Distributed generation fee struck down in Wisconsin

The Dane County Circuit Court in Wisconsin struck down discriminatory charges on solar customers in a verbal ruling delivered by Judge Peter Anderson. The ruling was needed to reverse the Wisconsin Public Service Commission’s December 2014 decision to add a discriminatory fee on distributed generation customers in We Energies’ territory.

The reversal is the result of the appeal filed by The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC) and Renew Wisconsin. The court found that there was a lack of evidence in the record to support the commission’s decision. TASC and Renew argued that the commission should have required an independent study of the costs and benefits of solar.

TASC recently filed suit challenging the State of Hawaii on a similar decision — a lack of substantial evidence including any study of the costs and benefits of solar before imposing discriminatory solar changes.

In response, Amy Heart, spokesperson for The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC) said:

“This is a critical victory for Wisconsin electricity customers that sends a signal to utilities everywhere trying to stop solar competition. After three years of constant attacks from monopoly utilities, not a single state has stopped rooftop solar.

“Hawaii will be reversed for the same reason that Wisconsin was reversed today – trying to bail out utilities from rooftop solar competition without conducting a study of the costs and benefits of solar.

“We Energies will again try to eliminate competition from solar energy. Thousands of Wisconsinites made today’s reversal possible by contacting their elected officials. TASC thanks each of these citizens for making their voices heard. We will need each of their voices once again to fight utility attacks on solar choice.”

— Solar Builder magazine

[source: http://solarbuildermag.com/news/distributed-generation-fee-struck-down-in-wisconsin/]