As residents and businesses turn to generating their own electricity, Iola should have a policy in place that sets how those customers should be credited for the power, City Administrator Matt Rehder said Monday.
The policy would affect those who generate more electricity than the customer consumes in a given month, Rehder explained to City Council members.
“It’s something we’ve talked about doing for a while now,” Rehder said. “We’ve just been trying to finish up the details.”
The proposed policy mirrors what other communities have established, and is recommended by the state, Rehder said.
In a nutshell, any customer who generates enough to push power back into the city’s energy grid will be credited for 150% average wholesale cost for that electricity, with the credit being applied annually. In July, Iola’s wholesale cost was 3.8 cents per kilowatt hour.
The policy also caps how much power can be credited, at 104% of a customer’s peak usage.
A couple items of note with the policy.
While it sounds like the city would lose money by buying the electricity at a higher rate than the wholesale value, “it’s actually pretty much a wash,” Assistant City Administrator Corey Schinstock explained, because the city can immediately put that power back into its grid to sell to its other customers at a retail rate. “It’s really not hurting us if we keep it at this level, and it helps the customer.”
Customers who generate their own power still must remain a part of the city’s grid, Schinstock noted, because solar panels don’t generate electricity at night, and are much less efficient in cloudy weather.
All customers who generate their own power must have in place a transfer switch, Schinstock noted, to continue receiving the city’s electricity.
“The ordinance we’re putting in front of you is pretty standard,” he continued. “Communities aren’t required to do anything yet. But the state’s gonna come in on us at some point.”
IN OTHER green energy news, City Councilman Carl Slaugh said the city should reconsider its recent rejection of a local merchant’s request to install a privately run electric vehicle charging station on the city’s right-of-way.
Council members rejected Paul Porter’s request, 4-3, in April.
Since then, the city learned it was unsuccessful in applying for a state grant fund to install its own EV stations.
“He can come back again and ask if he wants, but what was pretty clear was that (the stations) weren’t something you wanted to allow on the right-of-way,” Rehder responded. “I have no intention of bringing (the proposal) back.”
