Renewable Energy
A Net Metering First in Alaska
An Alaska co-op is the first electric utility to deploy the state’s brand-new net metering regulations that allow consumers to install and use renewable generation to offset usage.
The home of Dorothy and Bill Fry, consumer-members of Homer Electric Assn., is one of 31 enrolled in the co-op’s net metering program. Bill Fry is a co-op director. (Photo By: Melissa Carlin)
Under the state’s requirements, members of Homer Electric Association, Homer, can connect up to 25 kilowatts of renewable energy generation per site, provided they comply with approved interconnection standards. Members are either billed for net consumption or credited if they generate more electricity than they use.
Before the state approved the net metering plan earlier this year, the co-op had experience with member-owned renewable generation. Under a similar interconnection program Homer Electric operated for two years, 31 consumer-members operated small-scale installations, most of them wind turbines ranging in size from one kilowatt to six kilowatts.
The co-op was also active in discussions with legislators and regulators about net metering, a hot issue in the state and among consumer-members, co-op officials said.
“We had strategic meetings with management, board members, member services and [information technology]” because net metering affects many departments, said Brad Hibberd, the co-op’s conservation engineer. “We invited members and made personal visits.”
“We knew change was in the wind, so we did our best to inform members of future changes,” he said. “We basically ran an information campaign.”
Hibberd said he gets phone calls daily from consumer-members interested in net metering. And, with the nearly 35,000 kilowatt hours generated by consumer-members since 2008, the co-op has amassed a substantial body of data that can help members make “informed decisions [about]the type and size of the generation they hope to install.”
“I can tell [potential producers] what the existing sites have generated, how many kilowatt-hours have been offset from being purchased and how many kilowatt-hours have been sold back to the cooperative.”