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PUC asks to drop obsolete reporting for closed solar incentive pilot in SB 843
Summary
Nolan Moser of the Oregon Public Utility Commission asked the committee to remove a biennial reporting requirement for a volumetric incentive-rate pilot that the commission says has been fully subscribed and closed since 2016.
Salem — The Oregon Public Utility Commission asked the Senate Energy and Environment Committee on Feb. 10 to approve Senate Bill 843, a request from the commission to remove a statutory requirement to file biennial reports on a volumetric incentive rates pilot for small-scale solar.
Nolan Moser, executive director of the PUC, told the committee the pilot was established by the 2009 Legislature (House Bill 3039) to test production-based incentive payments for solar systems under 500 kilowatts, and the statute originally capped program capacity at 25 megawatts. Subsequent legislation increased program capacity to 27.5 megawatts, Moser said, and the program was fully subscribed and enrollment closed in 2015; the last participants reserved capacity and the pilot effectively ended in 2016.
"The program has effectively ended," Moser told the committee, saying the commission continues to spend staff time on other solar incentives such as Oregon's community solar program and that the ongoing biennial report provides little added value. SB 843 would eliminate the requirement that the PUC provide a biennial report on estimated costs to retail customers, program effectiveness and the estimated resource value of solar.
Moser said portions of the report have remained the same over several cycles and that continuing to require the report is no longer an effective use of commission resources. The committee heard no other testimony on the measure during the session and the hearing was closed the same day.
