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Committee hears net-metering revisions; Public Service Commission supports rate-setting role and bill laid back
Summary
Senate File 111 would revise net-metering rules and give the Public Service Commission authority to set rates for new customer generators; the PSC said the change would allow it to establish 'just and reasonable' compensation formulas while protecting existing systems; the committee laid the bill back for further consideration Monday
Senate File 111, a proposal to revise Wyoming’s net-metering statutes and create a process for the Public Service Commission to set compensation for new customer-generators, drew testimony from the Public Service Commission, a solar-owner coalition and a municipal representative before the committee agreed to resume consideration on Monday.
Chairman Kermit Case described the bill as an effort to reconcile how net metering interacts with utility rate structures. Senator Case said the bill would allow the Public Service Commission to set just-and-reasonable rates for new customer-generators while indefinitely grandfathering customers who already own systems and retain their current treatment as long as they continue to own those systems.
Deputy Chairman Chris Petrie of the Public Service Commission told the committee the PSC’s core role is to ensure just and reasonable rates and that giving the PSC authority to set rates or compensation for new net-metered systems would allow an orderly public process to address cost-shift concerns the commission and others have documented. Petrie noted the existing statutory prohibition on differential rates for net-metered customers has been a complication and that addressing it now could reduce the likelihood of disruptive changes later.
Representatives of the Wyoming Solar Coalition urged the committee not to proceed with the bill. A coalition representative said the Wyoming Supreme Court’s recent decision in S-23-0276 (Powder River Basin Council v. High Plains Power) limits the PSC’s authority over compensation for customer-generators and warned the proposed statutory change would be discriminatory if it created a new class of customers with different compensation. The town of Jackson's representative said uncertainty about net-metering treatment could undermine local planning that relied on cooperative agreements to limit rate pressure.
Senator Case told the committee the bill will be taken up again on Monday to allow more testimony and negotiation. The committee did not adopt final language or a vote on the net-metering changes in this session; members agreed to continue consideration at a scheduled continuation.
