with all of its jobs and local entrepreneurs. Eco El Paso has become an Intervenor in the EPEC rate hike case before the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC). Through Public Citizen they have an action petition online that sends your opposition note to the Mayor and City Council. HERE is the link. There is also a separate petition about the rate hike nonsense HERE. Links to both may be found in the right hand column of this blog.


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