Duke Energy Plots Attack on North Carolina’s Solar Revolution

North Carolina has become a hot spot for solar. The state was second in the nation in solar growth in 2013, behind only California. So if U.S. states were considered countries, North Carolina would have qualified as one of the top 10 countries in the world for solar growth last year.

All of that solar growth, driven by policies like the state’s renewable energy portfolio law, has been a boon for North Carolina’s economy, generating $1.7 billion in revenue for the state. At the end of 2012, 137 solar companies employed 1,400 people in North Carolina and that number increased during a record year in 2013 for solar.

But while solar shines brightly in North Carolina, a dark cloud is approaching that is putting all the benefits of solar at risk. Duke Energy, which is the state’s monopoly utility and the largest power company in the country, is about to launch a major attack on solar energy.

In January, Paul Newton, Duke’s president of North Carolina operations, launched the first shots in the attack on solar. Speaking in front of a joint energy committee of the state’s legislature, Newton attacked net metering, one of the key policies to North Carolina’s solar growth.

Net metering allows customers with rooftop solar panels to get credit for any extra electricity that they send back to the grid. It’s kind of like rollover minutes on a cell phone bill.

Newton argued that solar customers aren’t “paying their fair share” to Duke, and because of that, his company would be forced to charge higher rates to all of its other customers as a result.

The problem is those allegations are false. A study conducted last year showed that the benefits of rooftop solar in North Carolina – even for customers who don’t have the panels – would outweigh any costs by 30 percent. The reason is as more homes and businesses go solar, Duke wouldn't have to keep building expensive gas and coal plants, which are bad for the environment, and consequently raising rates on its customers to finance them. Those rate benefits are aside from the job creation, climate, and public health positives of solar power. However, Duke’s shareholders profit by building those gas and coal plants, which is exactly why rooftop solar is in the line of fire.

Duke’s Big Ally in its War on Solar: ALEC

Duke isn't the first utility in the U.S. to attack net metering; utility companies in California, Arizona and Colorado began similar campaigns in 2013, and others are forming battle plans now. In December, The Guardian newspaper uncovered that these power companies have been coordinating their efforts under the guise of the American Legislative Exchange Council, (ALEC), a group that lets corporations like Duke ghostwrite laws for right-wing state legislators.

Many utilities are ALEC members and continue to make ALEC’s top priority to attack net metering laws. Forty percent of NC state lawmakers are ALEC members, and because of that Duke will rely on them to do their bidding.

So far, Duke and ALEC’s communications strategy has been to stigmatize solar energy as being only for the wealthy. Their argument is that resident shouldn’t let the rich with solar panels get even richer on the backs of non-solar households.

In the beginning of solar, it may have been mostly higher income families, since it involved a cost upfront. However, recent research reveals that middle class neighborhoods are increasingly opting for solar. In any case, if ALEC and the utility companies are so worried about the poor, perhaps they should be trying to give more solar access to working and middle class communities, since it will help them save money, and not take away their chance to go solar by attacking policies like net metering.

Duke will eventually learn to bask in the sun.

A few days after Newton went in front of the legislature to attack solar policies, Duke Energy’s Facebook and Twitter feeds started bragging, amazingly, about North Carolina’s solar growth:

Shining in solar. North Carolina ranks fourth in the nation. #solarpic.twitter.com/twBF8eXzIb
— Duke Energy (@DukeEnergy) January 16, 2014

That was not the only public display of support for solar power Duke has shown in recent months. Previous CEO Jim Rogers said that he saw said that he saw rooftop solar as an opportunity as much as a threat, and in March, Duke bought a stake of a distributed solar power financing company, Clean Power Finance.

Were these moves signs that Duke is embracing the solar revolution, or just a PR move to appear more green? Both may be true: Duke is feeling its way around the edges of solar opportunities while stalling for time by attacking net metering. One scenario that would speed up Duke’s solar transition is if it loses on net metering, which would force the company to quickly come to terms with the inevitability of solar.

A Duke loss on net metering is far from a given, considering Duke and ALEC’s almost unlimited influence in North Carolina politics. Though even with all of Duke’s money and political power, it can’t change one simple reality: Rooftop solar is immensely popular. A 2013 poll showed that 88 percent of North Carolinians support solar energy. Last year, when ALEC attacked North Carolina’s renewable energy law and the effort failed because Republicans in the legislature recognized growing solar power as a job creator. In fact, ALEC’s efforts to attack renewable energy laws failed in every state where it tried in 2013.

Now, solar advocates will suit up to fight the next attack wave in this year. The sooner they win, the sooner utility companies such as Duke will have to face the music and realize that they need to join their customers as they bask in the sun.

Rewritten from David Pomerantz, Greenpeace Blogs

NCSEA Poll Confirms North Carolina's Overwhelming Support of Clean & Affordable Energy

Statewide voters across political parties embrace clean energy policy and adoption

By Victoria Somol, NCSEA

Raleigh, N.C., May 22, 2014 – The NC Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA), a leading 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to shaping the state’s clean and efficient energy future, announces the results of the fourth annual North Carolina Statewide Survey (MoE± 3.45) confirming overwhelming support for the increased use of diverse clean energy sources by voters of all political parties. According to the poll of 803 registered North Carolina voters conducted by Fallon Research March 23-27, 2014, 83 percent of respondents think state leaders and elected officials should seek more renewable energy sources to provide consumers and businesses with affordable electricity. Additionally, 90 percent of respondents support the use of solar energy, while 88 and 82 percent support the use of energy-efficient programs and land-based wind energy, respectively.

Driven largely by the state’s market-based clean energy policies, North Carolina was recently named one of the fastest growing markets for clean energy solutions, and is now ranked second nationwide in solar power installations. "Support for clean energy can be a winning message for our state's leaders regardless of political affiliation. North Carolina is leading in these technologies, voters are noticing and they are asking for more," said Paul Shumaker, leading political strategist, President of Capitol Communications.

In 2007, North Carolina became the first state in the Southeast to adopt the Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS) law, which, according to the poll, received support from 71 percent of North Carolinians this year, and 15 percent not having an opinion. The law requires North Carolina’s electric power providers to generate a portion of their electricity needs through renewable energy resources enabling over $2 billion in renewable energy investments since 2007. North Carolina’s leaders confirmed their support of this policy by blocking an attempted legislative rollback and repeal in 2013.

Other notable survey results include:

• 86 percent of Democrats, 84 percent of Independents and 77 percent of Republicans saying state leaders should seek more alternative or renewable energy sources; and
• 74 percent of respondents felt power and electricity prices had increased over the last two years; with more than half thinking the increase was due to power companies increasing their profits or inflation and the economy, and only 5 percent thinking it was due to renewable energy mandates.
  
• 94 percent of voters under the age of 30 and 86 percent of voters between ages 30-44 said state leaders and elected officials in North Carolina should seek more alternative or renewable energy sources in order to provide consumers and businesses with electricity.

“Now in our fourth year of polling, these results are consistently telling us that energy policy is important to North Carolinians. What’s more, constituents are making note of their rising electricity bills and are looking to our leaders in the state legislature to adopt commonsense changes,” NCSEA executive director Ivan Urlaub said of the survey results, which revealed 83 percent of respondents support new energy policies that would create opportunities for clean energy companies that use renewable energy to offer affordable electricity to consumers.

“One way we can ease the burden of rising utility bills for North Carolina families and businesses is to build upon a framework that supports a competitive energy market that drives innovation, expands business opportunities and improves local economies.”

The poll results parallel the rapid growth of North Carolina’s clean energy economy, due in large part to the benefits afforded by the state’s REPS law, among others. According to NCSEA’s 2013 Clean Energy Industry Census, the clean energy industry experienced significant job growth in 2013, employing 18,404 full-time equivalent employees in North Carolina, a 20 percent increase from 2012. Moreover, state government energy efficiency programs saved an estimated $427 million in taxpayer dollars from 2007-2012 alone.

“This polling lays a foundation for lawmakers to devise a clean energy future with their voters in mind,” said Betsy McCorkle, NCSEA’s Director of Government Affairs. “These results prove that there’s an appetite to invest in a diverse set of sustainable energy solutions, which serve as the foundation to our economic prosperity – and offer a significant value for businesses and the community.”

Learn more and see the complete 2014 Fallon Research Energy Poll Survey Results.