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OP ED
November 15, 2016

Help Alameda Municipal Power Develop Fair Solar Rates

In recent years, rebates and incentives from utilities and government enabled solar technology to quickly mature. For example, the California Legislature in 2008 required utilities to provide rebates to customers installing solar systems. Under that law (Senate Bill 1), AMP provided more than $4 million in rebates to help offset the high costs of solar panels for commercial and residential customers. All of AMP’s customers pay for those rebates through a line item on their electric bill.

In addition, the Legislature, under the Net Energy Metering (NEM) program, required utilities to pay customers with solar systems for the excess energy they send to the electric grid. Funds for payments to these solar customers come from rates paid by everyone. AMP must do this until the city reaches a specific level of solar capacity, which will happen in the next few months.

Alameda Municipal Power must now develop a successor plan and decide what role it should have in taking power from solar customers and how much to pay for their excess generation. Nearly all solar customers rely on AMP’s grid when the solar system is not generating, and AMP must ensure they help support the cost of keeping it running.

For several months now, I’ve been AMP’s interim general manager as we search for a new leader of the utility. In this role, what has been most impressive to me is AMP’s ability to maintain a green/sustainable energy portfolio while providing excellent customer service and low-cost, reliable energy to Alameda. Today, AMP’s energy portfolio is 85 percent carbon-free and 65 percent renewable.

Sustainability has been a core value of AMP’s for years, with long-standing forward-thinking leaders on the Public Utilities Board. Not surprisingly, the utility continues to be forward-thinking, transforming itself into what’s known as a “utility of the future.”

Next year, we will roll out automated smart meters that will allow our customers and AMP to better manage energy use and continue to reduce greenhouse gases. We will assist with the development at Alameda Point, potentially creating a technologically advanced grid, and develop strategies to include more clean energy into our portfolio, including solar power, on a small and large scale. These issues highlight the fact that the energy industry is rapidly changing and AMP is responding.