Net Metering
Net Metering. I’m Greg Martin as Line On Agriculture presents the Harvest Clean Energy Report.
Power companies as a whole are short on power. We the consumers keep utilizing more and more with only two solutions in sight according to Scott Gates, Renewable Energy Specialist with Idaho Power.
GATES: The two main approaches on it are either conservation or generation which fits in nicely with my area because the net metering does a combination of those two things. Typically when somebody puts it on their house their conservation goes through the roof because now they know what it takes to generate it.
Exactly what is net metering? Gates explains.
GATES: Net metering at least within Idaho Power and it’s going to be different with probably every utility, every state, every cooperative, every municipality; in some areas it’s mandated by the state so it’s going to be a little bit more consistent throughout the whole state but what net metering is for Idaho Power is the ability of the customer to install on a residence up to a 25 watts of renewable resource and to run that inside their house and they use that internally.
In other words you as a farmer, rancher, home owner can generate your own power for your own use.
GATES: If they’re generating more than they’re using then they can send that excess or sell that excess back to Idaho Power. It’ll run their meter backwards and we’ll credit them at the same base retail rate that we charge them for the electricity.
And yes, it is legal. Gates says they do work with consumers on finding the right form of renewable power for their home and says that
GATES: Conservation has always been impressive to me, once somebody puts solar on their house whether it’s tracking or fixed on their roof, how much their consumption drops. It’s been likened to somebody who buys a Prius and look at it getting 40 miles to the gallon and think you know if I drive it a little bit more conservatively I can get 42 miles to the gallon. And so it ends up being kind of a game with themselves to see if they can make the production from solar or wind do a bigger part of their load.
For additional information on clean energy, visit harvestcleanenergy.org. That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
