Tri-City utilities stop accepting solar incentive applications

Tri-City residents considering installing solar systems may want to check with their utilities before they pencil out the costs and benefits.

Benton and Franklin PUDs, the city of Richland and the Benton Rural Electric Association currently are not approving new applications for the Washington State Renewable Energy System Cost Recovery Program.

Residents with home solar systems should still be eligible for net metering, which enables customers to receive credit for the power generated by their system.

But the state offers an additional way to help pay for solar and other renewable systems, an incentive through local utilities of up to $5,000 a year. In turn, the utilities get a credit against their public utility tax.

The cap on the tax credit is set at 0.5 percent of retail power sales and utilities across the state are hitting the cap.

There was an attempt in the last state legislative session to raise the cap, but it failed to pass.

Benton REA placed a moratorium on applications for the incentive several months ago.

Now the Benton and Franklin PUDs and the Richland electric utility also believe they are close to reaching the cap, as home solar has boomed in popularity.

Between 2008 and February 2015, Benton PUD had only 50 net-metering customers. Over the last 14 months, the utility has received 80 new net-metering applications.

Richland has seen more people installing solar to take advantage of the state program before it sunsets in 2020, said Sandi Edgemon, business services manager for the city’s electric utility. In addition, the city has seen customers installing larger equipment to get the maximum incentive as the cost of the equipment has dropped.

Some utilities in Washington have decided to spread the incentive among as many customers as successfully apply for it, which reduces the incentive payment for each customer.

But other utilities are using a first-come, first-serve approach to ensure that those who signed up for the program first will get the full benefit they anticipated.

The city of Richland suspended its program for new applicants about two weeks ago and is determining how close it is to the state limit, Edgemon said. Like most utilities, it continues to offer net metering.

Benton PUD announced a moratorium on accepting applications received after April 18 to give the utility time to analyze the funding cap, conduct customer and contractor meetings to gather feedback, and determine its level of participation going forward. Its community solar projects in Kennewick and Prosser remain eligible for incentives.

It plans a meeting for customers to learn more and provide input at 5 p.m. May 24 at the auditorium at 2721 W. 10th Ave, Kennewick. A meeting for solar contractors also will be scheduled.

Franklin PUD announced Wednesday that it would no longer approve incentive applications unless it is certain of its ability to cover payments. It now has about 67 systems receiving incentive payments.

At the end of the fiscal year in June, it could know more precisely how close it is to its cap and some additional applications could be approved.

The utility has sent letters to solar installers in the Tri-City area to inform them of the hold on approving new applications.

Any customers submitting applications beyond the Franklin PUD’s current capacity will be given priority for future incentive payments based on when they are approved for net metering.

This story was originally published May 14, 2016 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Tri-City utilities stop accepting solar incentive applications."